[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 119 (Thursday, September 10, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1687]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            COMMEMORATING THE HONORABLE FRANK K. RICHARDSON

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN T. DOOLITTLE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 10, 1998

  Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to an 
outstanding public servant, former Justice Frank K. Richardson. Frank 
K. Richardson, Retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of 
California, has brought credit and distinction to himself through his 
illustrious record of public service, and it is appropriate at this 
time to commemorate the valuable leadership and dedicated service he 
has provided to his community and the people of the State of 
California.
  Justice Frank Richardson was born in St. Helena, Napa County, 
California, and lived in various locations in Northern California, one 
of which was Sacramento, where he attended Marshall School. After he 
completed his freshman year in high school in San Jose, the Richardson 
family moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Frank attended 
Germantown High School. Frank attended the University of Pennsylvania 
for his freshman year of college but then transferred to Stanford 
University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree ``with 
Distinction'' in political science in 1935. Frank was elected to the 
Phi Beta Kappa Honors Society, and graduated from Stanford Law School 
with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1938.
  Frank became a member of the California State Bar in 1938, upon 
passing the bar exam, and began practicing law in Oroville in the law 
offices of retired Judge Hiram Walker. While practicing law, Frank 
immersed himself in the civic life of Oroville by serving as President 
of the Oroville Rotary Club, as a member of the Methodist Church, and 
as a Republican candidate for the State Assembly.
  While residing in Oroville, Frank met Betty Kingdon, who he later 
married in 1943. They celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary on 
January 23, 1998. The Richardsons' household has grown to include four 
sons and five grandchildren. During World War II, Frank served as a 
First Lieutenant in the United States Army (Intelligence), participated 
in the European Theatre of Operations, and received two Battle Stars 
for his valor.
  After the war, Frank and Betty Richardson decided to move to 
Sacramento, California a place they both love and which has been their 
home for the last 43 years. From 1946 to 1971, Frank practiced law, 
first as an associate to Sumner Mering, then as a sole practitioner for 
23 years. During this time, Frank taught law classes at night in 
Evidence and Torts at McGeorge School of Law. In 1971, then-Governor 
Ronald Reagan appointed Frank Richardson as Presiding Justice of the 
Third District Court of Appeals in Sacramento. In 1974, Governor Reagan 
elevated Justice Richardson to the California Supreme Court, where he 
served for 9 years as an Associate Justice. In December 1983, Justice 
Richardson retired from the California Supreme Court.
  Six months after his retirement from the California Supreme Court, 
and after a semester of teaching at Pepperdine University School of Law 
as its Distinguished Visiting Scholar, President Ronald Reagan 
appointed Justice Richardson as Solicitor to the United States 
Department of the Interior. In that capacity, Frank supervised the work 
of the legal staff of the Department of the Interior throughout the 
United States until his retirement from that position in July 1985.
  In recognition of his skills as a lawyer and judge, and for his 
service to his community, state, and to the legal profession, Justice 
Frank Richardson has received honorary doctorates in law from 
Pepperdine University School of Law, Mid-Valley College of Law in Los 
Angeles, Western State University School of Law in San Diego, and the 
University of Southern California School of Law, which also made him an 
Honorary Member of its Order of the Coif Society. Justice Richardson 
served as a member of the Board of Visitors of Stanford Law School, 
McGeorge School of Law, Pepperdine University School of Law, Brigham 
Young University School of Law, and Whittier College of Law. Frank also 
was a member of the Board of Regents of the University of the Pacific 
and the Editorial Board for the University of San Francisco Law Review. 
In the years following his retirement from the California Supreme 
Court, Justice Richardson has served as Chairman of the Select 
Committee on Internal Procedures of the Supreme Court of California, as 
a member of both the Advisory Board of the National Institute of 
Justice and the California Commission on Campaign Financing, and as a 
member of the Board of Directors of FEDCO and the Board of Governors of 
the President Ronald Reagan Foundation.
  In 1993, Justice Richardson was elected a Fellow of the American Bar 
Foundation, an honorary organization of attorneys, judges, and law 
teachers whose professional, public, and private careers have 
demonstrated outstanding dedication of the welfare of their communities 
and to the highest principles of the legal profession. Frank was active 
in numerous state and local bar activities, including his leadership as 
President of the Sacramento County Bar Association, as a member of the 
Executive Committee of the State Bar, the Conference of Delegates, the 
Committee for the Administration of Justice, and the Committee of Bar 
Examiners, as Counsel to the California Commission on Uniform State 
Laws, and as a Fellow of the American College of Probate Counsel.
  His attention extended beyond his professional interests to the local 
community, where he distinguished himself as President of the 
Sacramento World Affairs Council, the Sacramento Community Welfare 
Council, the Sacramento YMCA, and the Sacramento Lions Club, as an 
active community member in the United Crusade and KVIE-Channel 6, 
Sacramento's public television station, and as the founder and first 
President and member of the Board of Directors of the Methodist 
Hospital of Sacramento.
  Frank Richardson served on the Board of Directors of the Sacramento 
Chamber of Commerce, the Boy Scouts of America, the Goodwill Industries 
of Northern California, and the Sacramento State College Association, 
and years later, after his retirement from the court, he served as 
Chairman of Sacramento's Bicentennial Commission.
  I take great pleasure in commending the Honorable Frank K. 
Richardson, Retired Justice of the Supreme Court of California, for his 
outstanding record of judicial leadership, his long and distinguished 
record of public service, and his outstanding display of civic 
leadership. He is indeed a man worth emulating and exemplifies the 
standards those in his chosen profession seek to uphold.

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