Reflections at Journey’s End: Memorial Minutes Volume Ii 1950–1979

By York County Bar Association and J. Ross McGinnis

A compelling series of insightful biographical sketches of the men and women of the York County Bar commencing eleven years before the start of the Civil War as recounted by contemporaries and colleagues. Candid, sincere, honest, and on occasion with a touch of comic relief, these memorial minutes are tributes to those who have made their rendezvous with mortality.
Found within these volumes is the venerable Jeremiah S. Black who walked the corridors of national recognition during the Civil War era; the urbane and brilliant Herbert B. Cohen who wielded substantial political power throughout the commonwealth and rose to become an associate justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court; and the charismatic Harvey Gross whose superb advocacy in the third Hex trial and subsequent twenty-year tenure on the York County Orphans’ Court placed him in the forefront of the princes of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence.
This “callout” of the giants in no way diminishes the significance, commitment, and integrity of the many other remarkable individuals who came after and counseled and inspired others to live honestly, to exercise compassion, and to act with prudence and diligence, and above all else made their contribution to the vast and diverse panorama of our humanity.
Not a typical memoir or story, these memorial minutes constitute the defining epic of the York County Bar. More than history, more than recitals of character and personality, and more than delightful encounters and more somber content, they are about individuals remembered for the richness and power of their hopes, achievements, and commitments to the timeless values of the life of the law.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Nov 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9781982214197

York County Bar Association

Compiled and forward by J. ROSS MCGINNIS. J. Ross McGinnis, attorney and author of “Trials of Hex,” was born in 1928 and was raised on a farm in southern York County. After graduating from Fawn Township Vocational High School in 1944, he attended York Collegiate Institute/York Junior College for one year. He then went to Princeton University, graduating in 1949 summa cum laude, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and awarded the Lawrence Hutton Prize in History, and was the co-recipient of the C.O. Jolene Prize in American Political History for his thesis on Henry Adams, the Sequence of the Democratic Force. He graduated from the Harvard Law School in 1952 and was given a direct commission in the U.S. Air Force. He became a staff judge advocate and, after two years, was discharged with the rank of Captain. Since 1954, he has been a practicing attorney in York County. He was President of the York County Bar, Moderator of Donegal Presbytery, and a life member of the Salvation Army. He is currently “of counsel” for the law firm of Stock and Leader in York, Pennsylvania.

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Contents

Introduction

Acknowledgements

1950–1959

John Aaron Hoober

Palmer C. Bortner

Benjamin Weinbrom

Ralph E. Rudisill

Mary Jane Yohe

J. Edgar Small

E. Philip Stair

Samuel S. Laucks, Sr.

Adam F. Geesey

Clarence M. Lawyer, Jr.

James J. Logan

Max Lichtenfeld

William B. Gemmill

Charles H. Still

Ralph F. Fisher

George Hay Kain

Thomas F. Chrostwaite

James J. Gerry

Samuel S. Lewis

1960–1969

J. Thurman Atkins

Walter B. Hays

Robert S. Spangler

Guy W. Bange

Judge McClean Stock

George Hay Kain, Jr.

Robert B. Frey

Robert Whigham Morton

Spencer D. Wareheim

H. Oscar Ruby

Harold B. Rudisill

Frederick B. Gerber

1970–1979

Arthur Markowitz

Robert C. Fluhrer

Justice Herbert Bank Cohen

David R. Monroe

Judge Ray P. Sherwood

George Michael Elsesser, Jr.

Josiah W. Gitt

W. Walter Van Baman

Judge George Wise Atkins

Richard Anderson Peel

William Luria

Judge Harvey A. Gross

Russell S. Stine

Jay Vernon Yost

David W. Stitely

Robert M. Laird

Judge Walter I. Anderson

Charles E. Bergdoll

Carl R. May

Russell F. Griest

David W. Wise

Introduction

By J. Ross McGinnis

These are the researches of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, which he publishes, in the hope thereby preserving from decay the remembrance of what men have done, and of preventing the great and wonderful actions of the Greeks and the Barbarians from losing their due meed of glory…. The History of Herodotus.

With these lines, Herodotus opens his history and we believe them to be no less appropriate for the members of the York County Bar. No one can read these memorials and not echo the declaration of Judge Ray Sherwood when he said:

We direct that the minute for Lee S. Fake – 1941 be spread upon the records of this court as a part of the permanent history of a truly great bar. And again, He was a worthy member of a great county bar for Robert E. Frey – 1946.

And also the declaration of Judge Nevin Wanner for James Glessner – 1936 who said:

It is ordered that this minute he spread upon the records of this court as part of our permanent history of this really great bar.

The memorials of the York County Bar are a unique and unusual literary genre that got underway in 1850 and still continues in a much more verbose contemporary format. While the memorials cannot claim the soaring rhetoric of a Pericles’ funeral oration or plumb the depths of a Hamlet death soliloquy, they compel more attention and interest than the typical obituary recording the death of prominent people.

The memorial commences with the bar president announcing the name of the deceased and then an introduction of the partner or close friend who presents the minute which is primarily a brief biography accompanied by some personal references and a motion to adopt. This minute is followed by seconds by friends and associates who enlarge upon the personal and professional character of the departed and highlight their observations with anecdotal references.

Only members of the bar may speak. This limitation was imposed only recently and, in all likelihood, was the result of two non-lawyers introducing what might be described as lengthy, extraneous comments and resolutions in one of the memorials. A verbatim transcript of the memorial is made by a court reporter. For purposes of clarity, we define minute, as the single resolution or opening statement. When observations or comments are added, the more inclusive term memorial is used.

The thread that is common throughout all the memorials is the court order coming at the end directing that the memorial in its entirety be made a permanent part of the court’s record and that a copy be forwarded to the decedent’s family; the inference being that this will impart an element of immortality and add greater significance to the decedent’s life.

There is one notable exception to the universal policy of limiting these memorials to members of the York County Bar.

In 1881, The Honorable Thomas E. Cochran, in a short but appropriate address spoke of the death of President Garfield at the hands of an assassin as a great national calamity, calling upon all to pause and reflect; to consider how much each had contributed toward the culmination of crime which ended the life of this great man; concluding with a motion to the court to adjourn out of respect to the chief magistrate of the country. Mr. Chapman in a few pertinent remarks seconded the motion.

"His honor, Judge Wickes, said in reply, That the sensibilities of the Court had been deeply moved by the death of the Chief Magistrate of the nation – that there was a peculiar sadness about this death, which has evoked the profoundest sympathy and grief of all, without regard to party or section. It was creditable to the country that its citizens could forget all, in the presence of this great sorrow, remembering only that the President of the United States has fallen in the midst of his official career, under circumstances deeply distressing. It is proper we should all pause in our business pursuits, and pay whatever tribute of respect is possible to his memory.

It is therefore ordered that this Court stand adjourned until tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock, and that this proceeding be entered upon its records."

On a cool, crisp Friday afternoon in November 1963, Judson Ruch, Esquire opened the door to Courtroom #1 interrupting a trial in progress – President Judge George W. Atkins presiding – and announced to all of us present in the room, Your honor, President Kennedy has been shot in Dallas, Texas. The Judge responded by saying, Out of respect for the memory of the President, Court will be adjourned until Monday morning.

In the early years, the memorial consisted of a formally drafted resolution employing a heavy, baroque style language – what could be described as a true minute.

Over time, the minute along with accompanying observations has evolved into a much more comprehensive tribute, heavily freighted with character descriptions and philosophies of life – a true memorial cast against the horizon of death.

The early minutes were handwritten, difficult to interpret and somewhat spartan in substance and ended up in the dust bin of the Prothonotary’s records tucked away in the County’s archives repository at Stony Brook, virtually inaccessible. Over the years, the great bulk of the memorials have been scattered throughout the numerous volumes of the York Legal Record following no discernable order except the date of presentation.

We have compiled all of the memorials (including the early resolutions and minutes) in the order in which they were given in a single collection of multiple volumes making them readily accessible and available.

They are an important record of men and women who were not only prominent members of our bar and in the legal profession, but were significant contributors to the community, whose lives made a substantial impact on the broad sweep of community life and character. For that, we must always be not only proud, but grateful.

Because of the brevity of the early memorials, we have inserted excerpts from biographical personal sketches where they could be found in the two outstanding York County Histories – John Gibson – 1886 and the two volume Prowell - 1907.

Unfortunately, there were some very prominent lawyers and judges whose lives were not memorialized, either because the practice was not in place when they died or the result of neglect or choice.

Hugh Brackenridge was the college classmate of James Madison – Princeton, 1771 – lived for a time in Peach Bottom Township near the Mason-Dixon Line and was, in addition to being a lawyer, a literary figure of some stature in the early years of the nation’s history.

James Smith was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence.

Robert Fisher served thirty years as President Judge during the mid-nineteenth century and as a result of his persuasive advocacy, the Confederate General Jubal D. Early whose columns marched through York on the eve of the Battle of

Gettysburg, did not torch the courthouse records.

Edward Chapin, Sr. is the only exception to our general policy of not including anyone who did not have a memorial. He was a lawyer of some note in the mid-nineteenth century and the father of Edward Chapin who did have a memorial.

In the twentieth century, there is no memorial for Norman Petow – considered by some to have been the Bar’s reigning cynic and who famously said in his prelude to the memorial for Charles H. Still, I have attended many of these ceremonies where we pay tribute to the members of the bar who have passed on. I suppose that if somebody in the future, some historian would examine the rolls of this court, they would probably think that all the angels had descended at some time or other, to become members of the York County Bar. ¹

McClean Stock wanted no memorial, but his wishes were never reduced to writing and a very fine and generous memorial materialized out of nowhere, the author unknown.

In a similar vein, his law partner, Henry Leader, had often expressed his opposition to a memorial. But again, there was no written record of this position; his four daughters asked for a memorial and a ceremony was held.

Judge Walter Anderson asked that his minute be confined to a memorial tribute as a record of this court. For this reason, the members of the bar generally have not been requested to attend. Leo Gribbin, President of the Bar, for Judge Walter Anderson – 1977.

Again quoting Jeffrey Bortner’s delightful little book – Commentaries for Lawyers & Ilk - Over the years, several have given such instruction (no minute upon my death). The one that lingers in my mind was that of Paul Stein, using words by Alfred Lord Tennyson in clever double entendre directed: Sunset and evening star and one clear call for me and let there be no moaning of the bar when I put out to sea.

The occasion for the memorial not only promoted professional cohesion, it also afforded the opportunity to remember the dead and extol their virtues. Were they unduly laudatory? Why not? These were last rites and were intended to remind surviving colleagues that here was a model for everyone to emulate and re-examine their own values as suggested by Judge Albert Blakey when he spoke at Edward Garber’s memorial, He was a professional of these kind of ideals that we come here to renew – Judge Albert Blakey for Edward Garber – 1994 and Ronald

Hershner when he said at Henry Leader’s memorial, I can only hope that these moments of reflection in these minutes will remind us and those that follow us what it takes to be like Henry Leader, a truly exceptional in our profession. Ronald Hershner for Henry Leader – 2015.

Nor was aggressive advocacy any less a part of the practice of law in the twentieth century than in the nineteenth. In 1884, H. L. Fisher said of John Blackford, Our departed friend and I were antagonists in many a long and hard fought case in Court and before referees and arbitrators, and momentary asperities of temper were sometimes indulged in on both sides but I am happy to say that no protracted unfriendly feelings ever existed between us.

Tom Reed at Nevin Stetler’s memorial (1996) referred to a case where he and Nevin fought like tigers and Judge Ray Sherwood called them both to the bench and asked, Why do you two fight so much, aren’t you friends? Stetler replied, We are the best of friends Judge. We’re just helping our clients out here. I’m taking care of the state and he is taking care of his client.

In the Amos Herrmann memorial, Judge Ray Sherwood complimented

Herrmann as follows – During one week of that court, from Monday morning until Saturday night at nine o’clock, Mr. Herrmann tried three homicide cases and was successful in each one of them. That, I believe, was close to a record in the courts of our county for the expeditious manner in which district attorneys have facilitated the work of the court.

This was not only a record for the reason given by Judge Sherwood, these three homicide trials arising out of the Hex murder in Southern York County marked that week as historic in the broad sweep of the common law. Never before had there been such a cluster of homicide cases tried back to back in the brief time interval of one week. Even more significant, the first two trials concluded with first degree verdicts accompanied by sentences of life in prison, but against all odds, the third trial concluded with the verdict of second degree and ten years as a result of the inspired advocacy of the charismatic Harvey Gross.

At the conclusion of the third trial, Herrmann said, Mr. Gross, I want to thank you for saving the life of that boy (Wilbert Hess, one of the three accused defendants). Gross then turned to one of the reporters and made a statement of Delphic ambiguity – mankind reached its full stature here tonite. Gross was complementing the jury for a remarkable feat in the wake of two first degree verdicts and in a community saturated with witchcraft and pow wow publicity. Gross would go on to serve twenty years as Judge of the York County Orphans’ Court.

These memorials are a resume of unique personalities and relationships, a record of men and women who once upon a time walked the halls and used the marble stairs of the old Court House on East Market Street, peopled the courtrooms in earnest advocacy and argument, experienced triumph and defeat at the hands of indifferent juries and demanding judges.

In an era characterized by a growing number of women swelling the ranks of the profession in droves, it is noteworthy that no woman gained admission to the rolls of the dead until 1954 when Mary Jane Yohe was given a memorial.

Mary Jane was physically handicapped which prompted Walter Van Baman to say, This lady lived a life of daily bravery. The very sight of her was an inspiration to us. Judge Walter Anderson’s observation was notably prescient, I have no doubt that in the future there will be other members of the fair sex admitted to the Bar of York County, but I gravely question that there will ever be one who will be more beloved than was our gracious and friendly Mary Jane.

Mattie Chapman followed in 1982 and was distinguished not only as a woman, but also as an honorary member of the Bar and the first African-American to be given a memorial tribute (Judge Clarence Patterson, Jr. would be the second in 2011). Mattie was the unqualified favorite of all who knew her – an absolutely delightful person and to borrow briefly from Don Quixote, truly the lady of the cheerful countenance of the York County Prothonotary’s Office. Judge Buckingham said, I believe when Mattie passed, a light went out in this Court House.

Ruth Robey followed Mattie in 1993 and at her memorial, Judge Penny Blackwell gave one of the more thoughtful analyses of the nature and purpose of the occasion. This moment of respect that was given to Ruth Robey and has been given many times before and will be given many times in the future to other attorneys and judges, causes us to pause and reflect upon that person’s contribution to each of our lives.

After Ruth Robey, Patricia Butler’s death in 1996 prompted a vast outpouring of sorrow and grief demonstrating how deeply felt her loss was to her many colleagues and friends. Rees Griffiths summarized the multiple facets of her life and personality, When I think of Pat Butler, I reflect on a virtuous life filled with love and devotion for her husband and family, filled with dedicated service to her profession and her clients and filled with warm and unqualified friendship.

In 2015, Angela Dobrinoff-Blake died, the tragic victim of cancer at a very young age. At her memorial, Judge Andrea Marceca Strong described her as the incarnation of the words of Bessie Anderson Stanley’s poem of success, whose opening and closing lines are as follows, He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much….whose life was an inspiration, whose memory a benediction.

The sixth woman remembered and also the first woman elected to the York County bench in its entire history was Judge Sheryl Dorney who died in 2016. With a caustic but crisp nod to the past, Judge Maria Musti Cook summarized Judge

Dorney’s notable distinctions when she said, The Pennsylvania Courts of Common Pleas were established by the PA Constitution in 1776. In 1790, judicial districts were formed and the position of president judge was established as the head of common pleas courts. Based upon this history, it took the enlightened citizens of York County only 211 years to elect a woman to the common pleas bench. Whether you personally knew Judge Dorney or not, there can be no mistake that she was a trailblazer for women in the legal profession in York County and across the state and dare I say the nation, first by being the first female Assistant DA hired in 1975 and also by her election to the bench in the fall of 1987. And in between those two events and the years that followed her election to the bench, Judge Dorney dedicated herself to her profession.

And so women took their place along with men in that silent caravan which like the sacred river Alph winds through caverns measureless to man down to a sunless sea. ²

As would be expected, death was a constant presence, but when it occurred suddenly with no prior alarm, it was particularly intimidating and anomalous. A. C. Fulton collapsed in the courtroom in the turmoil of a will contest. His death was followed by this lament, But yesterday in the full flesh and vigor of manhood at its prime, he went in and amongst us and today lies cold and silent in death’s dark embrace – said of A. C. Fulton – 1892, and again, death is always tragic, and it is more keenly so when it comes with the swiftness of a lightening flash – Judge Ray Sherwood for Charles Still – 1957.

Many died in their early years or before anything like their full potential had been reached. When the Grim Reaper takes one of our members in the prime of life…it is a real tragedy to all of us. Judge Walter Anderson for Benjamin

Weinbrom – 1952. We lost her far too soon, Brian Strong for Angela Dobrinoff-Blake – 2015.

Death was considerate of Carroll Lingg, it came while he slept, and for Victor Dell’Alba, it came on the grassy slopes of a Florida golf course.

None of these deaths, even though proclaimed to be tragic and premature, could match the horror that engulfed Judge Gordon Roe. Recently elected to the bench at age 41, his prospects and potential stretched to the sky – his vistas unlimited; on a late spring day, pinned helplessly under farm equipment with his life slipping away – he died shortly thereafter as a result of his injuries – his death must rank near the top in the annals of human misfortunes. The saddest words in life are ‘what might have been.’ Lewis Markowitz for Judge Gordon Roe – 1988.

In responding to the death of a colleague, they were subconsciously dealing with the realization that their own lives were finite and that they too were destined inexorably and irrevocably and with absolute certainty to this same fate – that issues, problems and challenges that had seemed so important and monumental during their professional careers in the grand scheme of things were really trivial and insignificant.

The existentialist Jean-Paul Sarte in anguished protest proclaimed, it is absurd that we shall die, a sentiment affirmed by Judge Walter Anderson at the James Gerry memorial, one of the greatest tragedies of death is that the vast knowledge, experience, skill that one has spent a lifetime in acquiring ceases and passes into oblivion with the last heartbeat.

Cursed by the frailties of their mortality and finality, they turned to philosophy, literature and poetry attempting to learn something of the unknowable, to find meaning in mysteries and events beyond meaning, to reach out to worlds too obscure and distant to understand.

This fixation on death gave the memorials an impetus that was both clarifying and opaque, a frustration that was agonizing and profound, that added to and deepened the significance and meaning of life, as mirrored in the words spoken at the memorial for Major H. S. McNair – 1906, In the midst of life, we are in death – a thought amplified by Leo Tolstoy in his short but powerful novel – The Death of Ivan Ilyich where he argues that all life points to death, that a life is a value, but an incomplete value and that death is a natural corollary. In all of this one of the characters in the novel, the peasant Gerasim, interjects something of the pragmatic when he cries out, we all have to die someday.

In the words of Horace G. Port’s minute for Ralph Fisher (1958):

"Death is but a name, a date,

A milestone by the stormy road

Where you may lay aside your load

And bow your face and rest and wait,

Defying fear, defying fate."

In the words of W. Van Baman’s minute for Spencer Wareheim, and so Spencer Wareheim (1966) has taken the road to discover we must travel too. He was my friend, faithful and just to me.

And so he moves into eternity, eternity

Came he from one?

Goes he to one?

And is his life then but a fleck

of dust between the two

A fleck of dust

Who knows? Who knows?

and Judge Emanuel Cassimatis at Christian Ness’s memorial – 2001 reaching into the deep wells of his own Greek heritage, quoting Socrates, One must wait until the evening to see how bright the day has been, death really causes us to look back and see what a bright day his journey in life has been.

We cannot help but conclude that these memorials have about them a dimension that broadens and defines our history, heritage and even our humanity, a dimension that Judge John Uhler implied when he said at Nevin Stetler’s memorial – 1996 – These minutes are essential in memorializing and preserving for the remaining members of the Bar as well as history the greatness of those that have come before us.

To paraphrase the medieval scholastic, St. Bernard of Chartres, we are as dwarfs perched on the shoulders of giants and thus we are able to see more and farther because we are carried aloft by the magnitude of the giants. For all their individuality, the contributions to these memorials form an eloquent and incisive whole that teaches how much there is to discover in the sober and creative thoughts and observations of the men and women of the York County Bar.

Acknowledgements

I am deeply grateful for the help and support given me in this enterprise. Retired former President Judge John C. Uhler of the York County Court of Common Pleas initiated this work just as he energized the writing of Lawyers and Leaders, a York County Bar history in 2005. A fervent believer that the Bar Memorials are an integral part of York County Bar History, through Judge Uhler’s persuasion, the Bar Leaders agreed to fund this compilation. Judge Uhler’s spirit inspires all of us.

I have also greatly benefited from the participation of Victoria A. Connor, Chief Executive Officer of the York County Bar and Bar Foundation. She believed this publication to be an appropriate milestone marking the 136th anniversary of the York County Bar and the 25th anniversary of the York County Bar Foundation. By virtue of Ms. Connor’s suggestion that the memorials be structured by decades, they form a much more cohesive entity.

I am also indebted to the very competent and dedicated staff members of the York County Bar and Foundation, Cheryl Kauffman, Jennifer Mischke and Kendall Menzer, and intern Stephanie Bange, for their supervision and management of the host of technical issues.

I cannot say enough for the patience and excellence of the work of my very competent secretary, Geri Benzel, who managed to turn my handwritten legal sheets into very impressive manuscript. Fortunately, Geri takes to the current technology with ease and agility.

Heartfelt accolades must be assigned to the multitude of lawyers and judges, men and women, who over the decades gathered in formal judicial arenas where every word spoken was frozen for all time in transcripts – a ritual setting and a ritual procedure - and poured out their commentaries in deep and somber mourning for the passing of a colleague from life to death – call it rites of passage – call it reflections on journey’s end, call it whatever pleases your youth and fancy, this is their legacy for present and future generations.

The memorials speak for themselves, some of them with a touch of humor when the subject has been a universally recognized character, but by and large they are sober reflections by learned men and women on the rich and moving mosaic of a life at its termination.

- J. Ross McGinnis

1950–1959

***

JOHN AARON HOOBER – OCTOBER 1950

Mr. Arthur Markowitz, President of the Bar Association:

If your Honors please, it is my sad duty to inform the Court of the death of John Aaron Hoober, a member of our Bar for many, many years.

I have asked a committee, headed by Mr. Van Baman, to present a fitting resolution. I would like to have Mr. Van Baman do that now.

Mr. Walter Van Baman:

Gentlemen of the Bench and Members of the Bar: In answering the request of the President of the Bar Association to prepare and present a memorial to the death of Mr. Hoober, I have prepared the following which I present for your consideration:

"By the death of our brother, John A. Hoober, there has departed from our midst one who was almost an institution in himself, so marked was the impress of his personality within the circle of this Bar for a period of more than half a century. There are few of us who knew him for that length of time, but all who knew him were aware of his unusual individualism, embracing as it did activities in a broad field of endeavor.

"He was a true son of York county. Born in Wrightsville in 1867, he was the son of Henry and Matilda Holtzapple Hoober. Receiving an elemental education in local schools, he received a preparatory foundation at York Collegiate Institute, from which he entered the Yale Law School. He graduated from the law school in 1891, apparently with such honor that he subsequently taught there as well as in the Dickinson Law School in Carlisle. He was admitted to the York County Bar in 1891, and began private practice in 1893. He appeared frequently before the appellate courts of the state as well as the federal courts. We all know that he continued in active practice until a very recent date, and we have observed with sadness his slow descent to the setting sun of his life. We knew from the slowness of his walk that his splendid physical strength was ebbing—we knew that a great figure was passing; we knew that a successful career was closing, but we did not realize the depth and breadth of his help to his fellowmen.

"John Hoober was typical of the best that the American way of life can produce.

John Aaron Hoober – 1950

"John Hoober was typical of the best that the American way of life can produce.

Said by Walter Van Baman.

His love for his fellow man was transcendent. Now at the ripe age of 83 he crosses to the bourne from which no traveler ever returns.

Said by Walter Van Baman.

Length of days was in his right hand, and in his left riches and honor.

Said by Judge Ray P. Sherwood.

"His career was a remarkable one. Ordinarily the busy and studious lawyer has no time, nor capacity, to give much attention to anything else. The old axiom ’the law is a jealous mistress’ had no application to Mr. Hoober. He was the master of that mistress, the law, but only by reason of his industry, a trait of character, which, combined with adroit intellectual power, resulted in triple success: at law, at finance, at business. Even more striking was the success that he made of the fruits of his industry. In the acquisition of the purely material man often loses his sense of other values. But not so with Mr. Hoober. The welfare of mankind must have been close to his heart. In no other way can the sharing of his future be accounted. It must be true that real love for his fellow men inspired his hand to distribute much of his wealth to those agencies, religious and charitable, whose purpose of existence is to help others. The revelation of this unmatched generosity now amazes us, and inspires us to admiration of a man whose true measure we never realized.

"We did, however, realize his powers as we encountered them in one of his chosen areas of activity—the courts. When we encountered him before a jury we knew that we had on hand an opponent of the best tempered steel. When he presented an argument of the law to the court, or the analysis of facts to a jury and when we observed the adroitness, the urbanity and skill with which he did either or both—then we knew that we had a fight on our hands. This was due to his naturally keen mind developed by hard training, combined with untiring industry, and a broad and masterful knowledge of the law. We know this for the reason that his activities covered so many years that the oldest of us and down through the list of our membership to some of the most recently admitted—all have been in contact with him.

"Let us say of him that his legal, business and financial judgment and qualifications were of the highest. Let them stand as such. But they are dwarfed by what we now know to be true: that his love for his fellow men was transcendent. Nothing else could have inspired his help and service to his church; to his alma mater, to institutions for care of the aged; to public health agencies; to educational institutions; to innumerable individuals—all these could proceed only from a great heart.

Now at the ripe age of 83 he crosses to the bourne from which no traveler ever returns. There he will appear at the bar of the Great Judge where his life will be reviewed. There his learning and skill as an advocate will be unnecessary for his acts in life will earn for him that accolade which we all hope to earn: ’Well done thou good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord’.

I move that this memorial be presented and spread upon the minutes of this Court, and that a copy be sent to his bereaved family.

Mr. Horace E. Smith:

May it please the Court, it is with a feeling of deep personal loss that I rise to second the minute so ably presented by Mr. Van Baman.

I became associated with Mr. Hoober a number of years ago. I met him while I was still in college, and it was a real privilege and a pleasure to be with him. I learned to admire his tremendous ability, his capacity for work, his willingness to continue under any adverse circumstances, a determination almost unparalleled in the normal make-up of men.

He gave me my first case to handle. As a matter of fact, I took care of it before I was actually admitted to practice. He sent me to Harrisburg to appear before a commission there, and I had to first get the consent of the deputy Attorney General before we could proceed with the case. And that was true of the way he operated with me from then on; everything was on my own, and there was no consultation until the problem had been finally disposed of.

He was a man of great strength and force of character. We are all familiar with his learning and his knowledge of the law, his ability to try a case, and his determination not to give up in spite of adversity.

He started as a very young person to earn his own living; in fact, he told me at one time that, at the age of four, he began to work in Wrightsville, where he was born, and as a newspaper carrier and reporter for The Gazette and Daily, that he started to work that he might ultimately gain a living.

He went to the York Collegiate Institute and to Yale University, as the record has stated. After his graduation at Yale, he stayed on as a Class Master, as a result of which he earned the academic degrees of Doctor of Laws and Doctor of Civil Laws. He then came here as a private practitioner. He found time in his early days to travel to Dickinson Law School where he taught Patent Law for two years.

Mr. Hoober had a penchant for architecture, and at one time thought he would be an architect and would devote himself to that profession. He later devoted himself to the practice of law and became, I feel, a great practitioner from that time to this. He worked diligently and faithfully, and when I say I was impressed with his courage and his fighting capacity, he manifested that right up to the moment of his death. I was with him at the time of his passing and he put up a great battle then and finally succumbed to death.

I feel that our community has suffered a great loss. His financial acumen was tremendous. I don’t think that I have ever associated with anyone who knew more about the investment of moneys and who was so capable in his determination of what would be a sound investment than Mr. Hoober. He spent hours in studying those things and acquiring the financial knowledge which made him a great financier. He had associates throughout the country who had the highest respect for his ability, both as a lawyer and as a banker and financier.

He had a great love and affection for his church, with which we are all familiar, and he had a deep conviction that religion and Christianity were principles which would help to solve world problems and world difficulties, and because of that strong feeling much of his philanthropy was directed towards religious institutions and organizations. He had a great feeling of admiration for his alma mater because, as he expressed in his own words, it was the training which he obtained through that institution which enabled him to accumulate the money which he did, and, therefore, he felt that the moneys which he had gotten together should go back to that institution. You will notice in the list published many other objects of his bounty, and I think he personally felt that he wanted this money to go to places where, in his opinion, the greatest good could be served.

It is not often that a bar has the privilege of observing the passing of a member of the caliber of Mr. Hoober. He was a man of great strength and untiring effort, and I feel that the community has lost a great lawyer, a great citizen, and a good friend.

Mr. Adam F. Geesey:

May it please the Court, I would like to second the minute on the passing of John A. Hoober. After the close association that Mr. Hoober and I had for the past thirty years, it seems almost a dream to be here at this memorial ceremony.

I think very few people realize that Mr. Hoober fought his way through Yale to a Bachelor of Laws, then was given the Class Mastership at two hundred and fifty dollars a year, and with that and what he could earn writing for the New Haven Evening Register, he stayed on another year for his Master of Laws, and another year for his Doctor of Civil Law. There are, I believe, less than fifty men from Yale who have earned their Doctor of Civil Law there.

Many years ago, probably twenty-five, a little old lady was in the office in the old Central National Bank building, and she informed me that, in order to get ahead of Johnny Hoober, you had to get up awful early in the morning. He certainly was a leader at the Bar, a leader in finance, a leader in industry. I remember the time when he would come to the office at a quarter of seven in the morning, he left at four to go to the York Wall Paper Company of which he was president, and in two hours he did a whole day’s work there, and was usually back in the office in the evening. His passing has left a void in the Bar and in this community that will certainly be hard to fill.

Mr. T. Frederick Feldmann:

If the Court please, I too would like to second this motion that has been presented. Mr. Hoober was my preceptor, also, and I feel that I can say nothing that would adequately show my gratitude to him. I thoroughly subscribe to the things which have been said about him today. His capacity for work was certainly tremendous, as was his ability. It has been said better than I can elaborate upon it.

I would like to add this: I was unfortunate in that I could not associate with him for a very long period after my admission to the Bar. Shortly before I entered the Army I had that pleasure and privilege, and for a comparatively short while since I came out of the Army. I was very much privileged to associate with him in the Bible class at St. Paul’s church which is named for him. His devotion to that Bible class was a really beautiful thing. His interest in it and his generosity to it are traits which bore out his gratitude to his fellowmen, to his God, and to his church, for all that he had received in this life.

I cannot help but comment, also, on his physical courage. Those of us who saw him in recent years realized that he was on the downward trail, unmistakably. Those physical disabilities of his started many years ago, and those of us who knew his troubles realized that the end would be sometime. What we did not realize was that his great courage would make it possible for him to live much longer and much more fruitfully than many, many persons who were similarly afflicted. That courage is certainly the mark of a man who was more than ordinary. More than that I will not say about his ability as a lawyer. It has been said with great ability by the other men who spoke.

I only wish to add this: We have read in the papers and we have heard in the minute of his great generosity. I myself was one of the persons who benefited by that. Mr. Hoober made possible my education, and on the kind of terms that surpassed belief as to generosity. If for no other reason I wish to second this motion which has been made.

Mr. W. Burg Anstine:

If the Court please, I rise to second the motion offered on the passing of John Aaron Hoober.

I know that Mr. Hoober was very fond of a passage of Scripture that is found in the letter of St. Paul to Timothy, I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.

As has been already stated here this afternoon, those of us who knew Mr. Hoober

knew him to be a keen competitor, as many years of successful practice at this Bar attest to the long and successful race that he ran, and none of us would doubt his faith in his church, in his college, in his profession, and in the cause of his many clients.

I, like Mr. Feldmann particularly, am indebted to Mr. Hoober. When I finished high school, I had desires to go on to college and law school, but found myself without sufficient finances. I cast about at various places without success, and then one day, as a complete stranger, I walked into the office of Mr. Hoober and told him what I would like. Not only did he give me a letter of recommendation to Dickinson College, but he also gave me a check, and from then on, through my college and law school days, I found that whenever I was in need of moneys, I could walk into his office and, with nothing more than the mere asking, receive the assistance that I sought.

After I began the practice of law, I was eager to repay him, but when I came to my office one morning, without any advance notice, I found the notes that I had delivered to him lying inside my door, they having been put through the mail-slot the night before. I hurried to his office and told him there must be some mistake about this, that certainly I was not yet completely paid, and certainly I had not paid him any interest on the notes in the meantime, and he assured me in no uncertain terms that my account with him was altogether squared.

I say that in itself would attest to his tremendous generosity. I have lost a real friend. The Bar has lost one of its outstanding members, and this community has lost a generous philanthropist.

The Hon. Walter I. Anderson:

I first heard the name of John Aaron Hoober, I think, when I registered at the law school in New Haven, and the registrar, apparently noticing that I was from York County, asked me if I knew Attorney Hoober from York. I had to admit that I did not know him at that time. Then, a little later, I had occasion to go into the library to look up some matter of Pennsylvania law, and I found there a complete set of Pennsylvania State Reports, with a placard thereon stating that they had been donated by John A. Hoober, of York, Pennsylvania. Following that, I stopped in to get acquainted with Mr. Hoober in his office here in York, and, of course, I was immediately impressed with his cultured and genial attitude, friendliness, and pleasing personality. From that time on, we were always very good friends, and he was very kind to me when I came to the Bar as a young practitioner. I shall always remember his kindness and his interest in me as a young lawyer.

I think it was just three years ago that I was taking my young son through the law school, and we stopped, of course, to see the recently erected law library, and I was tremendously impressed to see three large painted portraits on the walls of the library. One of them was that of Elihu Root, another was William Howard Taft, and the third was John A. Hoober, of York, Pennsylvania. That, I think, is an indication of the high esteem in which he was held by his alma mater.

There is no question that Mr. Hoober was one of our leading citizens and an outstanding member of our Bar, whose fidelity, personality and many admirable qualities will, I am sure, long be remembered.

The Honorable Harvey A. Gross:

I well remember the first time I ever saw and came in contact with Mr. Hoober. That was way back in the October Quarter Sessions Court of 1898, when I was a country school teacher. I testified in court, and Mr. Hoober was representing Joseph R. Strawbridge, who was then district attorney but was ill and could not try cases. He made his impress upon my mind at that time, and I, of course, never forgot him.

I had many, many contacts with Mr. Hoober after I became a member of the Bar, and during the years when I was in active practice, I probably was quarreling and contesting with him more than with any other member of the Bar. He had a unique physiognomy, both mental and physical, that made him a really dangerous opponent in open court. I found that out, and I think I profited by it, too, because when I had Mr. Hoober on the other side, I usually wanted to be prepared with the best that was in me, both as to strategy and every other way, because Mr. Hoober was a hard man to whip in open court. He had an ability in selecting jurors, he was well known all over York County, not just in one part of it but he knew the people and the people knew him all over the county, and he had a great advantage over the average lawyer when it came to an open court contest, because he knew the people and the people loved him, and he carried the respect of them, and they had great confidence in him.

I heartily approve everything that has been said about him at this meeting, and I am very happy to second the resolution and to direct that it be spread upon the minutes of the Court.

The Hon. Ray P. Sherwood, P. J.:

I concur heartily in all of the laudatory and eulogistic remarks made by

Mr. Hoober’s brethren of the Bar.

I remember Mr. Hoober very well during a large portion of his life. I had offices on the same floor with him in the old Security Building for a number of years, a single intervening office separating my rooms from Mr. Hoober’s, and in that way I personally learned a good deal of Mr. Hoober’s activities.

He was a giant, not only mentally but in his efforts which were prodigious and were of such a character and nature that, to a youngster it seemed almost impossible for an individual to continue in the active work of the Bar and his business interests in the way that he did. He seemed to thrive on work. I recall very well his early coming into the office, referred to by Mr. Geesey, and his many nightly appearances.

His clientele was extremely large, and at almost any hour of the day you could see a large number of people in his office waiting to see him, and I recall his urbanity so well, in that he would say to a client who was next in line, Walk into my parlor, and he would take them into the back office where he had a rocking-chair—it seemed to be second nature of Mr. Hoober—and he would always impose his frame on the rocking-chair in listening to the complaints of those who had called to see him. Length of days was in his right hand, and in his left riches and honor.

He seemed to have the faculty which few of us possess, of being not only a good lawyer but a good financier and business man. He was highly successful in a financial way. He made many friends, and I personally mourn his loss.

I direct that this minute be spread upon the records of this court, that a copy be sent to the family, so that future generations may know something of the ability and the activities of John Aaron Hoober.

* * *

PALMER C. BORTNER – AUGUST 1951

Meeting of the York County Bar Association in Court Room Number Two, in the Court House in the City of York, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, August 15, 1951, at ten o’clock, A. M.

On Wednesday morning, August 15, 1951, a large number of the members of the Bar assembled in Court. Ray P. Sherwood, President Judge, and Walter

I. Anderson, Judge, of the Court of Common Pleas, and Harvey A. Gross, President Judge of the Orphans’ Court, were on the bench.

In the absence of the President of the Bar Association, Horace G. Ports, Esquire, who is traveling in Europe, Samuel S. Laucks, Sr., Esquire, announced the death of Mr. Bortner.

Mr. Laucks said:

May it please your Honors, it is my solemn duty to announce the tragic and untimely passing of Palmer C. Bortner, a distinguished member of this Bar. Mr. Ralph F. Fisher, with whom Mr. Bortner was associated for a number of years, has prepared and will present an appropriate Minute.

Mr. Fisher said:

If the Court please, I ask leave to file the following Memorial Minute upon the untimely death of Palmer C. Bortner:

"By the untimely and traumatic death of one of our fraternity, Palmer C. Bortner, the Bar of York County has sustained the loss of a fine and upright citizen and one gifted with unusual technical legal learning.

Born in Glen Rock, York County, Pennsylvania, on January 1, 1907, he attended the public schools of that borough and was graduated from its high school, taught rural school in Codorus Township, York County, from 1925 to 1926, when he matriculated at Gettysburg College and was graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Science in 1930, taught Social Science in the Salem, New Jersey, High School from 1930 to 1931, when he entered the Law School of the University of Michigan and was graduated with a Bachelor of Laws Degree in 1934. He was admitted to practice before the Bar of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and the respective courts of York County in 1936.

At Gettysburg College he entered the Reserve Officers Training Corps and upon leaving that institution was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Reserve of the United States Army, which was the initiation of his military experience and which was destined to become one of the major activities of his life, interrupting the practice of his chosen profession for protracted periods at least twice. His practice of law grew from nothing when he was admitted to the Bar in 1936 to a substantial volume in 1941, during which year, on March 21st, he was called back into the service of the Army and commissioned as a Captain, which rank he retained until December 26, 1942, when he was commissioned as a Major. He served the United States Army during the entire period of the Second World War, having been engaged in that capacity in Normandy Northern France, the Rhineland and Central Europe, and having been awarded five battle stars, including the American Defense Ribbon and Bronze Star Medal. Subsequently he was advanced to Lieutenant Colonel in the Ordnance Division of the United States Army and was relieved of active duty with the Army in December of 1945. On January 1, 1946, he resumed the practice of law in York County and joined the firm of Fisher, Ports & May, with which firm he practiced until he was again called back into active service with the Army on September 4, 1950 and immediately assigned to active duty at Camp Pickett Virginia.

Upon the resumption of practice in 1946 and for the ensuing period of four and one-half years or more, Palmer C. Bortner was very active in the pursuit of his profession in all of the courts of York County as well as the Appellate Courts of the State. He was chosen County Solicitor and Solicitor of the Institution District of York County beginning a term on January 1, 1948. During his administration of these important offices of the County of York he served the County with outstanding ability, having guided the legal affairs not only of the County but of the Institution District with exceptional skill and learning, especially in the expenditure of large sums of money for the expansion of the County Home of the Institution District.

He was familiarly known to his fellow members of the Bar, his friends and many of his clients, as Pal, which appellation he well earned not only from the derivation of his name but from his friendly and affable spirit which he constantly displayed to all who came into contact with him. He was a highly ethical and moral person and would not in his practice compromise with the unethical or with what he believed to be wrong. He was meticulous and careful in the preparation of his cases and rendering opinions to clients. He had the characteristic of serene obstinacy when he believed his client to be right and his proposition of law to be invulnerable. He gave unstintingly of his time to civic and public causes as well as to his country. He is one of whom it can be said with great verity that he was faithful and loyal to the highest principles of his profession, to his family, to his country and to his Creator."

I would like therefore to request your Honors to spread this Memorial Minute upon the record of this Court’s proceedings as of this day and ask that the Court direct that the Secretary of the Bar Association forward a copy thereof to his surviving widow, Virginia Joy Bortner.

Mr. Carl R. May said:

May it please the Court. I would like to second the adoption of this Minute prepared by my partner, Mr. Fisher. In 1936, when my father died, I found myself with a mass of unfinished business and felt that I needed help. That was the first year that Palmer Bortner practiced law, he was admitted in 1936. I called upon him for assistance and he helped me. That was the beginning of a long and very satisfactory association because then it was, and later in 1946 when he came to the firm of Fisher, Ports & May, that I noticed the honesty and the diligence with which he served his clients. Because he was modest and unassuming sometimes that led to underestimation of him by his opponents who found that when they got him in Court they had really caught a veritable Tartar because he was indefatigable in his pursuit of the legal principles as applied to the facts as he honestly saw them.

He was always faithful to the sacred trust imposed upon him by his chosen profession and he will always remain to this Bar a shining example of devotion to that trust. I wish only that more of the younger members of the Bar could have known him and so followed his example. There were never any short cuts for Palmer Bortner, there were never any snap judgments.

He was always faithful to the Court, to his clients and to his fellow members of the Bar. He lived and breathed by the admonition: This above all, to thine own self be true, thou canst not then be false to any man.

He was a good soldier and many years ago another good soldier, who lay mortally wounded, said to his stretcher bearers: Let us cross over the river and rest beneath the shade of the trees. Palmer has crossed over the river, let him rest beneath the shade of the trees. If Palmer were here today he could look your Honors in the eye and say: I rest my case upon the record.

Mr. Richard E. Kohler said:

If the Court please, I first learned to know Palmer back in 1936, when he was admitted to this Bar. He was associated with His Honor, Judge Gross, and Mr. Foster

and myself were registered as law students in that office. During those years I came to realize those sterling qualities about which Mr. May and Mr. Fisher have spoken but it wasn’t until about a year ago when he and I became co-counsel in a large estate in which we each represented an executor and diametrically opposing factions of the family, and then I came to know that his direct method of approach was a great attribute of his nature. It was through the use of that method that he was really of invaluable assistance to me and that family in the settlement of that estate.

It seems to me a singular coincidence that the last time I spoke to Palmer that he stopped in my office on a weekend visit home from Camp Pickett, on a Saturday, just as I was ready to go, just about twelve o’clock. We spent the whole lunch hour there in my office with the door locked, discussing the hazards of automobile travel. I had gone to school at Durham, which was seventy-five miles south of Camp Pickett, and thus was quite familiar with that part of the country. We got out road maps and discussed the different routes and the hazards of traffic on the various routes. Although his accident was not caused by heavy traffic it does seem to me to