September 2008

This In Memoriam section contains brief obituaries of WSBA members. The list is not complete and contains only those notices that the WSBA has learned of through newspapers, magazine articles, trade publications, and correspondence. Additional notices will appear in subsequent issues of Bar News. Please e-mail notices or personal remembrances to inmemoriam@wsba.org.

Bodell, James D.

James Bodell was born April 15, 1984, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He attended Washington State University in Vancouver and earned his law degree at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, in 2007. He was highly involved in his community and worked for the Washington State Republican Party as a field director. He showed immeasurable courage during his lifelong battle with pulmonary hypertension. He died on July 14, 2008, at the age of 24.

Brachtenbach, Robert F.

“Common Sense Is Not a Bad Precedent”1

A remembrance of Justice Robert F. Brachtenbach by Catherine C. Clark

I write to remember Robert F. Brachtenbach, a fellow Eastern Washingtonian who served on the Washington Supreme Court for 22 years. I had the honor of clerking for him in 1991–92. I could certainly write a remembrance of Justice Brachtenbach based on his numerous opinions, give you the basic details of his career, and expound on how he was a respected jurist in our state and across the nation, but I prefer to remember Justice Brachtenbach as a person, so that those of you who did not know him can see him for who he was: an incredibly bright man with high ethical and moral standards who was also a kind and supportive teacher.

I have family ties to Justice Brachtenbach. I first met him when I was only five years old. He was practicing law in Selah and represented my four-year-old brother who was hit by a car. What I remember most about that case is that I was deposed and Justice Brachtenbach sat right next to me and made me feel safe and secure. As a lawyer, I’m so very glad I learned that lesson early. He was also my grandfather’s attorney, which is how my parents found him. He served in the Legislature with my grandfather, Mr. Cecil Clark, an orchardist from the lower Yakima Valley.

I remember visiting Justice Brachtenbach in Olympia in 1976 in his chambers. The impression I’m left with was a desk covered with big piles of paper. I remember walking out of there thinking, “Something very important is going on here.”

The next time I saw Justice Brachtenbach was 1991 when I walked into his chambers the first day to begin my clerkship. I still wonder: How did that happen?

Justice Brachtenbach, apart from his obvious academic prowess, had a profound sense of curiosity. When he offered me the clerkship, he noted on my University of Washington transcript that I had taken “History of European Witchcraft.”2 He commented: “Catherine, anyone who gets a grade like that in a class like that, we need in our chambers.” He was full of questions about a wide variety of subjects like politics, football, and his research project of the time, an article on the rule of statutory construction.

Of course, we also discussed his cases. I remember once, having reviewed a draft opinion involving a defendant who had been convicted of murder, going into his office upset. The draft opinion contained gory details of the crime which seemed to me did not relate to the issues presented to the court. I thought the Court should consider the feelings of family members of crime victims in publishing its opinions. Justice Brachtenbach prevailed upon the rest of the Court to remove the prurient prose. That was one of the kindest things I ever saw him do.

I passed the bar exam in the fall of 1991, and I happily reported this accomplishment to Justice Brachtenbach. He then informed me (for the first time) that none of his clerks had ever failed the exam. I remain grateful to this day that I didn’t carry that bit of information into the examination room.

I was deeply honored when Justice Brachtenbach presented me to the Bar for admission in his courtroom. He expressed kind words for my mother (who had recently passed away) and my father. Few fledgling lawyers are ushered into the practice in such circumstances.

Justice Brachtenbach doodled during oral argument.

He loved agates.

He was a private man — he was never interested in life in the big city like Seattle.

He was a tough customer. He did not tolerate fools or what he considered to be poor workmanship.

He smoked a pipe.

Justice Brachtenbach is famous for also writing in State v. Hornaday: “I dissent for the reasons stated by the majority.”3 A man of few words but profound insight. Take notice. We have lost a great man.

Robert Brachtenbach grew up in Yakima and worked in the fields during harvest and as a grocery store clerk in his teens. He graduated from UW School of Law. He practiced law in Selah and drafted documents that helped create the Tree Top, Inc., growers cooperative. He served in the state House of Representatives and became a Republican floor leader. In 1972, he was appointed to the State Supreme Court and served 22 years, one of the longest-serving Supreme Court justices. He served two years as chief justice. Justice Robert Brachtenbach died May 2, 2008, aged 77.

NOTES
 1.  State v. Hornaday, 105 Wn.2d 120, 132, 713 P.2d 71 (1986) (Brachtenbach, J. dissenting).
 2.  The class was not a “how to” course, but rather, how society and the courts dealt with those accused of witchcraft and the punishments inflicted upon them. It was essentially a law class in which we studied the Malleus Maleficarum (“The Hammer of Witches”), a treatise on hunting and convicting witches.
 3.  105 Wn.2d at 132.

Diggs, Bradley C.

Bradley Diggs was born in Missoula, Montana. He attended Amherst College and earned his law degree from Harvard Law School. He moved to Seattle in 1973 with his wife, Peggy, and joined the firm of Davis Wright Tremaine where he chaired the firm’s commercial transactions practice and was managing partner. His colleagues recall his skillful leadership in growing the firm during a period of mergers and shakeups in the legal industry. Diggs always put family first and was able to achieve a desired balance between his career and home life. He enjoyed vacations to the family cabin in Montana. Diggs also spent time lending his skills to nonprofits such as the YMCA of Greater Seattle and Washington Appleseed. Bradley Diggs died on July 25, 2008, at the age of 59.

Galstad, Gretchen G.

Gretchen Galstad was born in Billings, Montana. She studied ballet with the Pacific Northwest Ballet. She attended at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and went on to achieve a master’s degree in family counseling and a law degree from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Her law practice focused on mediation. After being diagnosed with breast cancer, Galstad taught ballroom dancing as therapy and frequently performed. Gretchen Galstad died on July 19, 2008, at the age of 45.

Hatch, Willard

Willard Hatch received his undergraduate degree from Williams College in Massachusetts, and his law degree from Columbia Law School. He served with the Navy in World War II, and established his private law practice, Hatch & Leslie, in the late 1940s, which was later acquired by Foster Pepper & Shefelman. After retiring in 2001, Hatch continued to volunteer with the Small Business Administration SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), offering free advice to entrepreneurs hoping to succeed in business, and at the Seattle office of the Youth Suicide Prevention Program. He died on June 7, 2008, at the age of 88.

Klobucher, John M.

Judge John Klobucher was born in Spokane and served as a corporal in the Army in Korea. He received his law degree from Gonzaga University School of Law. After serving as a law clerk, a deputy prosecuting attorney, and in private practice, Judge Klobucher was appointed to the bench of the federal bankruptcy court in 1981. He was a dedicated fly fisherman and an avid Cougar fan. Judge John Klobucher died on July 12, 2008, aged 76.

Millikan, Ian G.

A remembrance by Richard W. Swanson

The Snohomish County Bar Association recently lost one of its most esteemed members, Ian G. Millikan, who passed away at age 61 from brain cancer. Ian died in his sleep on June 21, 2008. Not only did the Bar Association lose a valued member of the legal community, it lost a great human being.

When word of his having brain cancer first came out about two years ago, all in the Snohomish County Bar Association were greatly saddened to hear of Ian’s medical problems, but all of us who knew Ian were confident that he would fight his illness with the same gusto and verve for life that he had so amply displayed throughout his time among us.

Ian lived life to the fullest. He served his country in Vietnam. He hiked, he read, he danced, he worked out vigorously, and he never ducked a good debate — regardless of the topic, regardless of the opponent.

And he succeeded in the courtroom for over 30 years. His outstanding abilities were recognized when the Snohomish County Bar Association named him Lawyer of the Year in 2006.

Ian not only contributed greatly to the lives of his fellow lawyers, but to the lives of all the many people who came into contact with him. Everyone who had the opportunity to know Ian G. Millikan will remember him fondly, and wish that they had had an opportunity to spend even more time with him.

Millikan was born on March 3, 1947, at a U.S. Army hospital in Germany. He graduated from the University of Washington in 1972, then spent two years in the U.S. Army and served a year in Vietnam. He earned his law degree at the University of Puget Sound. He was a past president of the Marysville Sunrise Rotary and past chairman of the Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce. Ian Gordon Millikan died June 21, 2008, at his Marysville home following a two-year struggle with brain cancer.

Morel, Delos

Judge Delos Morel was born in Alameda, California. He studied philosophy before earning his law degree from Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. He worked in the district attorney’s office in San Francisco for eight years before moving to Seattle, where he worked as the chief administrative law judge for the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals. He died on July 5, 2008, at the age of 93.

Peck, Cornelius J.

Born in Michigan, Cornelius Peck received his law degree on scholarship from Harvard University. After serving in the Navy and with the U.S. Department of Justice, he was a professor at the University of Washington School of Law for 39 years, retiring in 1994. He published widely, was a leading figure in the fields of labor and administrative law, and helped modernize the law school by pushing for classes in skills such as negotiating. Peck enjoyed art, music, and winemaking, and turned his hobby into a business by forming Associated Vintners in the 1960s with some of his colleagues, which was bought out and later became Columbia Winery. He enjoyed vacationing with his family at their rustic Anderson Island cabin. Cornelius Peck died June 10, 2008, aged 85.

Preston, Castromo L.(See also May 2008 Bar News “In Memoriam.”)

From WDTL President Rick Roberts’s column in the WDTLA Defense News: “It is with great sadness that I report the loss of one of our members, Cass Preston. Cass was defense counsel in several offices, most recently as in-house counsel with Safeco’s Seattle office. Cass was in a motor vehicle accident in mid-December and passed away on January 20, 2008. His untimely loss has been extremely difficult for his family and everyone who knew him. I have struggled with how to comment on his passing when so many of you knew him much better than I. I have also been pleased by the support from our colleagues in WSTLA. In particular, Steve Lingenbrink and Brian Boddy took the lead in establishing the Cass Preston Support Fund at Keybank, and collected a significant sum for Cass’s wife, Susan, and his family. For them, Cass was not an adversary, but a friend, which speaks volumes for Cass’s character.

“This tragedy is a timely reminder that we should cherish the important things in our lives — our family and loved ones — and reflect that in our profession. Do we take the time to tell our loved ones how much they mean to us? While we work hard to fight the good fight, do we remain reasonable, compassionate, and tolerant of minor transgressions?

“Our work is adversarial, but we must keep in mind that the opposing party and their counsel are human beings. We make our profession and WDTL that much better by taking the time to be respectful of our opponent. If you don’t presently make it a practice, take the time to shake your opponent’s hand at the end of every arbitration or trial. Following a deposition or during a telephone call, get to know something about your opposing counsel, like their family or interests. It’s a small thing, but it may be the way that Cass Preston would want to be remembered.”

Cass Preston was 38.

Satterberg, Richard A.

Richard Satterberg grew up in Wenatchee and graduated from the University of Washington School of Law. He served in the Air Force in Korea and then as a reserve officer in the Air Force JAG Corps, attaining the rank of colonel. In 1959, he joined and eventually took over a small practice in White Center, which is today Satterberg, Healy & Eeckhoudt. An avid boater, Satterberg traveled frequently with his wife, cruising the waters of British Columbia and Alaska in their power boat, or wandering through Spain, France, and Italy. He died on May 11, 2008, aged 76.

Sellers, Walter C.

Walter “Buck” Sellers was a graduate of Edmonds High School, Whitman College, and Hastings College of Law. From the age of 16, he was an avid mountaineer, and was one of the first climbers (along with his friend Ed Cooper) to accomplish a traverse between Torment and Forbidden peaks in the Cascade Pass area. He served in the Navy as an officer of supply. He served as an assistant Everett City attorney, the attorney for the Port of Edmonds, and a judge pro tem in South Snohomish County District Court, as well as in private practice. Sellers was active in the Washington Trails Association, and a member of the Sierra Club. He had an REI membership card that numbered about 2,000, which was sometimes a source of astonishment to REI employees at store locations outside of the Seattle area that he occasionally patronized. He served his community as a past president of Edmonds in Bloom, the Edmonds Arts Festival, and the Edmonds Historical Society. Walter Sellers died July 5, 2008, aged 70.

Schafer, Janice Elaine Oakes

Janice Schafer was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1957. She received her bachelor’s degree in European studies from Seattle Pacific University, a master’s degree from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, her law degree from Tulane Law School, and an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University Law School. Janice Schafer died on July 8, 2008, at the age of 51.

Somers, Susan

Susan Somers was born in Panama City, Florida, in 1955. She was a lawyer for many years and was a member of the Bar Association when she moved to Lampasas, Texas, from Washington. She died January 5, 2008, aged 52.

Stilz, Judge Clifford L. “Kip”

Judge Clifford “Kip” Stilz was elected to the Thurston County District Court in 1984. Judge Stilz helped create and served as presiding judge for Thurston County Mental Health Court, a program that helps offenders with mental-health problems get access to social services. Judge Stilz will be remembered as a staunch advocate of the First Amendment and a firm believer in the public’s right to have access to the courts. He worked on the Judicial Information System Committee responsible for implementing statewide databases for court records, and served on the Washington Bench-Bar-Press Committee’s Fire Brigade Subcommittee, working behind the scenes to troubleshoot, talk to judges, and ensure the press’s access to the courts. He died June 23, 2008, at the age of 63. 

Bar News has also learned of the deaths of Dolores Jane Cooper on May 20, 2008; David H. Middleton on May 8, 2008; and James P. Reid on April 29, 2008.