I was sad to learn of the passing of former Tippecanoe County Circuit Court Judge Ron Melichar. He served as a Circuit Court Judge for three terms, from (I believe) 1984 – 2002. Before that he was a member of my firm (well before I joined!). He and our founding partner, Fred Hoffman, practiced together for quite some time.
By the time I joined the firm, Ron had been the Circuit Court judge for quite some time and I came to enjoy the trivia questions he put up on the white board in the court room. Although, to be honest, I can’t remember if it was a daily or weekly question he liked to put up. I can’t say I knew him well, but he was an enthusiast of the civil war, vacations in northern Michigan, and the Chicago Tribune.
Rest in Peace, Judge Melichar.
I went to the visitation. It was good to see so many people there but I knew there would be.
I was a rookie attorney, maybe 25, I had covered a guilty plea for one of the other DPAs. Melichar called me back in his chambers after the guilty plea (I thought I was in trouble).
Somehow he knew I knew Russian and had me translate a poster. From that he launched on to the Russian language, Old Church Slavonic, St. Methodius and St. Cyril, Greek history, ancient Greek history to Roman history to the American Civil War. I stood there for maybe 30 minutes, just nodding and not daring to say anything.
I came back up to the Prosecutor’s office on the 5th floor, pale and my mind spinning. The then elected prosecutor asked me where I had been as people had been looking for me. I replied “Judge Melichar’s chambers.” He said, “Oh, ok, I see” and spun on his heel and went back to his office.