Item Photo By OWEN O’ROURKE
Lynn District Court judges, from left, James LaMothe Jr., Ellen Flatley and Albert Conlon reminisce about their colleague, the late judge Joseph Dever.
By THOR JOURGENSEN
MARBLEHEAD — Fellow justices, court workers and the son of the late Joseph I. Dever, retired Lynn District Court first justice, remembered on Monday a man who straddled the law, literature and the stage.
Dever, 80, died early Sunday at his Marblehead home, said one of his three sons, Lynnfield attorney Joseph P. Dever.
Visiting hours will be held at the Murphy Funeral Home in Salem on Thursday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and a funeral Mass will be celebrated on Friday at 11 a.m. from Our Lady, Star of the Sea Church in Marblehead.
“He was just a good guy,” said retired District Court Judge Brian Merrick, adding, “For a man in his occupation, he never judged people. He never said something he thought would hurt people.”
Dever’s death left former Lynn District Court colleagues alternately saddened and smiling at recollections of Dever’s love of family and friends and, in the words of District Court First Justice Albert Conlon, “the law, politics and the Red Sox — not necessarily in that order.”
“He was a role model on a daily basis, a source of guidance when things go tough,” said Conlon.
A West Roxbury native, Dever graduated Boston College High School in 1952 and Fordham University in 1956 and earned his law degree from Boston University Law School. Joseph P. Dever said his father went to work for the Massachusetts Defenders Committee in 1965, representing clients who could not afford attorneys.
In 1968, the elder Dever was named the Defenders’ attorney in charge for Essex County. Former Gov. Michael Dukakis appointed Dever to a judgeship in Lynn District Court in 1987. Dever was appointed District Court first justice in 1995 — a position he held for 10 years until his retirement.
District Court Judge James LaMothe recalled arguing a case, as an attorney, before Dever.
“He was a gentleman. He would listen carefully and he was able to make everyone feel respected,” LaMothe said.
Dever and author Jean Trounstine founded Changing Lives Through Literature in 1992. The judge, District Court probation officers and Trounstine met regularly with female criminal defendants and discussed modern literary classics.
“It was a program set up for women, in lieu of incarceration. He went up to Lawrence on a bus with folks to participate. It was very successful,” said Lynn attorney James Carrigan.
Trounstine, in a written tribute to Dever, said he once said he hoped she would be picked for jury duty.
“‘Nothing teaches you more about being a citizen than being on a jury,’” Trounstine recalled Dever saying.
Dever was also an actor in groups including the Mugford Street Players and Marblehead Little Theater. He appeared as Ben Franklin in a performance of “1776.”
“The part was built for him,” said fellow actor and Marblehead Police Sgt. Nick Economou.
Both men played Tevye in the “Fiddler on the Roof,” and when it was Economou’s time to embrace the role, Dever walked up to him and said, “I pass the baton to you.”
Dever loved politics, recalled Carrigan, and convened a collection of fellow political junkies after every election to discuss ballot results in detail. He unsuccessfully sought the nomination of Massachusetts Secretary of State at the Democratic state convention in 1960.
Praise for his judicial temperament Monday extended to his handling of domestic violence cases.
“He did more to gain the respect for victims of domestic violence than any judge in the state,” said Healing Abuse Working for Change advocate Deb Edinburg.
In addition to his wife, Ann, and son, Joseph, Dever is survived by sons, Robert and Paul, and daughter, Lesley.
Joseph P. Dever, on Monday, said he would like his father to be remembered as a “great lawyer, judge, father and grandfather.”
“He was kind and decent to everyone and the man I most admired,” he said.
Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].
