My classmate, the Judge

December 29, 2008

The Honorable Walter Barisonek
Assignment Judge – Union County
2 Broad Street
Elizabeth, New Jersey 07201-2202

Elizabeth, New Jersey

Judge Barisonek or, as you were known on 4th Street and 8th Street, Wally,

I already marked my calendar for 2055. I try to reach all of my classmates at least once every 47 years. Did I say 47 years?

I check the local Irish Sports Pages very early every AM. If my name isn’t in them down here I check the Star Ledger and the Jersey Journal. I opened the article entitled “Union County Jurist Retiring”.

I recall Brother Leo Sylvius telling us not to hide our lights under a bushel. At least you took his advice.

My retirement advice is from Tennyson.

“How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use.”



PS – In my checkered career I have 2 court events that stand out. I am the person responsible for Justice Clarence Thomas, an accomplishment of which I am quite proud. Also, do you remember June 3, 1993 at the Essex County Courthouse? The deputy whose life I saved later danced at my daughter’s wedding.