SPEAKERS at DAVE'S RETIREMENT CEREMONY
TRIBUTES to JUDGE DAVE CONNORS
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| Judge Ron Russell |
Judge Ron Russell’s Remarks
It’s an honor to be here today with Judge Connors and his family. This is our opportunity to honor him. I first met Judge Connors when our children were going to Viewmont High School together and we had children in high school musicals together and choir and other events. And our paths continued to cross as Judge Connors was a city councilman in Farmington, and I was serving in the same capacity in Centerville City. And then he, for some strange reason decided to run for mayor, and of course the brilliant citizens of Farmington elected him, and our paths crossed again. We crossed as lawyers in various respects. I guess being mayor wasn’t enough community service for Judge Connors. After practicing law for 30 years of practicing law he was appointed to the Second District Court by Governor Huntsman in 2008.
When I was considering making application to be a judge the first person I talked to was Judge Connors. I met with him and had a good discussion and ultimately, I asked him to give me the oath of office when I was sworn in as a judge. Dave I just wanted to thank you for your service to our community in all of the respects that you have served us. You’ve been a great example to me of what a judge should be. You show genuine concern for those who appear before you. You’ve been respected by those who do appear before you as attorneys. You’ve been a great mentor and a great example, so thank you for that.
Now I have heard that the trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off. I’m sure you’re looking forward to spending some time doing things that you enjoy doing.
Just one quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: Dare to live the life you dream for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true.
We’ll miss you Dave and wish you the very best in the next chapter of your life.
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| Judge Mike DiReda speaking, Chief Justice Durrant, Senator Stuart Adams and Dave |
Judge Mike DiReda’s Remarks
As Judge Russell said it is bittersweet for sure. Dave is the last of my big brothers. I’m now the senior judge in the district, so if you felt that shake in the earth just now there’s a good reason for that. I’m really sad to see him go. He has been such a tremendous resource for me in many respects, not just in terms of the work we do as judges. I was thinking about the lessons you taught me, and I just want to talk about a few. There are certainly many more.
One thing that you’ve taught me, that I’m grateful for, is to be more available. We need to be more available in this world. We’re so tempted when we see calls come across our cell phones to let them go to voice mail. I’m going to try to be better at answering my phone calls and being available for people, because Dave has always been available for me. We’ve had discussions late after work about things in the district, and just about life and the struggles of serving in the capacity we serve in. He’s always had an open door. Whenever I’ve wandered down the hall, and it’s a fair walk from my office to his, he’s always been available, every time. He’s welcomed me in. I’m not going to miss the piles in your office, and those who’ve been in his office know what I’m talking about. There’s a little bit of PTSD when I think about it. But Dave was so proud just the other day when he called me in and said “Look!” And I was so shocked that I took pictures of his office because it has never ever looked that good before. It looks good!
By contrast, when he comes down to my office he says, “Do you work? There’s nothing anywhere in here!”
He taught me about having a positive outlook. In the district court we see some of the greatest inhumanity that you can see, when it comes to the way people treat one another. We never see people at their best. We always see them at their worst. And the cases that we handle, for those of you who may not be familiar with the way things work in the justice system that we work in, it takes a toll on you. He’s always been positive. I want to share just a quick story about this positivity, because I want to care this forward, in this job and elsewhere. You all remember when your children played AYSO soccer. Most parents have their kids play soccer because it’s the one sport that starts kids at the youngest age. The kids are always so excited to get their new uniforms and to see what colors they are. Then they get together to pick their team names. It’s always fun to see what team names the kids decide on. In this instance my son Jordan was on a team that received yellow colored uniforms, and they decided to name their team the Banana Splits. So, one day they’re playing another team that had black and gray uniforms. You don’t learn the name of the other team until the end of the game when the kids give a cheer for the opposing team. So, the black and gray team says, “1,2,3… Good job Banana Split!” And all the Banana Split kids ran around and were so excited. Then all the Banana Split kids got together and got in a little huddle and said, “Good job Dark Death!” and my wife and I looked at each other and said, did they just say, “Dark Death?” So I thought about that, and on a serious note, we really do deal with a lot of dark death in this job. I mean, it’s really hard. Dave’s positive outlook, this sort of outlook of Be a Banana Split is something that I really treasure. It’s hard to have and hard to maintain. But he radiates that, and every time we’ve talked and I’ve gone in to have my weekly therapy and talk and vent to him about one case or another, he’s always sent me out encouraged and positive and I really value that in him and I am grateful he has taught me that lesson.
He has taught me about being kind and inclusive and showing love. I know his family will appreciate this because they’re aware of it, but for those of you who are not, the Connors family has a refrigerator in their garage. For those of you that don’t know about it this refrigerator, it is stocked with drinks and treats. The rule is, for kids in the neighborhood, if the garage door is up and the Open sign is illuminated, the kids in the neighborhood can come in and take a soda pop from the refrigerator. But there are rules that they have to follow, some of which are that you can come in and grab seven and bring them back to your siblings, you know, that kind of stuff. But one of the rules is be kind. And I was just so impressed, I’m sure there are many others that are equally impressive, but I thought what a wonderful thing to teach the children in the neighborhood to be kind. Kindness is something that we can all be better at.
Another thing I want to talk about is when I was appointed to the bench a year after Dave, Dave called me up in Ogden, where I started. He said, “Mike, I really want to bring this district together. This is really important to me. For so long Weber County and Davis County have kind of had this sort of separation and I really want to do what we can to bring this district together.”
I said, “I’m in. What can I do?”
He said “Come and flip burgers at my house. We’re going to have a District Bar-B-Que.”
And so the Connors were so gracious to host these summer bar-b-ques at their home where we could get together and just talk about life, visit and get to know one another. I think it was a wonderful extension of your kindness to the district and I think a catalyst to our district coming together. I’m so grateful you felt inspired to do that. I am sure others have felt the same way.
Dave has taught me about the importance of having a sense of humor. I went into his office one time. Chief Justice, I’m sure you’ll appreciate this. My wife’s grandfather received his MBA at Harvard University, where you earned your law degree. He has a decorative chair that has the emblem of Harvard in the back of the chair. Well, Dave has two of these chairs in his office; one that has the emblem of Brigham Young University and the other has the emblem from Yale. I went into Dave’s office and saw his chairs and said, “Oh, I love your chairs. I have one in my home. I inherited it from my wife’s grandfather. It says Veritas on it, meaning Truth.” And I kind of made my fist representing that. And he responded, “Well, we at Yale have Lux and Veritas: Light AND truth.” Now, upon reflection I thought, you know what? Those folks at Yale probably need light to find truth. We’ve had good laughs about those chairs.
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| Yale |
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| BYU |
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| Chairs and statue in Dave's chambers |
It well may be that we will never meet again in this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me is made of what I’ve learned from you
You’ll be with me like a handprint on my heart.
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have rewritten mine by being my friend…
I just want you to know that I miss you and I love you and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to work with you and I wish you the very best, my friend.
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| Cherie & Mike DiReda - Dave & Cori Connors |
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