[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 80 (Tuesday, May 9, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2844-S2845]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  REMEMBERING JOHN C. ``SKEFF'' SHEEHY

 Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, today I wish to honor Justice John 
C. Sheehy, whose life was a Montana story, eulogized with these words 
from his family
  The material follows:

       John C. ``Skeff'' Sheehy, 99, lawyer, jurist, and family 
     patriarch, died Friday, April 7, 2017, at his home in Helena.
       Skeff was born Jan. 27, 1918, to Cornelius and Anna Sheehy 
     in Butte, the first of seven children. Although he lived in 
     other Montana towns for 80 years of his life, he believed, 
     along with his brother Joe, that ``if you're not in Butte, 
     you're camping out.'' He was educated at Catholic schools in 
     Butte, attended the Montana School of Mines (now Montana 
     Tech) and then the University of Montana School of Law. He 
     obtained his law degree in 1943 and went to work in Helena 
     for insurance commissioner J.D. Holmes.
       Skeff married Rita Ann Schiltz in 1945, and only death 
     would part them. In 1947, they moved to Billings, Rita's 
     hometown. Skeff began a 30-year law practice with his 
     brother-in-law and great friend, Jack Schiltz. They tried all 
     manner of cases and represented all sorts of clients. They 
     also had a lot of fun. Schiltz and Sheehy were responsible 
     for most of the skits, songs and frivolity at the Billings 
     Bar meetings for decades. Over time, Schiltz and Sheehy 
     joined others in the practice, including George Hutton, R.G. 
     Wiggenhorn, and Brent Cromley. Skeff's professional 
     accomplishments were recognized by the State Bar of Montana 
     in 2005 with the Jameson Award and by the Montana Trial 
     Lawyers Association in 2016 with its first lifetime 
     achievement award.
       Between 1959 and 1970, Skeff served in both houses of the 
     state legislature. He was the first Democrat to break the 
     ``straight eight'' Republican legislative block in 
     Yellowstone County during those decades of county-wide 
     ballots. In 1978, Gov. Tom Judge appointed Sheehy to the 
     Montana Supreme Court. He was elected to his seat twice 
     before retiring in 1991. Justice Sheehy was the author of the 
     decision rejecting the challenge to Montana's coal severance 
     tax. The United States Supreme Court upheld his decision. 
     Throughout his tenure on the court, Sheehy was known as a 
     champion of the powerless who recognized the role the 
     constitutions of his state and nation played in ensuring that 
     the least among us was accorded the same rights and 
     privileges as those more fortunate.
       After his death, clients he represented and lawyers he 
     influenced made sure his family knew about his quiet 
     influence. The child of one client, whom he represented 
     without compensation, told the family how much it meant to 
     their family just to have a man like Sheehy at their side in 
     a dispute with the Internal Revenue Service. ``It wasn't a 
     fairy tale ending,'' she noted. ``We still had to pay 
     something. But we had our dignity back. And from that time 
     forward, your father's name was spoken in our house with a 
     reverence otherwise reserved for God.''
       The family also heard from judges and lawyers throughout 
     the state, echoing common themes:
       ``Your dad was the number one hero and inspiration in the 
     law to me.''
       ``Your dad set the standard for what a supreme court 
     justice should be. He cared about people, he cared about 
     fundamental rights, and he was a master of the language.''
       ``Your dad was a great mentor. He had a way of teaching 
     without preaching. And he made the work fun. He always 
     lightened the occasion with a song or a poem. We all loved 
     him so.'' A devoted Catholic, Sheehy attended Mass every 
     morning and said the rosary every night. His faith guided him 
     through the Great Depression, a near-fatal car wreck in 1936, 
     Montana politics in the 60s and 70s, an armed assailant in 
     his Supreme Court office in 1984, the death of his beloved 
     Rita in 2012, and everything in between.
       Skeff and Rita raised eleven children long before 
     ``parent'' was a verb. In those days without cell phones and 
     texts, Dad communicated with full voice, songs, prayer, 
     jokes, and sometimes long silences. He imparted much wisdom, 
     ranging from ``Trust everyone, but cut the cards,'' to 
     ``you'd starve to death with a ham on your back.'' He rarely

[[Page S2845]]

     said good-bye, preferring ``tap 'er light'' or ``don't go 
     with the old feeling.''
       Engagement was Skeff's distinguishing characteristic. His 
     children's greatest fan, he drove all over Montana to their 
     events. Though he liked to quote J.D. Holmes that ``Human 
     beings are a lousy arrangement,'' he loved human 
     arrangements: parades, games, weddings, and funerals. In the 
     last years of his life, he and Rita and assorted family and 
     friends ate dinner at the Motherlode every Tuesday, and 
     Friday noons were reserved for lunch at Benny's Bistro. He 
     liked the bustle of people. At home, he read and watched the 
     news every day and night; he did the crossword and sudoku; 
     and he didn't often miss Jeopardy. He was engaged in the 
     world to his last day on earth.
       Sheehy was preceded in death by his wife Rita; brothers 
     Tom, Edmund, Joseph, and Jim Sheehy; by his sister Margaret, 
     known as Sister Serena Sheehy, SLC; and by his granddaughter 
     Rita Mary. He is survived by his 11 children, Anne (Peter) 
     Yegen of Park City, Tom Sheehy of Helena; Mary (Duane) Moe of 
     Great Falls, Patrick (Debbie) Sheehy of Billings, Kate (Dirk) 
     Whitney of Helena, Eileen Sheehy (Bob Maxson) of Billings, 
     Rosalie (David) Cates of Missoula, Margaret Sheehy (Ralph 
     Johnson) of Albany, NY, Jenifer Sheehy of Billings, Martha 
     Sheehy (Sid Thomas) of Billings and John Sheehy (Jill Golden) 
     of Marlboro, VT. His lone surviving sibling, Sister Eileen 
     Sheehy, SLC, lives in Grand Junction, CO. He is also survived 
     by 19 grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, and many 
     treasured nieces and nephews, their spouses and their 
     children.

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