Retired Judges Report, February 2015

March 18, 2015

54 judges retired in February 2015.*

Spotlight
On February 1, 2015, Judge Karen Tighe of the Bay County Probate Court in Michigan retired after 20 years on the bench. Tighe began her legal career in 1976 with the Wayne County Neighborhood Legal Services in Detroit. She then moved to Bay County, Michigan, and served as a friend of the court referee and as a circuit court administrator. She was elected to the court in 1994 and served there since January 1, 1995. On her decision to run for election, Tighe stated: "I was doing family law for so long at the Friend of the Court that moving to the Probate Court seemed a natural transition. At the Friend of the Court, I was a referee, so I mediated people's disputes and I seemed to have a knack for that and the judgeship was an opportunity to expand on that." During her time on the bench, Tighe oversaw 724 adoptions. She described them as "the only happy event held in a courtroom. We provide tissues for every hearing — tears are often shed — but for adoptions, they are tears of joy." Another highlight of her time as a probate judge was presiding over two of Bay County's drug treatment courts for families and juveniles. “ We put a lot of time and effort into it and so it's really wonderful when you see people recover that way and I can give their children back to them in a wholesome, family environment. That's the object of family court. ” —Judge Karen Tighe
Retired judges
The following judges retired from office in February 2015. *Based on Judgepedia's records and recent news reports; municipal court judges not included Name Court Dates of service Adam Harkey Arkansas 16th Judicial Circuit 2009-2/2015 Alfred Mackey Allan H. Davis Hancock County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 1974-2/8/2015 Allan L. Gropper United States bankruptcy court, Southern District of New York 10/4/2000-2/17/2015 Boyd Boland United States District Court for the District of Colorado 2/2000-2/8/2015 Brian K. Ishikawa Maricopa County Superior Court, Arizona 1995-2015 Charles A. Davis Charles G. Hague Ashtabula County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 1993-2/8/2015 Chris A. Martin Fairfield County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 2003-2/8/2015 Christine S. Decker Utah Third Judicial District 2004-2/16/2015 Clifford N. Sickler Monroe County Court, Ohio 4/13/2015-2016 David W. Fais Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio Eve Belfance Ohio Ninth District Court of Appeals 2009-2/8/2015 Frank R. Cox Cobb County Magistrate Court 2001-2015 Frederick H. McDonald Lucas County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 1987-2/8/2015 G. Allen Gano Clinton County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 1992-2/8/2015 Glenn Norton Missouri Court of Appeals 2002-2015 Glenn S. Hamilton Madison County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 1985-2/8/2015 Gwendolyn J. Jackson Virginia 4th Judicial District 1991-2/28/2015 H. Vincent Conway, Jr. Virginia 7th Judicial Circuit 1999-2/2015 Holli Wells Oklahoma District 15 J. Michael Gamble Virginia 24th Judicial Circuit 1991-2015 James Cissell Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 2003-2/8/2015 James J. McBride Superior Court of San Francisco, California James L. Flannery Warren County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 2/9/2003-2/8/2015 James M. Ronk Knox County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 1990-2/8/2015 James W. Kirsch Scioto County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio Jerald R. Klein New York City Housing Court 1982-2015 John Connor Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals 2009-2/8/2015 Joseph Vukovich Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals 1997-2/8/2015 Karen Tighe Bay County Probate Court, Michigan 1995-2/1/2015 Kenneth J. Spicer Delaware County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 2003-2/8/2015 Kenneth Rocco Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals 1997-2/11/2015 L. Alan Goldsberry Athens County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 1987-2/8/2015 Lee Hildebrandt Ohio First District Court of Appeals 1985-2/1/2015 Linda Lancet Miller Superior Court of Orange County, California Malcolm Graham (Massachusetts) Massachusetts Appeals Court 2004-2015 Margaret A. Clark Brown County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 1983-2/8/2015 Michael J. Sage Butler County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 1991-2/8/2015 Michael L. Brady Logan County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 1991-2/9/2015 Rand Steven Rubin Superior Court of Los Angeles County, California Richard G. Ward Ross County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio Richard M. Wallar Hocking County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 2006-2/8/2015 Robert J. Lindeman Miami County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 1995-2015 Robert S. Moorehead, Jr. Guernsey County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 2/2003-2/8/2015 Ronald Nehring Utah Supreme Court 2003-2/1/2015 Russell B. Wiseman Crawford County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 2002-2/8/2015 Samuel W. Kerr Jefferson County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 1/1991-2/8/2015 Thomas A. Swift Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 1979-2015 Thomas J. Carnes Portage County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio Thomas Neville Idaho 4th Judicial District Thomas R. White Superior Court of Los Angeles County, California W. Duncan Whitney Delaware County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio 2003-2/8/2015 Wilfrid G. Dues Preble County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio

See also

• Retired Judges Report
• Judicial selection in the states
• Mandatory Retirement
• Category:Retired judges