Italian Adventure

This is my journal from my Italy trip with Kim. Nothing to see here. Move on.

5/31/05

Flying with dozens of other people in a Boeing 757 more than 30,000 feet over Virginia or Maryland (pick a state; does it really matter when you are at more than 30,000 feet?), "context" occurs to me. For the past two hours, I have been engrossed in the readying of a biography about George Washington. I am simply here. Not in each individual location between Dallas and here. The inside of the large jet hasn't changed much during that time. We hit an occasional rough patch. But the soft roar of the jet engines and the ventilation system numb the mind to any further variances.

So I got to thinking, what does it mean to be here. As I read, I felt like I was as much in Virginia of the 1700s as I was over Virginia of the 2000s. And yet, I was always just sitting next to Kim in a cramped business-class seat with a bunch of strangers seated around me. So which here is the real "here." That is the question of context to which I referred at the beginning.

It is so easy to mistake the proper context. As we live day to day, it sometimes seems that the real "here" is the day to day bustle and show of the modern world -- get up, get the kids ready for school, get myself ready for work, get the kids to school, get to work, immerse myself in the case of the day, help guide the course of the chambers, hurry home, have a quick dinner with the family, run off down the valley to conduct interviews or participate in a stake meeting about missionary work. Is that the real "here"?

Many talks that I give in church begin the same: "Before we came to this earth, we lived with our Heavenly Father, who loved us. We wanted to be more like him, . . . ." If you ask me what the real "here" is, I will tell you that it is simply a connection between eternity and eternity. But in asking me, you forced me to reflect. Too often I do not reflect, and the real here is, well, the inside of a Boeing 757 or the case of the day or the peanut butter sandwiches. They all have importance and deserve attention, but I must always keep at least one mental and spiritual eye open to the eternal context. Only then can I think, choose, act . . . be what I want and need to be.

6/1/05

The question that occurs to me is whether, as my vacation continues, I will become more or less philosophical in my thinking. Today, I treat the subject of airline food. But is one day a trend?

The airlines need to hire my mom. I never thought much about the presentation of food, perhaps because the halfway decent presentation of a meal is not all that hard. If you make any kind of effort at all to present the food both pleasingly and hygienically (is that a word? If so, does it apply to food? Maybe not), the taste of the food becomes the main focus. I know I am speaking from the male point of view here. That point of view sometimes slights the aesthetic, but doesn't altogether disappreciate it (that's definitely a new word).

Delta Airlines fails miserably on the food presentation score. Their food presentation expert should be fired, if indeed they have a food presentation expert. If not, then the person who should have hired the food presentation expert should be fired.

As the passengers get restless for something to eat, the stewardesses (oops, flight attendants, pc violation) start wheeling their carts around. The smell reminds me of the hospital at dinner time, not a good start to my culinary experience. But it takes long enough for the cart to work its way down the row (notice how I depersonalized that clause to eliminate altogether the need to distinguish between stewardesses and flight attendants, who, by the way, have been all female on our flights thus far, not that I noticed or anything), that I work up an appetite for whatever it is the hospital cafeteria sent over.

I hear the flight attendant saying to the people in the row ahead of us, "chicken or beef." What is this, dog food? "Chicken or beef"?

I interrupt this journal entry to note that we just flew over jet contrails. Now that was cool. Have you ever seen those dual cloud lines go under you?

Back to the dog, er, airline food. Why can't they call it "roast beef" or "chicken caciatore"? At least then it would seem like people food rather than Kibbles N Bits.

So I make the hasty decision: chicken . . . and bits and bits and bits. Plop! The flight attendant tosses the plastic container on my tray. Flimsy little disposable package. You have to peel it open to get to the slightly warmed food, or rather mostly cooled off food, because I get the impression it had the heck nuked out of it before it went into the big steel cart to get slowly rolled up the aisle.

In one compartment was salad. The croutons were as mushy as the lettuce. But with the little package of Caeser salad dressing (no Romaine in this little Caesar), it didn't taste half bad.

Then the cracker with the little package of sharp but soft cheese. It seemed a little out of place of this platter. (No it wasn't a platter, but didn't the verbiage sound neat?)

Then on to the chicken compartment. Shoved to one end was the morsel of chicken on top of some kind of marinara sauce. At the other end was a mixture of potatoes, corn, and (oooo, I can't remember the name of those little red chile things I like to put in cream cheese to go over crackers). The potatoes had taken on themselves the color of the corn and vice versa. But the little main dish didn't taste half bad. I've had worse restaurant food.

So, if they are going to serve you food that doesn't taste altogether gross, why do they make such an effort to present this food, from the hospital smell, to the wonderful description, to the skillful plop, to the flimsy little containers? That's where they need my mom. Some nice dinnerware and a couple lessons on French and Italian pronunciations of chicken and beef dishes. And possibly some larger portions. That would be good.

6/3/05

Vacations are either very relaxing or totally exhausting. There seems to be no middle ground. So far, this vacation has been of the latter species. I am determined to make at least part of it the former species. That won't be easy, considering it does not feel like you are getting your money's worth if you are not exhausted, and everyone knows I am the kind who wants to get his money's worth.

So far, in addition to that horidly long trip from Sacramento to Milano, we have spent a day and a half in Milano and a day in Venice. The sightseeing in Milano brought some interesting emotions. (Yes, I am going to talk about my feelings.)

It is fun to see places I knew so well 25 years ago, but it is also sad. We tend to romanticize the mission experience, emphasizing the good and tucking away the difficult into the true-but-not-as-relevant compartment. The truth is that my mission, like everyone else's mission, had its difficult times. Being in the places where the difficult times took place dredged up the long-compartmentalized memories.

No, I am not talking about starvation and near-death experiences. Indeed, the most dangerous parts of my mission are some of the parts I look back upon with the most fondness. I would like to say that it is because I was risking my life in the Lord's service, but in truth I never thought about it as being risky. The hardest times we much more subtle -- struggling to learn the language and feeling so useless until I did, trying to contact people who are interested in hearing about the gospel and finding out that most people are not, finding that the city streets empty rather early and it is difficult to tract when the apartment buildings are all locked up. Those are the parts that were truly difficult for me.

But I am also reminded of happy times and good experiences. It amazes me that 25 years ago I lived here. Day and night, week after week, I worked to build the kingdom in Italy. I would be a different person today if not for those 25 months. I long to have such a consecrating experience again, but I also fear the prospect.

Milano is a city with problems, like every other city of its size. The area of Stazione Centrale has become infested with parasitic types. They beg, steal, hang out, and generally make the are uncomfortable. The first thing I noticed upon entering the city from Malpensa, the international airport, is that there is now graffitti everywhere. I don't remember it being the case in the early 80s. But in most ways the city is just as I remember it. The subway, trams, and busses provide easy transportation to every part of the city. The people are generally in a big hurry, but they are also generally aloof. I can't say it is a disappointment to return, but it is a reminder that I have lived more than half my life since my mission experience.

Venice is like no other city in the world. The canals bustled with traffic of all kinds, from water buses to freight boats to gondolas. The back alleys are charming. Beautiful vases of geraniums hang from balconies of buildings on the edge of ruin -- the ruin of nature, not of poverty. I enjoyed the local people, the streets, the bridges, the water, and the weather. I could live without the crowds and the street vendors. And I could go a whole lifetime without shopping for any more Murano glass. Mamma mia, che robaccia.

One more little observation before I close -- Kim can sleep in airports, on airplanes, on buses, in trains. I need a bed.

6/4/05

I probably should have noticed sooner, but I finally did notice today that Kim and I notice things differently, noticeably. A "for example" is in order.

For example, when we go into an ornate church, I look around and think to myself, "Wow, this church is really ornate." I then find a place to sit down, and I think to myself (I do a lot of thinking, . . . to myself), "It is great that these big, beautiful cathedrals have benches were I can sit down and enjoy the coolness (in temperature, that is) of the huge rock structure. Then I dose off, if only momentarily.

Kim, on the other hand, walks in the front door, after examining the outside completely. She turns right and begins the process of seeing, thinking about, and memorizing everything in the church. First, the tapestries are huge and show scenes from the Bible and others from history. Looking closer, she notices that the tapestries are very old and the colors have begun to fade. She estimates that they must be hundreds of years old, perhaps even from the Rennaisance. And the tapestries are attached to the walls, so she wonders what is under the tapestry. She tries to peak under, but there is no room to maneuver. Drats. Then she looks up and sees the art on the ceiling. Not just one picture, but dozens of different scenes. Each scene is a masterpiece. The colors are still brilliant, so she tries to figure out if restoration work has gone on in the past few centuries. Each scene must be fully understood, both historically and artistically. This level of detailed analysis takes time.

By now, Kim has only taken a few steps, . . . and the cathedral is huge. She visits me at the bench periodically, but her work goes on -- the massive hand-carved confessionals, the windows that let sufficient light in to see the artwork way up high, the altars of marble and other precious materials, the displays explaining in Italian all the intricacies of the cathedral, the huge doors on each side of the church, the Rameumptums where the priests give their priestly speeches, . . . . I would go on but I failed to notice everthing she was noticing.

When she gets done, she knows where to find me. I quickly rouse myself from a deep sleep (or a daydream about all the things I am not getting done at home, but those thoughts are prohibited, so you did not hear me say that), and we head off to the next point of analysis, both of us satisfied with the experience and ready for more. Compatibility, not indenticality (new word), is the key to marital bliss.

6-7-05
Bellaggio,Italy

Varenna to Bllaggio to Como. It sounds like an Italian triple play combination. We are at midlake at Lago di Como. This is an incredible place. From Milano, we went by train to Varenna, by way of Lecco. When I was a zone leader in Bergamo, this was part of my zone. But missionaries are not vacationers. So, even though I once did an interview in Lecco for the missionaries who were serving in Como, I don't think I even took a second look at the lake.

Older and maybe not wiser but more appreciative of the beauties of nature, I find this lake to be one of the most beautiful spots I have ever visited. Of the towns, Varenna is my favorite. It sits quietly just across the two different branches of the lake from Menaggio and Bellaggio. It is quieter and less developed. But the nature and ancient civilizations have teamed to make it an inspirational little spot. One could sit for hours under the towering Cypress trees and draw inspiration from the view of the vast lake. It would be ideal for a guy who could make a living writing. That is a dream I often have, but I am not sure I will ever want to make the sacrifices that would be needed to realize that dream. Too many trade offs.

So from Italian triple plays, to beautiful vistas, to dreams not important enough to realize, I covered it all in this sitting -- while enjoying the beauty of Lago di Como.

6/10/05
Between Cinque Terre and Milano

. . . Lapse of a few days . . .

I didn't realize that we were pulling into Stazione Centrale when I started this entry, and now I don't remember what I was going to say. There you have it: thoughts reside in my mind only briefly before they are forced out by other thoughts.

LA Times on the Court's Centennial

The LA Times covered the Court of Appeal's centennial. I worked with the reporter to get the facts for the article, and she quoted me on several issues relating to Norton Parker Chipman. Note: the "depression" talked about in the article was really just a bank panic. Also, I doubt I am a "history buff," though that term is subjective.

L.A. THEN AND NOW

History Makes a Case for State Court of Appeal

Brought into existence 100 years ago to help reduce a Supreme Court backlog, the system has expanded along with California itself.

By Cecilia Rasmussen
Times Staff Writer

April 10, 2005

It's been quite a century for California's Court of Appeal.

On April 10, 1905, Gov. George Pardee appointed nine justices to help reduce the backlog at the state Supreme Court. They served in three appellate districts: San Francisco, Sacramento and Los Angeles. Today, the Court of Appeal has 105 justices and three more districts — Fresno, San Jose and San Diego — plus divisions in Ventura, Riverside and Santa Ana.

The justices' names may not be familiar but they hold California's second-most-powerful judicial posts, handling everything but misdemeanors and death penalties. Fewer than 10% of their cases continue to the state Supreme Court (which gets death-penalty appeals directly from trial courts).

On Monday, more than 160 sitting and retired California appellate justices, and about a dozen from the state Supreme Court, are to appear at a special centennial session at the Los Angeles Superior Courthouse — their first gathering as one court.

It's a long way from the original nine justices, who had to run for reelection in 1906 with partisan opponents. Five of the nine decided not to run or were defeated. Winners drew straws to see who would run in staggered elections every four, eight and 12 years. Norton Parker Chipman drew the longest straw and a 12-year term, according to a research attorney with the 3rd District in Sacramento who goes by just one name, Levin.

Chipman had served as a nonvoting delegate in Congress for two terms, as a general in the Union Army and as President Lincoln's personal emissary to commanding officers in the field.

As a judge advocate after the Civil War, he prosecuted Capt. Henry Wirz, commander of the infamous Andersonville Prison, which housed 50,000 Union prisoners in 1864-65. More than 14,000 died, mostly of disease, malnutrition and exposure. Wirz was convicted of war crimes and hanged. Chipman described the trial in his 1911 book, "Tragedy at Andersonville."

Elected to Congress in 1871 from the District of Columbia, Chipman championed a new holiday called Decoration Day — which we now know as Memorial Day. He also urged completion of the 555-foot-tall Washington Monument, which had sat unfinished for nearly 25 years at a mere 150 feet. Construction resumed in 1876. Finally completed, it was dedicated in 1884.

"He was still a member of Congress when he came to California in 1875 for his health and [a] warmer climate," said history buff Jeff Hogge, who is writing a biography of Chipman. Hogge is senior clerk for Justice George Nicholson of Sacramento.

Chipman claimed thousands of acres of Northern California forest, opening a lumber company and shipping timber to Southern California and around the world.

"But he lost his shirt in the late 1870s depression," Hogge said, "and then went into private practice before he became a state Supreme Court commissioner" — forerunner of the Court of Appeal.

Chipman stayed on the bench until his retirement in 1921.

Judicial elections could be controversial, and defeats weren't unusual. One luckless justice was brought down by his name alone.

"In 1932, Justice Hugh Preston in Sacramento, whose brother, John, was on the state Supreme Court, was defeated by an opponent whose slogan was, 'One Preston Is Enough,' " Levin said.

Two years later, voters approved Proposition 3, which made judicial elections nonpartisan. Intended to improve judicial independence, the measure mandated only yes or no votes, not contested races. That system remains in effect.

Partisanship figured in a judicial scandal that came to light in 1934. Justice Gavin W. Craig of Los Angeles, who had served as a campaign fundraiser for a politically powerful senator, lost his judgeship the same way he got it: by continuing to serve as a fundraiser for the senator (who lost the '32 election).

Craig "just didn't know when to quit," Santa Clara University professor Gerald Uelman wrote in a 1981 edition of Los Angeles Lawyer magazine.

In December 1934, Craig was accused of accepting a $60,000 bribe and was tried on federal charges of conspiring to obstruct justice. Although convicted, he refused to leave the bench. Even after the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed his conviction, he refused to yield. Finally, the state attorney general brought a special quo warranto proceeding, a method of settling disputes over the rights and procedures of a public office.

Craig was booted off the court and prohibited from practicing law.

"Against his contention that the state bar had no power over misdeeds committed by a sitting judge, the California Supreme Court held that a judge is still a lawyer, even though he can't practice," Uelman wrote.

Another notable justice was John Aiso of Los Angeles. In 1968, he became the first nisei — second-generation Japanese American — appointed to the appellate court. He had been the highest-ranking nisei to serve in the U.S. armed forces during World War II. Aiso died in 1988, at 78, from injuries suffered in a robbery attempt against him. A short street in Little Tokyo is named for him.

In 1942, Annette Abbott Adams became the first woman on the Court of Appeal — and the presiding justice of the 3rd District in Sacramento. She had been the first woman to serve as a U.S. attorney (in 1918) and the first woman assistant U.S. attorney general (in 1920). She did it by playing down her femininity.

"In order to succeed as a lawyer in those days, she adopted mannish characteristics," Levin said. "She intentionally lowered her voice and dressed in a masculine manner, although she never wore pants — at least not on the bench."

Today, women fill 27.6% of the seats on the Court of Appeal.

Another noted woman was Pauline Davis Hanson, appointed in 1980. She retired seven years later, shortly before her death.

"In her waning days, from her condo window, she could see if the light was on in my office," said James Ardaiz, who replaced her as administrative presiding justice of the 5th District in Fresno. "When my phone rang late at night, I knew it was Pauline" telling him to go home.

"She was a real lady, an extremely warm and unassuming person. When I moved into her office, I opened the desk drawer … and found a pen emblazoned around the middle with women wearing full bathing suits. When I picked it up, the suits fell down.

"I thought this was someone's idea of a joke, about as politically incorrect as you could get.

"Then she called and asked how I liked my office, then how I liked my desk.

"'Bill [her husband] gave me that pen when I became a judge,' she told me.

"I've kept that pen all these years, and I don't want anyone stealing it," Ardaiz said. "It will be passed on to a worthy successor."

Another 1980s-era justice, Richard W. Abbe of Ventura, became known for his integrity, fairness, sense of humor and vanity license plate, DISSENT, touting his willingness to disagree with colleagues.

"His wit was like a fine wine — dry, with a subtle flavor," Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert said when Abbe died in 2000. "He loathed hypocrisy and cant and brought distinction to the Court of Appeal."

Appellate opinions weren't always rendered with civility. In 1979, Levin said, "Justice Robert S. Thompson called a dissenting justice a schmuck, in People vs. Arno." The case had to do with the improper search of a pornography distributor.

Some people wonder why the federal appellate courts are known as the Court of Appeals, while California's is the Court of Appeal. There is no real answer, but Ardaiz ventured a joke.

"All things considered," he said, "my guess would be that we couldn't afford as many letters in our title as the federal court."

Cruel and Unusual Punishment?

Another one of our cases attracts media attention. That seems to be happening more frequently.

ADMIN/REGULATORY • Mar. 29, 2005

Panel Scraps Sex Offender's Life Sentence'Harmless Violation' Shouldn't Be Third Strike, Justices Say

By Hudson Sangree
Daily Journal Staff Writer

SAN FRANCISCO - Going against the tide of recent rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and California courts, a state appeal panel declared it cruel and unusual punishment to send a man to prison for life because he failed to update his address as a sex offender.

Keith Ishmeal Carmony was a repeat felon who had registered as a sex offender with police a month before his birthday. But he failed to update his registration within five days after his birthday passed, as required by state law.

Although he had not moved since his prior registration, and his parole agent knew he was still at the same address, Carmony was arrested on the felony charge of failing to reregister.

He pleaded guilty and was sentenced by a Shasta County judge to 25 years to life under the state's three-strikes law.

On Friday, two members of a three-justice panel of the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento said the sentence was cruel and unusual, violating the state and federal constitutions.

The court made its ruling public Monday.

"This case raises the question whether there is an offense so minor that it cannot trigger the imposition of a recidivist penalty without violating the cruel and/or unusual punishment prohibitions of the United States and California Constitutions," wrote Justice Coleman Blease for the majority in People v. Carmony, C038802.

It was not the first time the court had heard Carmony's case.

The first time around, the appeal court ruled that Shasta County Superior Court Judge Wilson Curle had abused his discretion by refusing to strike two of Carmony's three prior convictions.

The California Supreme Court reversed the appeal panel, holding that the judge had not abused his discretion. But the high court sent the case back for the appeal court to consider the constitutional issues it raised.

This time the Sacramento court said Carmony's indeterminate life sentence was grossly disproportionate to his crime.

"It is a rare case that violates the prohibition against cruel and/or unusual punishment," Blease wrote. "However, there must be a bottom to that well. If the constitutional prohibition is to have a meaningful application it must prohibit the imposition of a recidivist penalty based on an offense that is no more than a harmless technical violation of a regulatory law."

Justice Richard Sims sided with Blease.

They said the case could be distinguished from other cases upholding three-strikes sentences triggered by petty offenses because Carmony's offense was an "entirely passive, harmless and technical violation of the registration law," and even less significant than writing a bad check.

"Because a 25-year recidivist sentence imposed solely for failure to provide duplicate registration information is grossly disproportionate to the offense, shocks the conscience of the court and offends notions of human dignity, it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under both the state and federal constitutions," the justices declared, remanding the case to the trial court for resentencing.

Justice George Nicholson dissented, arguing it was wrong to say Carmony's sentence was out of all proportion to his crimes.

Nicholson had sided with Blease in the court's prior ruling that the trial judge had abused his discretion.

"This case does not present a bottom-of-the-well scenario," wrote Nicholson. "It would be cruel and unusual to torture a third-striker or to give a life term to a petty thief with no prior record. Those are bottom-of-the-well scenarios."

Nicholson pointed out that the U.S. Supreme Court had already rejected a similar argument in Ewing v. California, 538 U.S. 11 (2003), a case in which a defendant was given a life sentence for stealing three golf clubs worth $1,200.

The majority in that case said the defendant was not being punished merely for shoplifting the golf clubs, but for doing so after being convicted of two prior serious or violent felonies.

Nicholson said it was the same with Carmony, who had been convicted years before of child molesting and beating his girlfriends.

"Here, defendant committed the felony of failing to register after having been convicted of two violent or serious felonies," Nicholson wrote. "That is the relevant set of circumstances that must bear the weight of the penalty imposed."

Nicholson argued that Carmony's failure to update his address within five days of his birthday was not a harmless oversight.

"We rightly place strict requirements on sex offenders so we can keep tabs on them," he wrote.

In addition, Nicholson pointed out that another panel of the 3rd District last year in People v. Meeks, 123 Cal.App.4th 695 (2004), upheld a three-strikes sentence against a felon who failed to register as a sex offender after moving and within five days of his birthday.

Sims had written a passionate dissent in that case.

"Defendant violated the same law the defendant in Meeks violated," he wrote. "I see no reason to turn precedent on its ear."

More on Justice Puglia

JUDGES AND JUDICIARY • Mar. 15, 2005

ROBERT K. PUGLIA, 1929-2005

Justice Was Mentor to Many, Known for Strong Personality

By Linda Rapattoni
Daily Journal Staff Writer

SACRAMENTO - State appellate judges, federal judges and lawyers fondly recalled Monday the times they shared with the late 3rd District Court of Appeal Justice Robert K. Puglia.

They described the retired justice as a keen intellectual, an athlete, a strong personality, a Civil War buff, a baseball fanatic, an Ohio State University football loyalist and a mentor.

Puglia died Thursday of complications related to cancer. He was 75.

The former justice wrote more than 4,000 opinions, 436 of them published between 1974 and 1998 when he was on the appellate bench.

Puglia was a strict constructionist and conservative in his views, according to Richard Osen, president of McDonough, Holland and Allen, in Sacramento, and several others.

"Bob was a very strong personality, but he didn't lead by fiat," said Associate Justice Fred Morrison. "He led by consensus. He was a guy who was very confident of who he was so, in debate, he spoke forcefully - he was not politically correct - and he would carry the day by its power and logic."

A few weeks before he died, friends and colleagues came up with a way to honor Puglia because he could not meet with everyone who wanted to wish him well, Osen said. The group also wanted to leave his family with a heartfelt memento, so they enlisted Justice George Nicholson to put together a radio tribute featuring big band music.

Radio station KCTC-AM agreed to the broadcast and Puglia selected 13 of his favorite big band songs, each of which were introduced by a variety of friends and colleagues including Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown.

The tribute was broadcast Feb. 27, and recordings were distributed to family members and friends.

Puglia had a photographic memory, Osen said, and could sing the songs word for word. His recall also came in handy in bench conferences.

"He was just a font of knowledge on the court about the law in California," Morrison said. "You'd be having discussion in our conferences and he would say I think that's covered in (i.e.) People v. Smith and he would cite it to the page. No one else could do that. He was amazing."

Osen said Puglia was precise on the bench and let lawyers try their cases. Puglia was also a mentor to many. Several interviewed said he helped them get jobs with law firms or put in a good word when they sought a position on the bench.

"He was a person who loved all people," Nicholson said. "He loved to talk to people anywhere and everywhere around the world. Regardless of your age, Bob was a mentor, regardless of whether someone was a Democrat or Republican, male or female. He helped every person who ever came in contact with him."

Puglia was a Democrat until 1980, when he registered as a Republican.

Born and raised in Ohio, Puglia and a friend traveled to California to attend UC Berkeley, and he worked in construction jobs in Amador County to try to pay for the out-of-state tuition. However, Puglia found it too costly and returned to Ohio, where he attended Ohio State University, getting a bachelor's degree.

Puglia said in a Daily Journal interview in 1991 that he had decided on a career in law when he was 12 years old.

After his graduation from Ohio State, Puglia enlisted in the Army and served as an infantryman in the Korean War.

Years later, he returned to Korea on a trip with Morrison.

"We got to go to the demilitarized zone where he had fought," Morrison said. "We made arrangements to see the Korean sector where Bob had been a private facing the Chinese army. We met several Korean colonels, and Bob briefed all of them on what had happened there in 1953. He pointed out where his division was where the Koreans and Chinese were positioned. They were enthralled."

After the war, he was admitted to the UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law. After he earned his law degree he moved to Sacramento in 1958 and worked briefly in the state attorney general's office. A year later he went to work as a deputy district attorney in Sacramento.

Within four years, he was appointed chief deputy district attorney.

"He was gifted with an intelligence and eloquence seldom seen," said U.S. District Judge Edward Garcia, who said he joined the district attorney's office at the same time.

Puglia discussed his aspirations to become a judge with Garcia, but he said he needed some civil law experience, so he resigned from the prosecutor's office in 1969 and joined McDonough, Holland and Allen, Garcia said.

He was there for only a short while when Gov. Ronald Reagan appointed him to the Sacramento County Superior Court in 1971. He was elevated to the appellate court three years later and within six months was named presiding judge.

"He quickly rose to the top no matter what endeavor in law he took," Garcia said.

Puglia retired from the bench in 1998 and rejoined McDonough, Holland and Allen as a mediator.

Puglia is survived by his wife of 46 years, Ingrid; three sons, David, Peter and Thomas; a daughter, Susan; and three grandchildren.

A public memorial service is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Monday, March 21, at Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento.

Norton Parker Chipman Prospectus

Norton Parker Chipman: Union Officer, Lincoln Aide, California Judge

Justice Norton Parker Chipman, presided over the Third District Court of Appeal in California for 16 years, the first presiding justice of the court. Appointed by the governor of California in 1905, Chipman was 71 years old and brought to the court not just a bright judicial intellect but also a lifetime filled with patriotic service to his country and his adopted state of California. His life had a Forrest Gump-like character, as he took part in many of the most important events of his day, indeed, of our era. As the California Court of Appeal celebrates its centennial this year, new interest has developed within the California judiciary concerning the life of this remarkable man. This interest has spread beyond the judiciary to other state and local officials and others as events are being planned for the centennial commemoration. An exhibit is being prepared for the California State Fair, with Chipman featured prominently. A statewide high school moot court competition is being organized, to become an annual event, named after Chipman. To date, no literary work has told Chipman’s story. Considering the current and continuing interest in him, a biography is appropriate and timely.

Summary of Chipman’s Life

A descendant of Mayflower pilgrims, Chipman was born in Ohio in 1834. His family moved to Iowa, and he attended school where the schoolmaster was strongly abolitionist. He studied law, first in his Iowa hometown, and then at the Cincinnati Law School, where he graduated in 1859. While Chipman was in law school, the United States Supreme Court decided the Dred Scott case, in which the court held that the ownership of slaves was a matter of property rights and the area comprising the Louisiana Purchase could not constitutionally deprive slave owners of those rights. Before Chipman reached voting age, he noticed the emergence of the Republican Party and expressed his agreement with its platform. He followed closely the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858 in neighboring Illinois and was deeply impressed by Lincoln’s speeches throughout what was then the Northwest. The logic and reason of Lincoln’s position on slavery, that is was immoral and contrary to the founding documents of the United States, struck a cord with young Chipman. He was also influenced by other aspects of Lincoln’s speeches and persona, including Lincoln’s 1859 speech at the Wisconsin State Fair, in which Lincoln extolled the values of country fairs and the importance of applying knowledge and technology to agricultural problems. In 1860, Chipman attended the Republican National Convention in Chicago, where Lincoln was nominated over Seward, Cameron, Bates, and Chase.

Chipman’s life changed dramatically, in 1861, after Lincoln’s inauguration and the outbreak of the Civil War with the attack on Fort Sumter. He immediately volunteered for service and, because of his professional training, was made an officer. After almost a year of noncombat duty in Missouri and Kentucky, during which time the war had not been going well for the Union, Chipman’s regiment was sent to reinforce General Grant’s troops at Fort Donelson. The regiment had only been there a day when it was ordered to lead a bayonet charge up the hill. Leading the charge, Chipman was hit in the thigh in the shower of enemy fire. He went down but refused to be carried off the battlefield, instead shouting encouragement to his regiment. General Grant’s forces captured Fort Donelson, and Chipman’s regiment was honored for its important part.

While convalescing, Chipman was promoted to colonel. He returned briefly to his regiment during the siege of Corinth, but was soon placed on General Henry Halleck’s staff as an aide de camp. Not long after that, he served as General Samuel Curtis’s chief of staff. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton noticed the abilities of the young officer and assigned him to the War Department in Washington, D.C., early in 1863. For the remainder of the war, Chipman saw firsthand how Lincoln, who spent many days and nights in the War Department telegraph office reading and responding to messages from the field, prosecuted the Civil War. Lincoln also noticed Chipman’s loyalty and capable service as an aide and rewarded Chipman with assignments to take important communications to generals in the field, assignments that caused Chipman great danger at times. Chipman accompanied Lincoln to Gettysburg for the dedication of the cemetery.

After the close of the war and the assassination of the president, Andrew Johnson offered Chipman the job as his private secretary, but Chipman declined. He did not think highly of Johnson, but gave as his reason that he wanted to return to the practice of law. Before leaving military service, Chipman prosecuted Henry Wirz, the commander of the infamous Andersonville Prison, where thousands of Union soldiers died. The only Confederate officer convicted of war crimes, Wirz was executed. The Andersonville trial was the subject of much debate, involving Jefferson Davis prominently. Chipman wrote a book, The Tragedy of Andersonville, recounting the evidence presented at the trial and refuting Davis’s arguments. In the 1960s, the Andersonville Trial was the subject of a Broadway play, starring a young George C. Scott as Chipman. In 1970, Scott directed a movie starring William Shatner, also as Chipman.

Chipman was brevetted as a brigadier general before being mustered out of military service. He opened a law practice in the District of Columbia and eventually assisted in the prosecution of Johnson’s impeachment trial. Chipman also developed a friendship with Thomas Nast, the famous Harper’s Weekly political cartoonist. The day of the final Senate vote on Johnson’s impeachment, Nast drew a cartoon depicting Johnson’s conviction and fall from the presidency. Because the vote fell short, Nast did not publish the cartoon; instead, he gave it to Chipman.

The veterans of the Civil War formed the Grand Army of the Republic, with Chipman as one of its founders. In his capacity as adjutant-general, he wrote the order creating Memorial Day and organized some of the first Memorial Day festivities. President Grant appointed Chipman as secretary of the District of Columbia, until the form of government changed. Chipman was then elected as the district’s delegate to Congress, serving two terms. For years, the Washington Monument stood only partially finished. Chipman led the fight to obtain funding and finish the memorial. As the elected representative at the seat of national government, Chipman and his wife were prominent socially. They entertained some of the most prestigious people of the day. Chipman was particularly close to President Grant and campaigned on his behalf when Grant ran for reelection.

In 1875, Chipman moved to California, laid claim to more land than was owned by any other Californian, and opened the largest lumber company of his day, the Sierra Flume and Lumber Company. The company thrived at first, applying the latest advances in communications and technology. But when a financial panic spread to California from the East coast, the market for lumber collapsed and Chipman declared bankruptcy. He remained in California, devoted to the state, and opened a law practice. He became president of the State Board of Trade, precursor to the Chamber of Commerce, and worked for twenty years to promote the interests of California. He extolled the importance of country fairs and agriculture, and advocated the use of technology to increase yields.

The work of the California Supreme Court became unmanageable as the only appellate court in the state, so the legislature, in 1885, authorized the court to form a commission to help decide cases. Chipman served as a commissioner from 1897 until 1905,when a constitutional amendment allowed the creation of the Court of Appeal. Governor Pardee desired to give the new appellate courts instant credibility and respectability and succeeded in doing so by appointing prominent Californians to preside over the districts of the court. Chipman presided over the Third District in Sacramento, winning two contested, partisan elections to retain the seat. In demand as a speaker, especially to recount his knowledge of Lincoln, Chipman enjoyed statewide prestige. His opinions reflected his extraordinary experiences. He resigned from the court in 1921, because of ill health, and passed away in 1924.

Themes and Illustrations

One of the themes of the book will be Chipman’s influence on today’s way of life -- his participation in the fight to preserve the Union, his contributions in the nation’s capital, the effect he had on California agriculture, and his leadership in the California judiciary. Another theme will be the influence Lincoln had on Chipman as a leader, patriot, promoter of agriculture, and moral person. To a lesser extent, Grant also influenced Chipman’s life, and that will be explored also.

Several portraits are available from the various phases of Chipman’s life, including a Matthew Brady portrait of Chipman in his Civil War uniform. An illustration of the Battle of Fort Donelson by Kurz and Allison gives a feel for the battle, even if it does not accurately reflect the scope or true terrain of the conflict. Thomas Nast gave to Chipman the cartoon Nast drew depicting the impeachment conviction of Johnson, which never happened. Many photographs and drawings of the lumber industry, including the innovative flumes used by Chipman’s company are available in the California State Library. A history written in the 1880’s contains drawings of Chipman’s homes, with elaborate gardens. And the court and library maintain photographs of the Court of Appeal and its chambers in the state capitol during Chipman’s tenure. Chipman willed to the state an original painting by Emmanuel Leutze, Fort Sumter After the Bombardment, which is on display in the state capitol. These are all possible illustrations for the book.

Sources

The primary sources associated directly with Chipman have never before been studied closely or used for historical purposes. He left a collection of papers to the California State Library, and they are still available there. These papers include many letters written to Chipman, contemporary newspaper accounts of the events in which Chipman participated, and speeches Chipman made, mostly in California. Chipman did not write memoirs and rarely spoke or wrote of himself or his family, so much of what is known about him comes from accounts of his activities, his involvement in important events, and his speeches, writings, and opinions. For his early life and his Civil War involvement, local, regimental, and military records provide insight into his life and his times, as well as identifying him personally in many instances. His time in Washington is more fully documented. Books have been written on Andersonville Prison and the trial. The congressional record reflects Chipman’s priorities, speeches, and accomplishments while representing the District of Columbia. A county history and other historical studies cover Chipman’s involvement in the lumber industry, and publications of the late 1800’s include numerous Chipman articles and essays promoting California and its agriculture. A valuable resource on Lincoln is a speech Chipman gave to the Cherry Tree Club in 1906. Official state records reflect Chipman’s California elections and related pursuits. Finally, all of Chipman’s published opinions in 24 years as a Supreme Court commissioner and as presiding justice of the Court of Appeal are preserved in the courts’ official reports.

Concerning Lincoln, Grant, Civil War generals and battles, the War Department, Congress, Washington, D.C., and California history, generally, much valuable research, analysis, and writing is available. The book will take advantage of these secondary sources and analyses to provide historical perspective for Chipman’s life.

Reviewers Already Contacted

Two experts in the fields to be touched on in the book have already consented to review the manuscript when it is ready. Chief Justice Frank J. Williams of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, member of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and author of Judging Lincoln, will review the manuscript with an eye to the portrayal of Lincoln and his influence. Judging Lincoln is a collection of essays on Lincoln’s character, influence at home and abroad, leadership abilities, and legacy. Dr. Kevin Starr, former California State Librarian and current professor of history at the University of Southern California, wrote the acclaimed six-volume series, Americans and the California Dream. He has consented to review the manuscript with his perspective as an expert on California history.

Marketing Opportunities

A Chipman biography presents several marketing opportunities. As the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth approaches there will be a natural surge in interest about him and his era. Chipman had a close-up view of Lincoln during the critical war years, so the book will be of interest to those who wish to know Lincoln better. The Civil War is always a fertile subject for the numerous enthusiasts of that cataclysmic struggle. The book will provide new insights into several aspects of the Civil War: the response to Lincoln’s call for volunteers, the important Union victory at Fort Donelson, the relationships between the generals Chipman served closely and the Lincoln administration, the workings of the War Department in the last two years of the war, the Andersonville trial, and the aftermath of the war in Washington, D.C. Chipman’s close association with and promotion of California agriculture affords a chance for those interested in this aspect of California history and those involved in modern-day fairs and agricultural promotion. His presidency of the State Board of Trade, the precursor to the state Chamber of Commerce, will open up marketing opportunities within the latter organization.

Members of the California judiciary, in particular, and members of the California bar, in general, will find much of interest in this book. While the book may not be available until after this centennial year of the Court of Appeal, the festivities and educational activities associated with that centennial will prompt heightened interest in the history of the judiciary and Chipman’s life. As noted, current efforts to use his name in connection with California activities, such as establishment of a statewide Norton Parker Chipman High School Moot Court competition, will provide a ready market for the book. There is a paucity of scholarship on the history of the California judiciary, so a Chipman biography will find that vacuum.

Presiding Justice Robert K. Puglia 

Passing of Presiding Justice Puglia

Justice Puglia gave me my job at the court. From a pool of 175 applicants, 40 were chosen to intereview with the principal attorney. Then 10 of us were selected to be interviewed by the entire court (10 justices). Two women were hired, one for the chambers of Justice DeCristoforo and the other for central staff, leaving one position. The principal attorney wanted to hire another person, so Justice Puglia, the ultimate decisionmaker, deferred to the principal attorney. The position was offered to the other attorney, but he took the offer and tried to use it as leverage in negotiations for another job. Justice Puglia got wind of that situation and called the assistant to the principal attorney -- the principal attorney had left on vacation -- and said, "Call Hogge and offer him the position." I accepted on the spot, becoming, at the time, the youngest attorney out of about 30 on the court's staff. That was in July 1990. The next month, Justice Nicholson was elevated from the Superior Court and soon selected me as one of his chambers attorneys.

Judge Robert Puglia: A fine life

Conservative jurist's keen intellect shone in elegant legal opinions

By Steve Gibson -- Bee Staff Writer

Published 2:15 am PST Saturday, March 12, 2005

Robert K. Puglia, a legal scholar who served 24 years as presiding justice of California's 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento, died Friday of complications from cancer.

The 75-year-old jurist, an avowed conservative known for his prodigious energy and whose gracefully written legal opinions reflect keen intellect and clear reasoning, retired from the bench in 1998.

His family terminated life support Thursday evening following surgery for a brain hemorrhage, said Dave Puglia, one of his sons.

A former prosecutor and trial lawyer, Mr. Puglia was appointed to Sacramento Superior Court in 1971 by Gov. Ronald Reagan. Three years later Reagan elevated him to the 3rd District court, which hears appeals from trial courts in 23 northern counties.

"Bob was extremely bright, terrific in the courtroom and very personable," said criminal defense attorney Hamilton Hintz, a longtime friend. "He had it all.

"As a judge, his intuition, his insight, his knowledge of the system, made it impossible for an attorney to put anything over on him. He was always one step ahead."

Mr. Puglia, who authored more than 4,000 opinions - more than 400 of them published - was an early voice for open government.

In a 1985 Stockton case, he authored an opinion that expanded the Ralph M. Brown Act, the state's open meeting law. His opinion holds that government agencies can't conduct telephone polls of their governing board members if those calls result in official actions.

Years later, Mr. Puglia wrote, "When government is permitted to operate clandestinely, informed citizen involvement necessary to guard against government usurpation of fundamental liberties is thwarted."

State Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George called Mr. Puglia a leader who influenced the administration of justice throughout California.

"For years, he was on an administrative committee of presiding appeals court justices," George said, "and the efficiency he managed to obtain in Sacramento he would share with others."

Among other things, Mr. Puglia served on the California Judicial Council, was an adjunct professor at McGeorge School of Law and was a past president of the California Judges Association.

"While he was by anyone's definition a 'law and order' judge, when he reviewed a case where a defendant was actually denied a fair trial, he would reverse the conviction without hesitation and support it with an elegant and persuasive opinion," said Fred Morrison, an associate justice on the 3rd District Court of Appeal.

Mr. Puglia was also an inveterate traveler and avid baseball fan who visited most of the country's Major League parks. Widely read, he was also a student of Civil War history.

"His memory was legendary," Morrison said. "He seemed never to forget the details of cases he tried 40 years ago. He could cite literally thousands of legal cases from memory and he knew more about the Civil War than anyone I ever knew or knew about."

Associate Justice Coleman Blease, another appellate court colleague, remembered Mr. Puglia as "a model of collegiality: fair, yet firm; dignified and civil in all his dealings.

"His approach was direct, if sometimes subtle. Somewhere between Dale Carnegie and the Marquess of Queensberry.

"I remember the first opinion I sent him. He responded with a concurrence in the form of a separate opinion, which showed the abundant defects in the form and substance of my own draft," Blease recalled. "I quickly adopted his concurrence as my opinion."

Although Mr. Puglia was a registered Republican, Blease described him as "a democrat with a small 'd.'

"He led by example and by involving us in major administrative decisions. He spent untold hours on the details of administration ... (but) carried more than a full caseload despite the burdens of his position.

"He vigorously defended our independence as an appellate court ... (and) protested bureaucratic intrusions on his time."

Born and raised in Ohio, Mr. Puglia first traveled to California when he was 17 and started college at the University of California, Berkeley. But paying out-of-state tuition proved too costly. Returning home, he enrolled at Ohio State University, eventually earning a bachelor's degree.

After graduation, he enlisted in the Army and saw combat as an infantry sergeant in the Korean War. Back in the United States, while stationed at Fort Benning, Ga., and intent on becoming a lawyer, he mailed an application to UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law.
It was the only law school he applied to, Mr. Puglia recalled years later. After graduating, he moved to Sacramento to work as a deputy state attorney general.

Mr. Puglia later joined the Sacramento County district attorney's staff as a prosecutor, rising to the No. 2 spot before leaving to join a Sacramento law firm, McDonough, Holland & Allen.
In private practice, he tried civil cases and became active in local politics. He chaired Duane Lowe's successful 1970 campaign for Sacramento County sheriff, defeating incumbent John Misterly.

"Without his support I would never have seen the office of sheriff," Lowe said. "He was always my mentor ... the absolutely most wonderful friend. I am heartbroken. I shall never forget his genuine kindness."

After leaving the bench, Mr. Puglia rejoined his old law firm, where he focused on mediation and alternative dispute resolution.

Almost invariably, judges and lawyers familiar with Mr. Puglia's career end up talking about his skillfully written opinions.

"In this wordy profession," Blease said, "Robert was a star ... a master craftsman of lucid prose, the more animated and muscular the better."

Some examples:

Regarding one expert witness' shortcomings: "Either the expert, contrary to (his) claimed qualifications, is utterly lacking in experience and thus not qualified or the 'expert opinion' is simply tendentious psychobabble."

Writing about an unaccountable judicial lapse: "The trial court suffered a momentary bout of dyslexia."

Addressing inadequacy of counsel: "To the list of serious felonies ... should be added the following: 'prosecutorial sloth.' "

Mr. Puglia's no-nonsense demeanor was sometimes formidable and intimidating, masking what Morrison called "a delightful wit and heart of gold."

Blease recalled the time a novice lawyer became tongue-tied during his first appearance before the appellate court.

"Despite Bob's gentle prodding, he was unable to proceed. (Later) Bob wrote a personal letter to him to ease his embarrassment, observing that many of us had suffered similar misadventures. He urged him to 'mount the horse' and try again."

Robert K. Puglia

Born: Oct. 16, 1929

Died: March 11, 2005

Remembered for: His career as a trial lawyer and appellate court judge whose legal opinions reflected a keen intellect and clear reasoning

Survived by: Wife, Ingrid Werdenbach Puglia of Carmichael; sons, Dave of Carmichael, Tom of Salt Lake City and Peter of Rescue, El Dorado County; daughter, Susan Puglia of Elk Grove; brother, Richard Puglia of Urbana, Ohio; and three grandchildren

Funeral services: Pending

Daily Journal Profile of Justice Nicholson

JUDGES AND JUDICIARY • Mar. 09, 2004

Inexhaustible

George Nicholson Has A Reputation for Getting Things Done, On as Well as Off the Appeal Court Bench

By Peter Blumberg

Daily Journal Staff Writer

SACRAMENTO - There's a saying for when Justice George Nicholson sweet-talks other judges, attorneys and civic leaders into joining his many projects.

It's called "getting Nicked."

A fixture in Sacramento legal and political circles for nearly 30 years, Nicholson, or Nick, is known as a consummate networker.

With a list of off-the-bench activities a mile long, it's anyone's guess where this 63-year-old grandfather has found the time to carry a full caseload on the 3rd District Court of Appeal for the last 131/2 years.

Some of his colleagues wonder whether he ever sleeps.

"I wouldn't call him a whirling dervish because he doesn't exercise himself uselessly. He always has a purpose and accomplishes what he sets out to do," said Robert Puglia, who retired in 1998 after 24 years at the 3rd DCA, the last eight as presiding justice. "He has an inexhaustible supply of energy."

Current Presiding Justice Arthur Scotland sounds equally in awe.

"He's really a person of limitless ideas on ways to pull together people and limitless energy to pull it off," he said.

University lecturer. Events organizer. Technology consultant. Sports booster. Youth mentor.

Those are just a few of the hats Nicholson wears. At last count, he was active in at least 10 extracurricular efforts, including two Judicial Council advisory panels, a handful of nonprofit and educational institutions and the statewide planning for this year's 50th anniversary celebration of Brown v. Board of Education. And he does it all, according to his many fans, without seeking recognition for himself.

What makes Nick tick, no one knows for sure. It is clear, though, he wouldn't be who he is today if he hadn't fallen in love with the game of baseball as a young boy.

More than just a pastime he pursued passionately - graduating from high school in Oakland as an all-city center fielder in the 1950s and briefly flirting with a career as a pro - baseball helped steer Nicholson into a career in public service.

"I was very competitive, but I was also a team player," said Nicholson. "I believe our society is a team and we have to work together and be unselfish."

Baseball as a metaphor for how the game of life should be played permeates conversations with Nicholson, just as his chambers are decorated with baseball memorabilia.

Nicholson counts as his heroes all-star third baseman Jackie Robinson, the first black player admitted to Major League Baseball, and Branch Rickey, the Jewish lawyer who helped negotiate Robinson's breakthrough in a deeply segregated nation.

Nicholson's childhood experiences with children of different races - seeing one of his best friends spirited off to a Japanese internment camp during World War II and playing ball as one of few white people in an urban league - turned him into a champion of racial togetherness.

Today, longtime leaders of Sacramento's Asian American, Hispanic and black bar groups speak reverently of Nicholson, who started courting them soon after Republican Gov. George Deukmejian appointed him to the municipal bench in 1987.

"He is probably one of the most community-spirited judges I have ever met," said Jerry Chong, legal counsel for a network of Asian and Pacific Islander activists called CAPITAL. "He is encouraging, resourceful, creative, thoughtful and sensitive regarding different cultures."

Chong and others marvel at Nicholson's determination - whether he's arranging speakers for a 1,500-guest dinner to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Sacramento or coordinating a national effort called Playing by the Rules that brings together umpires and judges to teach citizenship to youngsters on ball fields.

Nicholson also is known for forging friendships with common folks and VIPs alike as tenaciously as a kid collecting trading cards.

"If he tells you he knows someone and has a personal relationship with that person and that person is the pope or Margaret Thatcher, believe it," Puglia said. "He knows more people than I think you could contain in a Rolodex."

Nicholson's journey to the 3rd DCA started on the standard track, with a job out of law school as a trial prosecutor. He got in with the right people and climbed the ranks of the state and federal criminal justice establishment in the 1970s and 80s.

A 1964 graduate of California State University, Hayward, Nicholson earned his law degree in 1967 from Hastings College of the Law.

In his first job, as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, Nicholson worked in the same office as Edwin Meese, who became a close adviser to Ronald Reagan and eventually served as U.S. attorney general.

In 1976, Nicholson took on a prominent role in the state capital as executive director of the California District Attorneys Association, where he established himself a media-savvy lobbyist and fierce advocate of crime victims' rights.

In 1979, he further cemented his credentials as a law-and-order conservative by signing on as a special assistant to then-Attorney General George Deukmejian.

Three years later, when Deukmejian was elected governor, Nicholson won the Republican nomination for attorney general but lost the general election to Democrat John Van de Kamp. Not to worry. Nicholson's close ties with the new governor and the Reagan administration assured him of job security. He spent the next four years as a criminal justice adviser in Sacramento and Washington, where he founded the National School Safety Center.

In 1987, after a brief stint in private practice, Nicholson landed his first judgeship, presiding over misdemeanor trials. Two years later, Deukmejian elevated him to superior court, and in August 1990, over Van de Kamp's opposition, Nicholson joined the 3rd DCA.

Starkly different pictures of Nicholson emerged during the confirmation process: Supporters praised him as an intelligent and principled workhorse, while detractors worried that he lacked the temperament and focus to work on a court of review.

That's all water under the bridge now. To hear it from Puglia and Scotland, who also were Republican appointees, Nicholson fits just fine on the 3rd DCA.

"He's a treat to know and he's a treat to work with," Scotland said. "As a presiding justice, you couldn't ask for someone who is more collegial."

According to several attorneys who've tracked Nicholson's career, he's also committed to fair play. Former state public defender Fern Laethem recalls that she once approached Nicholson at a conference to point out that the panel was stacked with prosecutors. He responded by beckoning Laethem to the speakers' podium.

"He has consistently done things like that because he believes the criminal defense community must be treated as an equal player, with equal funding and resources," she said.

In person, Nicholson's dark, penetrating gaze, deep voice and towering height (6 feet, 2 inches) are offset by an avuncular friendliness and humble manner -- a juxtaposition that seems to fit his mixed reputation as an ambitious prosecutor turned selfless do-gooder.

In some ways, though, Nicholson's public persona remains a bit of a puzzle.
He insists, and his contemporaries attest, he would never do anything to hurt anyone.

"In terms of my philosophy, whether it's political philosophy or jurisprudence or whatever, I learned early from my parents the Golden Rule - just treat others how you'd like to be treated - and I've always tried to follow it," he said.

Yet it's well known that Nicholson, who lobbied to resurrect the death penalty in 1978, actively campaigned to remove Chief Justice Rose Bird from office when conservatives decided she was too soft on crime. The culmination of that effort, the 1986 retention election in which voters ousted Bird and two other justices, stands as the most divisive chapter in the modern history of California's courts.

Journalists from that era recall him as a lightning rod.

"Nicholson was definitely a major player in the effort to redefine how judges should be judged,'' said Betty Medsger, who accused Nicholson and others of dirty tricks in her 1983 book, "Framed: The New Right Attack on Chief Justice Rose Bird and the Courts."

In a curious twist, Chief Justice Ronald George appointed Nicholson in 1997 to a committee whose goal was to help appellate justices educate the public about their own retention elections.

Another then-and-now contrast is in Nicholson's relations with the news media.

In 1983, Nicholson sued the Los Angeles Daily Journal and the Sacramento Bee for publicizing a confidential report by a State Bar judge vetting committee that rated him as "unqualified" for the bench. His $6 million damage claim for invasion of privacy against the newspapers and the State Bar was thrown out by a judge and rejected by the 3rd DCA.

Today, Nicholson works to promote good relations between reporters and judges on the advisory committee to the National Center for Courts and the Media, an affiliate of the National Judicial College.

In a recent interview, Nicholson spoke openly about a range of subjects, but he said he's uncomfortable discussing his political views as an officer of the bench.

Then again, Nicholson hasn't always been shy about his politics. On the only occasion he has faced voters in a retention election, in 1994, he endorsed Judge Robert Bork's approach to interpreting the Constitution in response to a survey conducted by the Traditional Values Coalition, a conservative religious group. Most of the state's appellate judges shunned the questionnaire, deeming it too political.

"If he believes in something, even though it may be controversial, he will take a position on it," said 5th DCA Presiding Justice James Ardaiz, who counts Nicholson as a close friend. "He doesn't hide behind his robes."

Nicholson's track record on the appellate bench, while generally tough on crime, hardly qualifies him as a rubber-stamp for prosecutors or conservative causes.

In 2001, for instance, he threw out a murder conviction because prosecutors failed to provide the defendant with a chance to cross-examine a witness to the crime who had moved to Mexico. People v. Sandoval, 87 Cal.App.4th 1425

In May 2003, he upheld a $1.1 million fine levied by the state's political watchdog agency against conservative activists who led an unsuccessful effort in 1994 to recall the state Senate's Democratic president pro tem.

Also last year, Nicholson dealt a setback to anti-abortion protesters when he held that the CHP had the authority to order them to stop waving signs on a freeway overpass. Sanctity of Human Life Network v. California Highway Patrol, 105 Cal.App.4th 858

Other significant rulings may be of less interest to ideological scorekeepers.
In 1996, he held that the First Amendment rights of Central Valley kiwi growers were violated when they were compelled to help fund a statewide fruit promotion campaign. California Kiwifruit Commission v. Moss, 50 Cal.App.4th 1

In 2000, he analyzed the California Environmental Quality Act and concluded the eastern Sierra resort town of Mammoth could not implement a redevelopment project because the planners had failed to show that the targeted area suffered from urban blight. Friends of Mammoth v. Town of Mammoth Lakes Redevelopment Agency, 82 Ca.App.4th 511
Two years ago, Nicholson had an opportunity to apply his knowledge of baseball to tort analysis. Nicholson took on the case of a 10-year-old Little League player who suffered a permanent eye injury after being struck by a fly ball that he lost in the sun. West v. Sundown Little League of Stockton, 96 Cal.App4th 351 The young plaintiff lost, but the opinion was not unsympathetic.

"Many a pop fly has disappeared in the sun to a player on the ground. Sometimes it falls harmlessly away from the player. Other times, the ball bounces off the player's mitt," Nicholson wrote. "And sometimes, it hits the player trying valiantly to fight off the glare of the sun. Tragically, in this case, the ball caused a serious injury. Nothing the coach or the league, or Little League Baseball Incorporated, did, however, increased these fundamental risks inherent in baseball."

Attorneys describe Nicholson as a lively participant in oral argument.

"He's always very well prepared and tends to ask penetrating questions," said Deputy Attorney General Kenneth Swenson, who defended the CHP in the abortion protester case. But as with most conversations about Nicholson - Nick the innovative idea man, Nick the networker and Nick the bundle of enthusiasm and inspiration - it's not courtroom memories that define Swenson's image of Nicholson as much as a "fascinating talk" about 3rd DCA history the justice gave to an audience of young lawyers a while back.

In the end, it's Nicholson's ability to engage others in his interests, and motivate them to make a difference, that gets mentioned again and again by admirers.

"Simply put," said J. Clark Kelso, a McGeorge law school professor, "he is a great leader. I feel privileged to be one of the his many followers, supporters and friends."

Biographic George Nicholson Justice, 3rd District Court of Appeal

Career highlights: Appointed by Gov. George Deukmejian, 1990; Sacramento County Superior Court, 1989-90, appointed by Deukmejian; Sacramento County Municipal Court, 1987-89, appointed by Deukmejian; solo practitioner, 1986-87; director, National School Safety Center, 1984-86; Governor's Office of Planning Research, 1983-84; special assistant and senior assistant attorney general, 1979-83; deputy district attorney, Alameda County, 1968-76.

Law school: Hastings College of the Law, 1967

Age: 63

Here are some of Justice Nicholson's recent rulings and the lawyers involved:

•California State Employees Association v. California Public Employees Retirement System, 113 Cal.App.4th 137 For plaintiff: Nancy Yamada, California State Employees Association, Sacramento For defendant: Cynthia Rodriguez, California Public Employees Retirement System, Sacramento

•Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company v. Public Utilities Commission, 112 Cal.App.4th 881 For petitioners: Carol Harris, Union Pacific Railroad, San Francisco For respondent: James Rood, Piedmont solo

•Thompson v. Miller, 112 Cal.App.4th 327 For plaintiff: Stephanie Finelli, Sacramento solo For defendant: Margaret Carew Toledo, Orrick Herrington, Sacramento

•Mirzada v. Dept. of Transportation, 111 Cal.App.4th 802 For plaintiff: Thomas Kidwell, San Jose solo For defendant: Kevin Corrington, Department of Transportation, Sacramento

•Sanctity of Human Life Network v. California Highway Patrol, 105 Cal.App.4th 858 For plaintiff: Scott Kendall, Elk Grove solo For defendant: Kenneth Swenson, deputy attorney general, Sacramento

Farm Worker Mediation Law

Another case in the Court of Appeal is making news, even before it is decided. The California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) was set up to improve the working conditions and strength of farm labor workers in California. Just before Gray Davis left office, he signed a bill (which he had previously vetoed) giving them much more strength. It allows the workers to force the employer to binding mediation, which is really a contradiction in terms because mediation is not supposed to be binding. The parties to a case involving a wine producer is currently in our court. Here is the Bee article:

Challenge snags farmworker mediation law
By Aurelio Rojas -- Bee Capitol BureauPublished 2:15 am PST Monday, January 24, 2005
Three years ago this summer, farm workers capped months of rallies with a 10-day march through the Central Valley to the Capitol in support of a bill that was hailed as the most important farm labor law in years.
The United Farm Workers and its allies held out hope the mandatory mediation law in stalled negotiations would would lead to larger paychecks, better health care and other improved benefits.
But two years after the binding arbitration law signed by Democratic Gov. Gray Davis went into effect, it has been invoked by unions in only two cases.
"(That's) a lot less than we thought would come to fruition," said Genevieve Shiroma, chairwoman of the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board.
Shiroma said that because growers are challenging the constitutionality of the law, unions are awaiting a decision by the state's 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento rather than spending money on cases that could be voided.
Membership in the 27,000-member UFW remains flat. But union officials say the mere existence of the law has forced several growers to negotiate contracts before the cases reach the ALRB.
"We have already utilized the mediation process effectively and we'll be able to utilize it even more in the future because it's going to happen sooner or later," said UFW President Arturo Rodriguez.
But Arthur Mark, an attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation, which is handling the case for a coalition of growers, cautions the law remains in doubt.
"Everyone is waiting - the growers, unions, even the government," Mark said. "Because if the court comes down on our side, they'll find this thing unconstitutional."
The 2002 law's uncertain course - Davis called it a "historic" bill that would increase protections for farm workers - mirrors that of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which turns 30 years old this June.
The landmark law gave farm workers the right to organize; the 1935 National Labor Relations Act specifically excluded them.
The Agricultural Labor Relations Act signed by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown ushered in minimum-wage laws and ultimately expanded workplace safety standards to include farm workers. It capped years of bloody strikes and boycotts that catapulted UFW co-founder Cesar Chavez into a national civil rights leader.
"When the law was passed, it was a time of a great deal of optimism," said University of California, Davis, professor Phil Martin, the author of "Promise Unfulfilled: Unions, Immigration, and the Farm Workers," a 2003 book about the ALRB.
"There was an expectation on the part of some people that wages in California agriculture would be set mostly by collective bargaining."
Martin said that has not occurred, in part, because large-scale illegal immigration has suppressed wages and agribusiness has shifted from a reliance on big employers to small contractors.
Labor officials say many farm workers - estimated at 400,000 to 1 million in California - do not speak English and are unaware of their rights. The ALRB is trying to bridge the education gap with a Spanish-language "novella" that it began distributing last month in fields around the state.
The 14-page publication, which looks like a comic book, outlines the rights and obligations of employers and workers under the Agricultural Labor Relations Act.
"It's a beautiful act, but we have to find a way to make it work," said Norma Turner, who was counsel to the ALRB at its inception and is in her fifth year as the agency's general counsel, or chief prosecutor.
Back then, the agency had 11 regional offices and a staff of nearly 300 employees. Today, after years of budget cutbacks - most prominently under Republican Govs. George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson - it has four offices and fewer than 40 employees.
"In the first five months after the law was enacted, we conducted 423 elections in which 50,000 farm workers participated," Turner said. "Today, we conduct very few elections, and some of those are decertifications to get rid of the union."
Turner said unfair labor practice claims brought by farm workers to the ARLB can take years to adjudicate because of lengthy appeals.
"Do you know how much courage it takes a farm worker to walk into one of our offices and file a charge against the employer?" Turner said, noting that most farm workers are illegal immigrants.
Moreover, Turner said farm workers have only six months to file a complaint. She said many who do so within the statute of limitations disappear by the time the case is completed.
Rodriguez, a son-in-law of the late UFW patriarch, said the Agricultural Labor Relations Act has nonetheless improved the lives of many farm workers.
"I don't think it's a question of informing people," Rodriguez said of the ALRB's outreach efforts. "The reality is that a significant percentage of farm workers today are undocumented and afraid to complain."
The UFW has pinned its immediate hopes on a bipartisan bill that stalled in Congress last year. It would allow some illegal immigrant farm workers to apply for legal status.
In theory, Rodriguez said, California laws protect farm workers, but there are not nearly enough state investigators to enforce them.
Carl Borden, an attorney for the 89,000-member California Farm Bureau Federation, said Rodriguez's contention "makes the assumption that there's widespread noncompliance when that's not the case."
"We think the law has worked from the standpoint of bringing stability and peace to the fields," Borden said. "There are some things we are not completely satisfied with - like the mandatory mediation."
Mike Johnston, an organizer for the Teamsters union, Local 890, in the Salinas Valley, has heard the grousing that it was the UFW and Chavez who failed to live up to the promise of the ALRB.
Johnston, who worked briefly for the UFW in the 1970s, disagrees.
"If your members are dramatically low-paid, there's going to be a limit to how much a union is going to spend on organizing," Johnston said. "It's a task that the best organizers for the last 150 years in California have broken their picks on."
WHERE THE LAW STANDS * The landmark 2002 law providing mandatory mediation in farm-labor disputes is under court challenge.* Farmworker unions have invoked the law in only two cases since it took effect in 2003.* Unions say the existence of the law has forced several growers to negotiate contracts before the cases reach the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board.
Source: Bee Capitol Bureau

Nettie Jane Stowers Eulogy

During this time after Nettie’s passing, we have all reconstructed in our minds and hearts our associations with her. We have reflected on the influence she has had on our lives and the love we shared with her. I am grateful and honored to have this privilege to reflect publicly.

Nettie blessed her posterity with her life story, not only lived out to its fullest but recorded by her own hand. It is there for us to keep and review. My remarks will include just a sampling of that history—some of it in her own words, together with a smattering of others’ perception of her life—some of which she knew about but was too modest to record.

The Machens, of pioneer heritage, lived in the community of Burton, close to Rexburg in eastern Idaho. Nettie Jane Machen, named after her mother’s sisters Net and Jane, was born in 1912. Father Harry Redfearn Machen and Mother Evalyn McMillan were married on New Year’s Day 1901, the first day of the 20th century. Of eight children, Nettie was the only daughter. Her seven brothers were Harry, Willie, Millan, Ryland, Neal, Lee, and Mac. Mac is the only surviving sibling of that noble generation, and we are thrilled that he has made the long journey from Kentucky to be with us today. Nettie always referred to Mac by his given name, Grieve. Until I was an adult, I never realized that Uncle Mac, whom I knew, was Grandma’s brother Grieve.

Many of Nettie’s great memories of childhood and later were formed in the home her father built for the family. She described the home as if it was an old friend. She wrote: “With the family growing in size and number, the little log house on the farm in the valley was soon outgrown and in 1918 a new rock home was built to replace it. What a delight to watch the progress--first a large hole was scraped out, then the cement walls and floor for a full basement were poured. Soft, grayish-white rock was hauled from Blackburn's Quarry at Sunny Dell. Hard granite rock for trim was quarried out of a rocky hollow east of Rexburg. Masons cut it into slabs and soon the walls were rising for a beautiful, comfortable home. On the main floor were a living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and hall, plus porches, front and back. Mother had never liked upstairs bedrooms, so downstairs were three bedrooms for the children and a large fruit cellar. Even though electricity was not then available in the rural districts, Father had the whole house wired. Probably the thing that brought the greatest joy to Mother was the running water, hot and cold, in her kitchen and bathroom.”

There is a song from a play Nettie saw years ago that lyricizes: “When you’re taking a bath on a Saturday night, the family’s only daughter, you can sit and soak up to your ears and not in sixth hand water.” Nettie had some of that pampering. She got her own bedroom; she got her brothers’ protection; and she got the newborn colt. But being the only daughter also had its burdens.

The acreage her father farmed in Burton was not big enough to support the growing family, so he also farmed in the rolling hills above Rexburg—the dry farm. After her brother Harry married, he took over the management of the dry farm. When Nettie was 11 years old, her father could not find a cook for the harvest crew on the dry farm. Her mother was expecting, so she could not go. Young Nettie volunteered. Although her mother and father were hesitant, it soon became clear Nettie was their only option. Her father stayed at the dry farm for two days to coach her, but then had to leave. Nettie described her experience:

“Well, in a couple of days the bread ran out, and I realized that, though I had watched Mother mix bread through the years and knew the ingredients, I wasn't at all sure of amounts. So I hurried over to Uncle Jack Palmer's farm to ask Mrs. Edith Clark, their cook, how much of each ingredient to use, then went home and proceeded to mix my first batch of bread. It didn't raise like Mother's always did, but I struggled and finally took four loaves out of the oven. And what loaves--they were squatty and hard and heavy. I think you could have knocked a horse down with one of them.

“So that left us without bread for supper. Harry told me how to make baking powder biscuits, but when he came in to help get supper on the table he said there weren't enough biscuits and he would stir up another batch quick like.
“Well, in came the men, hungry as usual. When they had finished off my batch of biscuits, we brought Harry's to the table. After the first bite, my cousin Ray George said, ‘Nettie, why did you serve the best biscuits first?’ Talk about beginner's luck! And Harry about chased him out of the house.

“Needless to say, I had learned a good lesson in bread making, and the next day my bread looked and tasted more like Mother's always did.”

Nettie’s love for flowers bloomed during the summers in those rolling hills of eastern Idaho. She picked blue bells, honeysuckle, Larkspur, yellow violets, wild roses, and sego lilies and arranged them neatly in tin cans. Through the years, she grew many varieties of flowers and enjoyed sharing them. Her yard was her sanctuary, where she could sink her hands into the soil and make beautiful things appear. She was so frustrated when people would steal the flowers she had carefully grown, but, if they asked, she would gladly give the same flowers away to brighten a day. She provided flowers for weddings, condolences, parties, and other special occasions, but she was perhaps best known for her immaculate arrangements of fresh flowers that adorned the chapel on Sunday for ward meetings and stake conferences. The ward members knew when Nettie was out of town by the absence of flowers at the pulpit. Many of her descendants have inherited this love for plants and flowers and this ability to beautify their surroundings.

Nettie received her first church assignment when she was 14 years old, as secretary of the Primary. On the occasion of this calling, her father impressed upon her the importance of diligence and duty. He told her: “Now Nettie, you have been given a responsibility and you have a job to do. If you shirk, the work will not be done, as it is no one else’s responsibility. It is yours.” Nettie later commented: “It was more than advice he gave me that day. It was a principle he lived in all facets of his life. And I have tried to fulfill my callings in life as he did his.”

Also when Nettie was 14 years old, Bob Stowers showed up in Burton and went to work for Harry on the dry farm. One day, Bob joined Nettie and her brothers for a game of baseball on the front lawn. Nettie recalled: “At one point [Bob] threw a ball to me at home plate and I caught it on the end of a finger. It hurt like mad, but I wouldn’t let him see that it did. You see, I already had a crush.” Bob left to work other places, but returned several times over the years, ostensibly to see Nettie’s brothers or to find work in the area. Nettie graduated from Madison High School and went on to Ricks College to become a teacher. Although Bob had proposed marriage, she persisted in her education. Because of the failing economy, however, it became increasingly difficult for Nettie’s parents to support her. She wrote: “I realized that further education for me would work a great financial hardship on Father and Mother. And to be right honest about it all, I guess I wanted to marry Bob more than I wanted to get my credentials and become a school teacher. So, on April 10, 1932, when he again asked me to marry him, I said, ‘Yes.’”

Bob and Nettie were married in the Salt Lake Temple on September 22, 1932, in the midst of the Depression. Their marriage was blessed with three children: Robert Wallace, Ronetta Jean, and Richard Harry. They moved many times in search of employment opportunities during those difficult times. When World War II broke out, Bob went to California to find work in the shipyards. Nettie and the children soon followed, and, except for a brief period in Salt Lake City, Nettie has lived in California ever since.

In 1946, Bob took Nettie to see a house on Parker Avenue in Sacramento. Nettie’s first reaction was, “Do you think we need one this big?” But they bought the big house, and it has been the locus of fond memories for three generations of their descendants since then.

Bob, Ronetta, and Dick grew to adulthood and married. Nettie grew to love Faith, Wally, and Evelyn as if they were her own children, and that love was amply reciprocated. In the 1960s, Bob and Nettie began what became a tradition with the older grandchildren. Each New Year’s Eve, the grandchildren would go to Grandma and Grandpa’s for an overnighter. We played games, ate treats, and celebrated the new year. Grandma had a heavy glass container in the dining room with hard candy in it. While I am sure some of the grandchildren mastered the art of opening and closing that container without making a noise, some of us invariably clanged the lid against the bottom of the container. It rang out like a bell which Grandma could hear from just about anywhere in that big house. To all of her grandchildren, older and younger, Nettie was everything you could imagine a wonderful grandmother to be. She would put her own life on hold to be there for us, even though it sometimes meant travel and hardship.

Bob and Nettie celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1982 with a reception in their honor. Nettie recorded: “Many said that was the nicest party they had ever attended—the whole afternoon so friendly and informal, and we thought so, too. Our family did us proud.”

Bob’s health failed and, in 1994, he was near death. Nettie’s life story recounts:

“[Bob] seemed in no pain, not even the headaches that had plagued him almost his entire lifetime, and we were grateful for that respite at least. I sat with him for a long time during the afternoon and evening of Tuesday, November 22nd. I was reluctant to leave, but he seemed to be resting so peacefully, and Ronetta said, ‘Mom, you=d better go home and get some rest.’

“Bob slipped away from us early in the morning of November 23rd, 1994, at the age of 86 years. He had been a good son, brother, husband and father. And he was dearly loved by his grandchildren and great-grandchildren as well.

“So life goes on for me - not the give and take of the 62 years we spent together. There is loneliness, but so many happy memories, and the assurance that one day - after I have accomplished the things the Lord would have me do - we will be together once more.”

This matter-of-fact faith, nothing doubting, was typical of Nettie’s life. Even when there was plenty to worry or complain about, she believed in the broader picture of eternal life provided by her Savior. Her actions spoke louder than the most eloquent words.

Nettie was unapologetically pious in her personal comportment. While she held definite opinions concerning propriety, she reached out with love to those around her, forming relationships of friendship and respect with neighbors and acquaintances of many backgrounds and ideologies.
Until she was 50 years old, most of Nettie’s adult church service, except for an interlude as Relief Society President, focused on the youth. She led both ward and stake youth groups, girls’ camp, dance festivals, and every kind of enriching activity for the younger generation. She taught them to distinguish good from bad and to choose right over wrong. In her middle age, however, her focus turned to the adult women, leading them in theology lessons and helping them beautify their homes and relationships.

When Nettie was 81 years old, she was asked to return to her work with the youth—this time girls 14 and 15 years old. You can imagine her raised eyebrows at some of their revealing fashions, coarse language, and nontraditional attitudes. Yet, in her life story she wrote not about judgment or disdain but love and understanding of this precious generation of teenagers.

On Nettie’s 85th birthday, she attended a celebration in her honor at Ronetta’s home. During the evening, the doorbell rang, and Nettie was invited to the front door. There she found Dick who had traveled 700 miles to be with her for a few hours on her birthday. Though Dick has lived so many miles away, Nettie always appreciated his phone calls and concern for her welfare.

From a very young age, Nettie attended large family reunions—the Machens, the McMillans, and later the Stowers. In her life story she documented those occasions with precision and affection. Bob and Nettie spent many vacations traveling to, participating in, and traveling from these reunions. In all, they visited 41 states and the District of Columbia.

In 1973, they prepared for a trip cross-country by car in the summer heat to the Stowers reunion in Virginia. The day before they left, their son Bob turned his brand new Ford LTD station wagon over to them for the trip. Nettie remembered: “We had never traveled in such style, nor enjoyed a trip more. It was hard to believe the air conditioning could make such a difference!” They put 7,026 miles on the new car. Nettie was grateful for son Bob’s generosity then and throughout the years.

Family reunions may have been Nettie’s most cherished earthly activity, renewing the loving bonds of close family and meeting relatives previously unmet. It is then easy to imagine the unreserved joy Nettie felt Thursday night as she stepped through that veil—her beloved Bob, cherished Mother and Father, honored Brothers, other friends and relatives. Their reunion was real because the spirit holds the personality and memory, the friendships and love. That family reunion, for her, was joyful beyond compare, having every happy element of a grand family reunion except the potato salad.

Four years ago, Nettie had a stroke. Although she slipped into the twilight of this life, she did not yet move on to the dawn of the next life. Stranded in mortality, she could communicate little. Though frustrated and often low, Nettie persevered. A verse from the hymn, How Firm a Foundation, applies well to these last few years of Nettie’s life:

“When through the deep waters I call thee to go“The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o'erflow“For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,“And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.”

As did Bob before his passing, Nettie went to Ronetta’s home where she received loving care and comfort. As often happens, the service she received enriched and humbled those who gave it.

Death released her to peace on January 20, 2005.

May her memory and example continue to bless us as we strive to perpetuate her legacy of virtuous life.