Last week we lost another member of the Kankakee Bar. This time a long-sitting well respected Circuit Judge. Judge Patrick Burns passed away at the age of 93. A great portion of his life involved sitting on the Kankakee County Court House bench monitoring the presentation of legal case after case, both civil and criminal.

It is interesting that he chose the law as a profession since four of his six brothers would become doctors. But after graduating from law school, he came to Kankakee and practiced for a short time before becoming an associate judge. That gave him the traffic court for years. Then he became a full circuit judge and moved upstairs to courtroom 204 where he spent years handling civil matters and literally dozens of jury trials.

Being a judge has some pros and cons. Friendships have to be carefully handled especially with other lawyers. At the same time, rulings must be made and literally half the time one side or the other may be unhappy. Decorum is required and lawyers are known to get a bit over the edge in courtroom scenes.

There is a story that may well be true that Judge Burns held a lawyer in contempt for his courtroom actions. The lawyer was sent to the county jail. Before the day was over, however, Judge Burns went to the jail, had the lawyer released, and then took him to Sully’s for dinner. That was the Judge Burns I knew. Even more amazing, the lawyer later became a judge himself.

But it didn’t start that way. In the very early 1970s, as a very young lawyer, I ended up with a lot of my firm’s traffic cases. And there was Judge Burns. I lost case after case, some I had to agree that it was a loser, some it was close call, and in a couple of cases, I felt the Judge was completely wrong.

I asked for a meeting with the Judge in his chambers. “Judge, if I have done something to offend you, I apologize, but if that was a cause for some of your rulings, that is unfair to my clients.” He stared at me for a long moment and responded. “I used to babysit you!”

I left his chambers and almost immediately called my mother. “Mom, did Judge Patrick Burns babysit me?” “Of course, he did, honey. When his sister couldn’t come, he would come over in her place. They lived just down the road.”

That was my first and last private conversation with the man. I continued to appear in front of him, and amazingly I now won and lost. I cannot say that he was ever unfair as I thought back about the cases I thought could have gone the other way.

Over time as my skills improved. I also ended up on the second and third floors. My firm was heavily into defense for insurance companies. We had State Farm, Country Companies, Travelers, and several more. That meant appearing in Judge Burns’s court almost constantly. They were often tough cases with claims of medical malpractice or serious automobile accidents.

I knew that the judge had done work more for plaintiffs than defendants in his private practice before becoming a judge and often wondered if he had any bias toward the injured plaintiff as he knew that the defendant in almost all cases had insurance for the claim. But through the dozens of jury trials, I had with him, he never showed it. Quality trials and keen judgment.

I will always remember that one visit in his chambers some 50 years ago, and I cannot think of a better response to my rather direct attack on his rulings. It taught me a lot. I won my share and never got held in contempt by him or any other judge, Lesson learned without jail time.

As I read his obituary, I had a couple of thoughts. First, is a judge somewhat isolated socially when he becomes a judge? My rule was as soon as a friend became a judge, he or she lost a first name. It was “Judge this” or “Judge that.” I never wanted to slip up in court and say “Good grief, Pat” and add something to the end.

Apparently at 93 one often doesn’t have a wake, but I miss that when someone older passes. I remember my grandfather saying as he went into his 80s, “I better die pretty soon, grandson. I am running out of pall-bearers.”

The family had requested that only other judges attend the church service and funeral. So, I respected that, but I would certainly have gone to my babysitter’s services. Rest in peace after a very giving life, Judge.

· Dennis Marek can be contacted at llamalaw23@gmail.com.