"Imagine telling a total stranger about your first sexual experience. Then imagine doing that and being four years old," says attorney Thomas A. Forbes, a 1971 Southwestern graduate.

What abused children go through to get help, he says, can be just as harmful as the abuse, itself. Until eight years ago in Austin, children had to re-tell their stories to doctors, social workers, prosecutors and police-and they had to be escorted to several offices to do it. "They were re-victimized by the system," he says.

To give children a comforting place to get help and to encourage police and other professionals to make the process easier on them, Forbes helped establish the Children's Advocacy Center. The two-story Victorian home is a place to heal for approximately 500 to 600 families each year. Instead of being shuffled from office to office, children talk to fewer professionals and meet with them at the center.

Forbes took on the task in 1990 at the request of the Travis County District Attorney. As the center's president, he raises money, recruits board members and acts as spokesperson.

"It's been enormously gratifying," says Forbes. "We started with nothing and now we can say we serve children and the community in a more effective way." In 1995, the State Association of Children's Advocacy Centers named Forbes Volunteer of the Year.

Forbes was awarded Southwestern's prestigious Citation of Merit Award in 1996 for performing "outstanding civic and professional service." He specializes in public law, transactions and dispute resolution. When he isn't giving legal advice to clients such as The British Consul-General and National Football League, he volunteers.

"I was raised that way," he says. His father Charles Forbes, mayor of Georgetown from 1958 to 1962, served on local boards and volunteered with his church and other groups. Forbes' mother Mary has been a volunteer with the Georgetown Visitor's Center for years. "I saw my parents donating their time and that concept was strengthened for me at SU."

Forbes has been a leader in the American Bar Association and State Bar of Texas. He's received Presidential Citations from the State Bar and is listed in the Martindale-Hubbell Register of Preeminent Attorneys. He was the president of the Student Association at Southwestern and of Southwestern's chapter of Kappa Sigma national fraternity. While earning a juris doctor at Baylor School of Law in the 1970s, he served on Southwestern's Board of Trustees. He was class agent and president of the Alumni Association for two terms in the 1980s and has been a member of the Planned Giving Council.

"Southwestern has been important to me. I like to think I'm tolerant of different viewpoints. If I am, it's due to SU. It helped me develop a love of learning. When I look at the future, I think about finishing my master's or maybe teaching. Sometimes I think about going into politics. Whatever I do, I'll do as much as I can for SU."

Since the publication of this article, Forbes is back on the SU Board of Trustees and now chairs the Board's Institutional Advancement Committee.  He is also a partner in the Kemp Smith law firm, which has offices in El Paso and Austin.  He was appointed by the president of the American Bar Association to serve on the Latin American Law Initiatives Council, which is charged with sponsoring law reform projects in Latin America at the invitation of the host governments.