Class of 1977

The challenges my personal life as a wife and mother have brought to bear on my career as a litigation lawyer in two large law firms, an owner of my own boutique firm, and then a judge, have been profound. However, the growth that has come from meeting those challenges, in my roles as wife, mother, sister, daughter and woman (in what was, in the late '70s, a "man's world") is not the story but has fed into it. I see my story as being one of being a person who has had the good fortune to have lived a full life enhanced by a myriad of spectacular people.In the almost 30 years since I graduated from law school, I have had two husbands, have raised my own three children and have had considerable involvement in the lives of four step-sons. My first grandchild is on the way. The challenges my personal life as a wife and mother have brought to bear on my career as a litigation lawyer in two large law firms, an owner of my own boutique firm, and then a judge, have been profound.

I remember those hard-working souls with whom I worked when I was a pancake waitress, when I owned a fishing camp in a remote island in Northern Ontario, and when I served cocktails during law school. My perspective on life was profoundly affected by the early deaths of my father and sister. The scars of failed marriages have given me greater understanding as have the joys of playing a role in the development of my three children and my stepchildren. I am blessed with an eclectic group of friends and colleagues who have taken me places I never dreamed I would go.

My 14 years as a trial judge have taught me much about life. My most memorable tutors include a most generous homeless man named Steve; John, an extraordinarily wise prison inmate; and the breathtakingly compassionate Jewish landlord, Saul.

Does any of this have anything to do with being a woman? If you subscribe to the Mars/Venus theory you might say that my pre-occupation with people and their relationships is very Venus-like.

Regardless, my exploration of people that started with serving pancakes and continues through the daily joys of sharing my life with family, friends, and those who enter my courtroom, continues.