Opinion
SUMMARY
Judge of the Superior Court of Imperial County (1976 - 1980)
Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division One (1980 - 2001)
The Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division One, convened in the Presiding Department of the Superior Court, San Diego County Courthouse, 220 West Broadway, San Diego, California, on September 26, 2001, at 11:00 a.m.
Present: Presiding Justice Daniel J. Kremer, presiding, and Associate Justices Patricia D. Benke, Richard D. Huffman, Gilbert Nares, Judith L. Haller, Alex C. McDonald, James A. McIntyre and Terry B. O'Rourke.
Officers present: Stephen M. Kelly, Clerk; California Highway Patrol Officer Art Athans.
OPINION
PRESIDING JUSTICE KREMER:
Good morning. We meet today to honor Justice Don Work, who served with great distinction as an associate justice of this court from August 1980 to May 2001. I am Presiding Justice Daniel Kremer. I would like to begin by introducing the members of the court.
Behind me, beginning at my left, are Justice Terry O'Rourke, Justice Alex McDonald, Justice Judith Haller and Justice James McIntyre. Seated to my immediate left is Justice Richard Huffman. Seated to my right are Justice Patricia Benke and Justice Gilbert Nares. On behalf of the court, I would like to welcome Justice Work's wife, Gloria, his children, grandchildren, and other family and friends.
Justice Don Work, a son of the Midwest, was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1928. He attended Ohio schools, including Galena High School. Like many of his age, his education was interrupted by war. Justice Work served as a staff sergeant in the United States Air Force from 1950 to 1954. After his military service he resumed his education, graduating from Ohio State University in 1955 and from Ohio State University School of Law in 1958. His commitment to education did not end there. He earned a Master of Laws in Judicial Process from the University of Virginia in 1986 while sitting on the Court of Appeal. After coming to California, Justice Work engaged in the private practice of law in El Centro from 1960 to 1976, when he was appointed to the Superior Court of Imperial County. He joined the Court of Appeal here in San Diego in 1980. Don Work had been on the court five years when I joined it in 1985. I knew of him by reputation even before coming to the court. I knew him as an able and fair trial judge in Imperial County, and as a vigorous and effective criminal defense attorney before that time.
Meeting and working with him at the court only raised my opinion of him. He was, of course, an exceptionally able appellate judge. He had a talent for getting to the heart of a case. He was especially tenacious when something about a case disturbed what he called his "justice bone." Then he would literally take the case apart, delving into the records and briefs until he either exposed the error or was able to satisfy himself that all was, in fact, in order. Justice Work authored almost 350 published opinions over his two decades with the court, and probably wrote ten times that many unpublished opinions.
As one would expect, there were several big cases among that number. Notable were the C. Arnholt Smith case (People v. Smith (1984) 155 Cal.App.3d 1103), in which Justice Work wrote the dispositive opinion for a divided court, and People v. Kronemyer (People v. Kronemyer (1987) 189 Cal.App.3d 314), a leading opinion on criminal embezzlement.
But if Don Work were here and were he asked, I think he would say that no case he wrote really stood out. Not because some were not important, but because all were important. He had an almost instinctive understanding of what is easy to forget or ignore, that every case that is taken to law is important, even life changing, to the people involved in it, and he treated those cases accordingly.
In doing this, Justice Work eschewed any inflated sense of self-importance. His door was always open, and he treated everyone at the court, judge or staff, as a peer.
Above all, Justice Don Work lived a life of service. A part of that life was in the law, and many of us here are honored to have shared that service with him.
There were, of course, other ways in which Don Work served. Among them were his love and support for his family and his years of contributions to the Lions Club. All of us who he touched and with whom he served will never forget his kindness or that service.
It is now my pleasure to begin the proceedings by introducing former Justice of the California Supreme Court, the Honorable Cruz Reynoso. Justice Reynoso.
JUSTICE REYNOSO: Presiding Justice Kremer, Associate Justices, retired Justices, some of my colleagues when I was on the Court of Appeal, Gloria, and family and friends of Don Work, I am honored to join you in celebrating the life of Justice Don Work.
Booker T. Washington once observed that no power on earth can neutralize the influence of a high, simple and useful life. I first met Don 43 years ago. His life, as I have known it, has been of the highest order, has been simple, and has been abundantly useful to those around him.
We met in San Francisco when both of us were engaged in preparation for that ancient rite called "the taking of the bar." Don was a 1958 graduate of Ohio State University Law School and I was a 1958 graduate of Boalt Hall. Our sense of camaraderie, perhaps like soldiers in trenches, formed immediately. Unlike present practice, which calls on law students while yet in school to settle on a future position if at all possible, we lived our lives one step at a time. First, we graduated from law school, then we took the bar, and only subsequently did we seek employment. Thus, neither Don nor I knew where our fortune would take us after San Francisco.
In May of 1959, after I had completed a fellowship in Mexico City, fortune took my wife and me to a corner of California then populated by 78,000 souls. The temperature on the day we arrived approximated 120 degrees. It was the lower desert. It was Imperial Valley. I soon learned that a new deputy district attorney had joined that office, my friend from San Francisco, Don Work.
Lawyers are ethically required to represent clients with honor, to be officers of the court and to be public citizens seeking after justice. I could tell early on that Don's basic instincts strengthened his commitment to each of those endeavors. As a deputy district attorney, he sought not easy prosecutorial victories, but fairness and justice for victim and for criminal. As a private attorney, when he joined Lou Plourd one year later, his lawyering style was that of low-key informality, but tenacious representation for his client's best interests. His private practice blossomed. Shortly thereafter, both Don and I became solo practitioners. Don was one of those lawyers whom I could call to discuss a knotty problem, or who could make a special appearance in my absence. The concept of lawyering as a profession, and not simply as a commercial enterprise, was deeply embedded in the day-to-day labor of Don Work.
Shortly after my arrival to the valley, Don invited me to a Lions Club luncheon, and later he invited me to join El Centro Lions Club. I did so. I could see that he took seriously his ethical obligation as a public citizen. His service to the community, beyond his service to his family and his profession, was a potion in the chemistry that formed Don Work. He found joy and deep satisfaction in efforts to help children, to help the blind—a special aim of Lions International, and to help the community. Don and I joined our fellow citizens in the political life of Imperial Valley, supporting causes and candidates that we believed would better serve the community. Later, Don served on the board of a local public school district. His was always a commitment to the welfare of the community.
In 1968, I became the deputy director and shortly the director of a poverty law firm, California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA), which served the rural poor. We had an office in El Centro. Poverty law offices depend on the cooperation of the local bar. The CRLA lawyers had high praise for Don's efforts on behalf of the poor, the farm worker, and the powerless.
Eight years later in 1976, Don and I assumed the bench—he as a superior court judge in Imperial County. Reports reached the Governor—I had it on good authority from then appointment secretary, Tony Kline (who now serves as an appellate court justice)—of the quality of Don's judicial performance. Those were volatile days in the agricultural fields of our state—farm workers were organizing and growers were resisting. But when those, or other difficult, issues came to Judge Work's court or chambers, his was a reasoned and just response.
Socrates wrote that four things belong to a judge: to hear courteously; to answer wisely; to consider soberly; and to decide impartially. Don's adherence to that Socratic test assured his elevation to this august body, the Fourth District Court of Appeal. He served with honor and satisfaction for over two decades. His published works speak for themselves. A criminal despised by society is nonetheless provided with due process. So too for the unpopular civil case litigant. In In re Estate of Breeden (208 Cal.App.3d 981), by his will, a man created a charitable trust to promote the principles of socialism. Though the subject matter might have been a source of controversy, the Court of Appeal, in an opinion by Don Work, affirmed the trial court ruling that the intent was clear and the trust was properly established. Case after case demonstrate Justice Work's dedication to principle, penned with skilled draftsmanship. In his work, as in his life, Don received internal sustenance by helping those whose lives he touched. A historic religious leader wrote: "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." Justice Don Work—during the over four decades that I knew him as a husband, father, friend, employer and judge—did good for all of us as long as God permitted him to sojourn on this earth.
PRESIDING JUSTICE KREMER: Thank you very much Justice Reynoso. It is now my pleasure to introduce a retired associate justice of our court, the Honorable Howard Wiener. Justice Wiener served with Justice Work from 1980 through 1993. Justice Wiener.
JUSTICE WIENER: Thank you, Justice Kremer, associate justices, retired justices, judges, family and friends of Justice Work. May it please the court:
I wish to thank Justice Kremer for inviting me to speak at this memorial service for Justice Work with whom I worked from the time Don was appointed in 1980 until I retired on January 1, 1994. I limit my comments today to Don's judicial profile, leaving to others to describe other aspects of his exceptionally productive life.
I would be remiss, however, if I did not acknowledge my awareness of Don's love for his wife Gloria and their close knit family, his commitment to the Lions Club, as well as other organizations serving charitable purposes which he believed were so essential for our society and his other wide ranging activities reflecting his extraordinary physical and intellectual energy.
I don't think it is too much of a confession today if I admit to spending more time with Don than I should have discussing things as important as the athletic skills of the football players at Don's school, Ohio State, compared to those at Brown where I had gone to school.
We talked about a lot of things, some wonderfully trivial, but fun at the time, on a variety of subjects unrelated to the law. On this occasion, however, I want to focus on Don Work, the jurist. I don't know how the sociologists or psychologists would phrase it, but I think it is fair to say many of us live in a somewhat guarded manner, masking our inner thoughts, our private thoughts. Those of us who have served as an appellate justice, however, know that the masking of the real persona becomes impossible over a period of time when every conceivable legal issue and the most bizarre factual settings present themselves in one form or another. To say the least, an appellate justice acquires considerable insight into the mind, heart and soul of his or her colleague. Having worked with Don on hundreds of cases, perhaps thousands, I have that insight. I saw a mind that was truly gifted, an aptitude for the law that was remarkable and a heart and soul which were pure, guided by compassion, independence and courage.
Don was a working appellate justice. By this I mean, he didn't decide cases from on high in some abstract manner. He dug through the record, becoming intimately familiar with the facts of the case on which he was on the panel. He was more than willing to write his fair share of those on which he was designated as lead justice.
I can still see his scrawled writing on one or more of the yellow legal tablets on which he drafted his opinions. His journalism background served him well as he was able to say more about the case in a few sentences than most of us could in several pages. His ability to get to the issue quickly and incisively was an inspiration to me and others who sometimes found ourselves floundering on difficult problems or stressful factual situations.
His courage to be forthright made the decisional process both easier and more difficult—more difficult because it was not necessarily the popular position to take. Don, however, was unconcerned about popularity. He was also unconcerned about his place on the judicial landscape. His focus was simply to understand the facts of the record before him and the law that should be applied.
I know I speak for each of his former colleagues when I categorically say the factual or procedural background in a Work draft opinion was never inappropriately tweaked so that he could reach a predetermined result.
He was truly a foot soldier in the judicial system, a system which gave him leadership status not because of his politicking, but because of his hard work, thoughtfulness, clear writing and decisiveness.
If the record required a trial judge be disqualified, Don wouldn't hesitate to say so. If a number of people suffered grievous injuries in a tragic event, such as occurred at a McDonald's restaurant several years ago, but there was neither duty nor causation, Don again would not hesitate to say so. Don invariably deferred to intellectual honesty even though his sympathies may have preferred a different outcome.
At some other time I hope everybody has a chance to parse the landscape of Don's opinions so that everybody can appreciate the scope and impact of his more than 300 published opinions. Many were well publicized because of their precedential significance, others because of their impact on San Diego, and even some because of their style.
One such opinion, published 20 years ago in 1981, set the correct rule on expert testimony. Don explained it this way, he simply quoted Bob Dylan: "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." (Bob Dylan, "Subterranean Homesick Blues," Bringing It All Back Home (Columbia Records 1965).)
And when asked about this 13 years later in 1994, when there was an article about this quotation because four other courts, including the California Supreme Court, had used that quotation, Don simply said he had used the quotation to get the parties' attention: "Trial courts have been entirely too turgid about their approach to these expert testimony issues. I just wanted to cut through and get to the bottom line."
Again in that interview, Don showed his wry sense of humor saying that you could see on his epitaph: "The only thing we can remember about him is that he was smart enough to have a law clerk who was a music buff."
But, actually, we do remember far more. We even remember the differences, and there were differences, disagreements that could not be resolved ultimately, which would be set forth in a candid dissent, frequently pithy, never ambiguous, always to the point. The disagreement was rarely based on some arcane technicality but on Don's intuitive sense of justice. Someone was simply not being treated fairly, and there was an injustice which should be corrected.
The reason for this was that "justice" was more than a title for Don. It was his goal in every case. He was reluctant to defer to anyone, including the Legislature, absent a clear direction to do so. When the Legislature had shortchanged the rights of a party in litigation, he would respectfully and unhesitatingly test the alleged priority of legislative intent against the palpable unfairness to persons affected by the legislation. But invariably he would do so in the spirit of the judicial process, recognizing the equality of the other branches of government, but proudly asserting the independence of the judicial branch and its importance in maintaining a proper balance of power crucial to the democratic process. Yes, Don, indeed, could disagree, but he was never, never disagreeable.
We were together at hundreds of oral arguments. I saw him empathize with the oral advocate who had lost his or her way or lost his or her words until Don tactfully or politely suggested the appropriate path. I also saw him vigorously question the advocate who had no doubt that he or she was right. In the give and take of spirited cordial dialogue, Don was able to point out the flaws in the advocate's argument. Even then Don was really unconcerned with winning or losing, but rather with what was the correct decision.
When we conferred regarding oral argument, Don would examine the flaws, balancing the points raised during oral arguments with the arguments contained in the briefs and listen to what each of the other members of the panel had to say. Although decisive, he was indeed open-minded and never in a rush to judgment if he had any question as to whether the panel had reached a correct decision.
From my perspective, and I say this with total candor, honesty and sincerity, he was always a great colleague, always cordial, and with an open-door policy that Justice Kremer referred to earlier, always available in chambers to talk about cases and the outcome of those cases.
In more complicated matters—and from time to time we did have a few of those—he was willing to participate in tutorials led by a research lawyer examining issues which were sufficiently complicated, where extra preparation for oral argument was required.
Whether the discussion required explanation by a research lawyer, an extern, or a judge, Don was always respectful, desiring to learn more about the issue rather than feeling superior to the teacher, because acting superior was not something that Don did. He was simply incapable of it.
Recently talking with a former extern at the Court of Appeal, the extern told me that he was in the library at the Court of Appeal one day and saw another person working over a stack of books. Thinking this person was a staff lawyer, the extern introduced himself. Justice Work responded by saying he was Don Work, a name unfamiliar to the extern. After saying, "It was nice meeting you, Don," the extern later learned Don and Justice Work were one and the same person.
This humility and lack of pretension, hard work and respect for everyone were Don's trademarks. He was a regular guy committed to doing a day's work for a day's pay.
It is not only the way he went about the job, but the quality of that work that I was so impressed with during the entire time I worked with him. The law was not some abstract mass consisting of complex theories and principles. The law was understandable to be applied uniformly and fairly so that the rights of individuals could be preserved and legal obligations enforced.
Clearly, he loved his job. He remained at work until he died, and I'm indeed sad he is not here. I am sad he is no longer plying his trade which he did so well. I and others who were privileged to work with him, miss and will continue to miss his warm personality, his forthright manner and his capable judicial making. California and its citizens were truly privileged to have him serve as a distinguished jurist for so many years.
PRESIDING JUSTICE KREMER: Thank you very much, Justice Wiener. It is now my pleasure to introduce Mr. Webster Burke Kinnaird. Mr. Kinnaird is a former staff attorney to Justice Work and presently lead attorney with the court.
MR. KINNAIRD: Presiding Justice Kremer, Associate Justices, members of the Work family, retired Justices, and friends. I am deeply honored to participate in this celebration of the life and career of Justice Don R. Work.
Perhaps the most difficult oratory challenge one can be summoned to do is to memorialize a mentor and a friend, to do justice to an individual who has had an immeasurable effect on one's development not only as a lawyer but also a human being. No doubt my words will inartfully paint an image of Justice Don R. Work, a mentor and a friend, but perhaps they will offer all a further glimpse at why we celebrate this truly unique man's life.
I have been immensely fortunate to have spent my entire professional career, a quarter of a century, with this court, an institution I deeply respect. My empirical fortune has evolved not only from the institution itself, but also and more importantly from the talented individuals over the years with whom I've had the opportunity to work. For the past 20 years, I had the distinct honor of working with Justice Don Work, whose presence uplifted all with whom he worked, and whose decisions have meaningfully contributed to essentially every aspect of our governing law.
Recently I discovered an unsolicited letter I wrote in February 1980 to now Justice Anthony Kline, then legal affairs secretary for Governor Jerry Brown, on behalf of Judge Work, urging his appointment to the Fourth Appellate District, Division One. I had reviewed his work as an Imperial County Superior Court judge since 1976, including the first complex civil case he tried as a trial court judge, and I had observed his work ethic as a judge on temporary assignment to our court in late 1979. I characterized him as having "the cardinal traits of a fine appellate judge, including a thorough knowledge of the law; a concern for fair play and justice; independent judgment tempered by objectivity and the ability to listen to the viewpoints of others; an ability to express his views diplomatically; high-level energy channeled toward productivity; a caring and sensitivity for others; basic decency; and, finally, a relaxing wit and good humor." I then closed my letter by declaring: "Indeed, Judge Work would be an excellent addition to this court." I could not have been a better judge of judicial character. In fact, of the 28 jurists who have served this court since its creation in 1929, he honorably served longer than all with the exception of Presiding Justices Charles Bernard, Lloyd Griffin and Gerald Brown.
The years that followed, punctuated by thousands of cases and thousands of legal issues, some notorious and some not, some complex and some not, some crying out for appellate intervention to obtain justice and some not, vindicated and confirmed my early perception of this man. He was a jurist for seasons, an advocate for fair play and justice, fiercely independent, but always willing to listen to the opinions of others, even mine, and simply brilliant in his chosen profession with an uncanny ability to quickly identify and resolve the dispositive issue of a pending matter. He thrived on the challenge of resolving the most difficult and demanding of appellate legal issues.
Oh, I remember the many heated legal debates we had, heated not in disrespect, but rather in our earnest quest for legal resolution consistent with reason, logic, the facts and the law.
His work ethic could never be challenged. No case, regardless of whether he was lead or how mundane it appeared to be, avoided his critical eye of evaluation. In fact, he actively participated on causes until approximately two weeks before his death. As you heard, during his tenure at the court he authored approximately 350 published opinions spanning over 225 volumes of official reports and over 3,000 unpublished opinions. Conservatively, he participated in over 10,000 matters before the court during that time.
While we were reminiscing a few weeks before he passed away, I asked him what were the cases he was most proud of. After a pause and in his humanistic way, he responded that he could not select one or even a few, because they were all important to the litigants. That was Justice Don Work; for he was always mindful that the causes before him involved real people, never losing sight of the importance the parties attached to their litigation.
Over the years there has been a substantial increase in filings and a corresponding increase in each individual justice's caseload. Nevertheless, throughout his career Justice Don Work often wrote the original drafts in his assigned cases, such as his published 1981 National Association of Realtors decision. (People v. National Association of Realtors (1981) 120 Cal.App.3d 459.) He took immense pride in that unfair competition and antitrust case precisely because he worked it up from scratch without staff assistance. And, he always wrote his dissents because, as he would say, only he knew how his "juices were flowing."
In fact, his journalistic background and his skills as a wordsmith were often revealed in his dissents. For example, he wrote:
"In clear contradiction of the practical maxim, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it,' a majority of this panel has seen fit to clothe the People in that equitable mantle broadly referred to as a 'constructive filing.' "
And:
"Although by now, more than five years after the Board of Prison Terms ... rescinded [defendant's] twice-approved parole date, he appears to be enmeshed in a scenario crafted by Franz Kafka...."
And:
"Determined to find ambiguity where none exists, the majority, in a feat of legerdemain worthy of David Copperfield, ignores the plain language of the Probate Code ...." Granted, his dissents were often strong; however, they evinced no disrespect to his colleagues, but rather his love for the law and his dedication to his oath of office.
The nature of our roles is sometimes described as "jacks of many trades, masters of none." However, Justice Don Work, the quick study, belied that notion. He delegated to me the administrative responsibilities of his chambers because he wished to allocate his time to what he enjoyed most, analyzing and deciding the cases before him. As Presiding Justice Kremer eloquently recognized in his eulogy last May, "Law to Justice Don Work was not an end in itself. It was a useful, if imperfect, means of resolving the big and little scrapes people were heir to. At its best, it was a way of making life a little more predictable, a little more fair, and just a little better for all those he touched."
By his outstretched hand and by deed, Justice Don Work was a mentor to many in the legal profession. For example, during his tenure at the court, he had approximately 90 law students work as judicial externs in his chambers, including three of whom he later hired as personal staff attorneys. Following his death, one former extern wrote to me to express his most sincere condolences, saying:
"I was saddened to read about Justice Work's recent passing. Reading the obituary in the Los Angeles Daily Journal made me reflect on my unique and valuable experience with the Fourth District and my many thoughtful discussions with you and Justice Work. Although brief, my experience with the Fourth District has had an indelible impact on my career, and I attribute my behind-the-scenes insight into appellate practice with a great degree of my present success."
I assure you these comments reflect the appreciation of all those externs, as well as attorneys, who were so fortunate to have worked with Justice Don Work and experienced his subtle wink of approval.
But the greatest attributes he possessed, the ones I admired the most, were his modesty and concern for others. As to modesty, he was not an arrogant man who wore his credentials on his sleeve. To the lay public, he was simply Don. The respect he garnered over the years as a jurist and a decent human being was the result not of his office or self-proclamation, but rather the soft-spoken, deliberate, down to earth way he conducted himself everyday of his life. He was without any air of self-importance, as reflected by his willing service in the Lions' dunking booth—an enticing attraction for disgruntled practitioners. He treated all with whom he came in contact equally as a peer. During our working relationship, he treated me as a colleague, one working with him rather than for him. To Justice Don Work, collegiality came naturally. It was not a discipline that required religious practice. Regarding retirement, he told me on several occasions that when the time came he wished no gala event, but simply the opportunity to quietly retire and step aside. He modestly wished no further attention. As to his charity for others, he donated thousands of hours to the Lions over the years, including a trip to Bosnia. He served as chair of the California-Nevada Council of Governors, as well as the president of the El Centro and Lakeside Lions Clubs. He received numerous awards from Lions International, including the International President's Leadership Medal this past year. Further, whenever family and friends were in need, there was Justice Don Work and his wife, Gloria, to the rescue. Within this context, he was our George Bailey of the movie, It's a Wonderful Life. (Republic Productions, RKO Studios 1946.) However, I think of the time he waited with my wife at the hospital during my surgery and his periodic telephone calls of support during my days of recovery. Needless to say, his presence and calls were out of concern and compassion, thoughtful gestures he had done on so many occasions for so many friends, both at the court and in his community.
Indeed, that is his legacy. He was an honorable, dear friend to so many, and a true public servant to all.
PRESIDING JUSTICE KREMER: Thank you very much, Mr. Kinnaird. Now I would like introduce Deborah Burton, Justice Work's daughter and a teacher at Granite Hills High School. Ms. Burton.
MS. BURTON: Presiding Justice Kremer, Associate Justices, retired Justices, family, and friends. This was supposed to be the easy part. On behalf of the Work family, please accept my thanks for being here today to honor my father, Justice Don Ross Work. As anyone who knew my father can undoubtedly tell you, he felt humbled and privileged to serve the people of California beside such esteemed colleagues.
My Dad would have been disappointed if I didn't take a moment to recognize the men and women he considered to be integral to the operation of the Court of Appeal, the secretaries, clerks, attorneys, and the entire staff. He both loved and respected each of you.
I would also be remiss if I didn't mention especially Dad's court family, his devoted staff, Jodi Keleher, Officer Art Athans, each of whom took care of Dad in their own way, and, of course, Lead Appellate Court Attorney, Buzz Kinnaird. Buzz worked with Dad for the 21 years he served as associate justice, and I know Dad loved him like a family member. I'd like to thank each of you for your loyalty, professionalism and, most of all, your kindness.
I fretted hours and even days over how best to represent my family today. Dad has such an amazing life and career, as you've heard already today, that I worried I wouldn't be able to put into words how great he really was. After much deliberation, I decided to start at the beginning and tell you about Don Work from the perspective of the family who loved him very much.
My Dad grew up in rural Ohio in a small town outside of Columbus called Galena. He was the eldest of three sons. His mother, Lyn, was a registered nurse and his father, Ross, taught and coached at the local high school.
Once I asked Dad what sport grandpa coached, and he said, "All of them." When I appeared incredulous, Dad reminded me Galena High School had a very small student population. I remember asking, "How small could it have been?" and he replied in his self-deprecating manner, "Hell, honey, I was the starting forward on the basketball team." This is a perfect illustration, because if you recall, Dad was only about five foot six inches.
Upon high school graduation, he entered Ohio State University as a pre-med major on the urging of his mother. After taking a year off to work as a copy boy for the Sacramento Bee newspaper, he discovered the passion for writing that prompted him to change his major to journalism. His career path may have led him to become a journalist, but a draft notice at graduation time led him to the United States Air Force instead.
While in the Air Force, Dad was quickly promoted to staff sergeant and honored as outstanding airman for the 343rd Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron. He always spoke fondly of his experiences and of the friends he made while in the military.
After separating from the Air Force in 1954, Dad returned to Ohio State, this time to the college of law where he flourished, serving as president of the student bar association, associate editor of the law journal and associate chief justice of the moot court.
In 1959, he began his legal career as a deputy district attorney in Imperial County, California. He entered into private law practice in 1960 and enjoyed several outstanding partners over the next 16 years, including Lewis Plourd and Roger Cognata. However, the majority of his time was spent in practice with now Superior Court Judge William Lenhardt. Judge Lenhardt and Dad were not only law partners, but friends, and I was a teenager before I realized that "Uncle Bill" was not actually a relative.
It was also during this period that Dad made what was probably the best decision of his career, to hire a lovely young woman named Gloria as a legal secretary. An even better decision was to marry her some years later. It was also during this period that Dad was appointed to the California Water Quality Control Board and Selective Service Board by Governor Ronald Reagan. As a committed member of the Democratic Party, he served on the state Democratic Central Committee and the California State Bar Commission on Criminal Law and Procedure before being appointed to the superior court in 1976 by Edmund G. Brown.
On January 26, 1976, the Imperial Valley Press ran a picture of the newly appointed judge in his new office with the following caption:
"Don R. Work, the county's new superior court judge, is busy at work after he moved into his new chambers in the county courthouse Tuesday. The antique electric fan supplements the inadequate air conditioning. The door at the rear leads to the old justice courtroom, which is now to serve as a superior courtroom. The door does not shut. The other door on the rear left locks only from the outside. The judge has been promised a new coat of paint for his chambers."
Well, from humble beginnings, as the saying goes. It is difficult to identify the most memorable or important cases Dad heard while on the superior court bench, but these were a few of which he was especially proud:
He ordered the Imperial County Sheriff to provide prisoner access to the county library.
He expanded the small jury pool to include all Department of Motor Vehicles lists, thus doubling the number of jurors and increasing the percentage of Black and Latino jurors.
In one of his most publicly controversial decisions, he issued several orders ex parte to the sheriff to allow the use of confiscated marijuana supplies to relieve the nauseating side effects of cancer patients undergoing massive chemotherapy.
In 1980, Dad was honored to be appointed to the Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District as an associate justice. Governor Brown's appointment came after Dad's temporary assignment to the appellate bench by then California Supreme Court Chief Justice Rose Bird.
My mother says even as a young attorney, Dad expressed a desire to become an appellate justice. He loved poring over briefs and massive law books, as evidenced by the constant mountain of paper in his office. The journalist in him drove him to appreciate the arduous drafting of opinions.
One of his favorite opinions involved 15-year-old Jose, an illegal immigrant who, after bungling two attempted car thefts, had been committed to the California Youth Authority for four years, the stiffest sentence for a youth offender at that time. The Court of Appeal ruled that Jose was not treated fairly by the lower court, adding that the authorities had exaggerated when they dubbed Jose a "sophisticated criminal." After all, he spent more than an hour trying to hot wire the car without success. In the opinion, Dad, in true Work fashion, wrote: "As a car thief, Jose appears as criminally sophisticated as a member of the 'Apple Dumpling Gang.' " (In re Jose P. (1980) 101 Cal.App.3d 52, 59.)
It is impossible to speak about my Dad's life without mentioning his devotion to service. He spent 42 years as an active member of Lions Club International. He held a number of offices, including president of both the El Centro and Lakeside clubs and the Sight First Campaign. As part of this project, my parents traveled to war-torn Bosnia to assist doctors with eye examinations and distribute the hundreds of eyeglasses they collected.
In recent years, Dad committed much of his time and energy to Terresita Pines, a Lions Club camp for hearing-impaired youth. His service wasn't exclusive to the Lions Club. He also served as chairman of the YMCA's San Diego County Human Development Services Board, and he received the YMCA's highest honor, the National Golden Triangle Award for Distinguished Service.
In the future, when most of you in this courtroom picture Dad, I'm sure you'll picture Justice Work, the diligent and fair jurist. But I want to share with you the pictures I have in my mind, pictures of a laughing, singing father driving a car full of children, or a doting grandfather standing on his head to bring a giggle to the lips of a crying grandchild. Usually that was in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner. I have images of him coming through the front door with flowers for my mother, riding ATV motorcycles with my brothers, and at the kitchen counter sharing his breakfast with a large orange cat.
One of my favorite images is of Dad performing for my high school drill team recital with two other fathers, each of them dressed as one of the Andrews Sisters. They were lip-synching "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." That is a devoted father. If I had asked Dad which of the hundreds of cases, as Buzz mentioned, he tried as an attorney or heard as a judge were the most important, he would have said, "All of them." If I had asked which service cause was the most worthy, he would have said, "All of them." If I asked which of the seven children or ten grandchildren was the brightest, he would again have responded with, "All of them." And I'm sure when I looked skeptical about his responses, his reply would have begun, "Hell, honey."
Dad completed every undertaking with fairness and integrity, and treated each as if it were the most important of his life. In doing so, he brought honor to his family, to his community and to his world. Again, on behalf of my entire family, I thank you.
PRESIDING JUSTICE KREMER: Thank you very much, Ms. Burton.
I would like to thank again all of those who have contributed their special and memorable remarks to this morning's memorial session. I would also like to thank and recognize the former members of our court, colleagues of Justice Don Work, who are with us this morning, Presiding Justice Gerald Brown, Justice Gordon Cologne, Justice Ed Butler, Justice Charles Froehlich, Justice William Todd, Justice Howard Wiener and Justice Gerald Lewis. I would also like to express the court's thanks to San Diego Superior Court Presiding Judge Wayne Peterson for making this beautiful courtroom available to us this morning.
It is ordered that the proceedings of this memorial session be published in the Official Reports of the opinions of this court, and that a copy of these proceedings be sent to Justice Work's family.
Thank you all for coming. Court is adjourned.