I was born right in this town. Niles, Ohio. No hospital. I was
born at home.
My father had a store in downtown Niles. Sort of a
department store – little bit of everything.
My mother was
never educated, but she was the smartest woman I ever knew.
During the Depression, there were days when my father took
in about $10 for the day.
I enjoyed my four years at John Carroll. My big problem was
getting back and forth to home. My folks had a car, but my
father didn’t drive. My mother drove the car. It was very
difficult for her to come up there to pick me up.
The biggest thing at John Carroll was the religion. I never lost
my religion. To this day, I still practice it.
After I got my commission as a second lieutenant, I went
overseas to New Guinea. And from there I went to the
Philippines and all through that area. I was in charge of a ship,
an LCT. It had a 15-man crew. I had a good boatswain’s mate.
He ran the boat until I caught on to what I was supposed to do.
I’m from Niles, Ohio – what the hell do I know about ships?
I was in the Philippines when I came home on leave and
married my sweetheart, Mary Christopher. She was a nursing
student at St. Alexis Hospital. She started going to John
Carroll for classes. That’s where I met her.
Mary was a terrific woman. Her death was unexpected. We had
eight children. The first two were girls, which was good because
they could help their mother when they got a little older.
After graduating law school, I immediately opened an office in
Niles. I did prosecuting and practiced general law. |
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I was pretty active in the Democratic Party. I went to
Kennedy’s inauguration. He was a character.
I hadn’t really intended to get involved in politics. It sort of
comes with the territory when you’re in a small town.
[I ran for judge because] I’m used to running things. In high
school, I was active. In college, definitely. When I was on
board ship, I ran the ship. And when I got off the ship, I wasn’t
running anything. So I figured I’d better start running things.
It was very difficult for me to sentence someone to death. But
when you come right down to it and you see what happened,
you have to follow the law. Don’t sit on the bench if you’re
not going to follow the law.
I never had an opponent. First time I ran, the person I was
running against got offered another job. From then on I was
unopposed.
I was the law director of this town for about 22 years. That
helped the income. It wasn’t big, but gave me coverage for my
hospitalization, protected me for my pension.
My advice to a student who will be graduated from JCU:
Before you go to graduation, devote as much time as you
can to your studies. What you learn there you never forget.
Particularly the religious part. They teach it in such a way
that you don’t forget it.
I’ve been very successful politically – local, county, state. You
mention my name anywhere in Ohio to someone who’s been
in the game for a long time, they know me. I always valued my
word. I learned this at John Carroll.
The best advice I can give anybody is to make sure you pursue
some activity that you feel you enjoy.
As told to Jeffrey Bendix |
