Judge Frank James, A Mentor In Civil-Rights, Probation Work

Was Hollywood's loss the court system's gain?

Anyone who has followed Judge Frank Dexter James' legal career - plus scores of former parolees who returned to thank him for his concern in their time of trouble - would likely agree. So would those who gained from his civil-rights advocacy.

But those who knew him as a singer, actor and University of Washington "yell king" in the 1930s may wonder: Could he have been another Bing Crosby?

Former longtime King County Superior Court Judge James, who died Nov. 22 at 86, reportedly did get a call to Hollywood while at the UW. He had toured with an award-winning quartet, said his son Keith James of Kirkland.

He was admitted to the Washington State Bar in 1930. During World War II, he served with the Navy in the South Pacific and Korea.

"In Korea, he was in charge of the military government," said his wife, King County Superior Court Judge Carmen Otero. "The commander of the Japanese Army in Korea surrendered his sword personally to Frank."

Back in Seattle, after serving as an acting Municipal Court judge, he was appointed in 1949 to fill the new 16th Superior Court position. One of the changes he subsequently effected was to have judges elect the presiding judge, recalled his wife Otero (they separated this year). Seniority had been the rule previously.

Judge James also made news for a decision against prior restraint.

The black community in the 1960s had invited activist Stokely Carmichael (now Kwame Ture) to speak. Officials and police reportedly balked. But Judge James ruled that keeping Carmichael away was prior restraint, generally considered unconstitutional.

He also visited Rotary and Lions clubs to encourage people to voluntarily desegregate their community.

After 20 years as a superior-court judge, he was appointed as one of the original members of the state Court of Appeals, Division 1.

To Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Joseph Thibodeau, Judge James was a mentor: "He had a real sense of right and wrong. I was clerk when he was chief judge of the Court of Appeals, and people would come in and thank him. They had been on his probation calendar and he gave them a new start."

Judge James kept up his music, and acted in skits at the Seattle Yacht Club and the College Club. His friend, Dr. William Merrill, with whom he skied the slopes of Switzerland and Italy, called him an expert skier.

Judge James also golfed, and he played dominoes daily at the College Club.

Merrill recalled that Judge James was a great sportsman and nonchalant fisherman: "He would always catch fish with his 50-year-old pole and the same old spoon. But I wouldn't catch anything, which irritated me."

Survivors include his son Frank James III, Watertown, Mass.; a daughter, Gwendolyn Nixon, Anacortes; seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 12 in the King County Courthouse. Remembrances may be sent to Harborview Burn Center, 325 Ninth Ave., ZA-19, Seattle, WA, 98125.