After 40 years on the bench of the Warren County Common Pleas Court and the 12th District Court of Appeals, Judge William Young will hang up his robe for the last time.
“It goes by in a blink of an eye or snap of a finger,” he said.
A Franklin native, Young, 73, said he became interested in law by seeing how much his father, the late Warren Young, loved his profession.
“I saw the impression it made on him,” he said. “I just aspired to do that.”
Warren Young practiced law from 1933 until his death in 2004. He also served as a common pleas court judge and on the 1st District Court of Appeals.
Other family members have served as county prosecutors and coroners over the years, including William’s son, James, who was a coroner.
Young graduated from Franklin High School and went to Miami University. He graduated from Chase Law School in 1961.
While serving as Lebanon’s city prosecutor, Young worked as a partner in the Young & Jones law firm until 1970, when at age 33 he was elected to be a common pleas court judge. Franklin native P. Daniel Fedders was also elected as a judge that year.
“We were both 33 and people thought we were awfully young to be common pleas judges.”
Fedders said Young was easy to work with on the court.
“Everybody says he’s a nice guy and everybody counts him as a friend,” he said.
Young said the streamlining of domestic relations cases was among the major changes in civil and criminal procedures during his career.
“It’s been an evolution since I got here,” he said.
Young said social media could make it harder to find impartial jurors.
“But the law will evolve and somehow it changes to keep up with the changes,” he said. “It makes me glad I’m old because I don’t have to learn all of that stuff. Old judges never die, they just fade away.”
He was elected to the 12th District Court of Appeals in 1986.
“I appreciate the wonderful things that have been given to me. Being a judge is unique. It’s a privilege and an honor. Very few people get to do it and I’m very appreciative that I got to live that life.”
Once he hangs up his robe, he and Barbara, his wife of 55 years, will move to Greenville to be closer to their daughter.
While he’s not looking for work, retirement doesn’t mean that Young won’t be hearing cases. He said he’s already signed up with the Ohio Supreme Court to serve as a visiting judge.
Taking Young’s seat on the appellate court will be Judge-elect Rachel Hutzel of Lebanon, the Warren County prosecutor.
“I can only aspire that I could take his place,” Hutzel said. “I’m going to do my best to live up to his example as he’s been a true public servant — true in the best sense of the word.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4504 or erichter@coxohio.com.
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