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Bar News - May 20, 2005 The Joy of Looking Back: 50-Year Members Reminisce As the New Hampshire Bar Association's 50-year members look back, they see lives filled with hard work, adventure and accomplishment. In this issue, Bar News will feature four of the sixteen members who have reached this milestone; the remaining 12 members will be featured in upcoming issues. In the questionnaire sent to these members, Bar News asked them to comment on what had led them to become lawyers, who their role models were, what significant positions they've held, what achievements have made them most proud. They also told Bar News about their education, their schools, their families. From these very interesting personal histories, Bar News has chosen the following commentaries. 
Norman H. Stahl, United States Circuit Judge, says he feels "gratified" to have reached this milestone: "I had received an acceptance from London School of Economics, but sometime in late 1951, a friend of mine came by and suggested that I apply to Harvard Law School; he left off an extra application.... I sent it in on a lark, took the LSAT, was accepted and decided to enroll.... After law school, I clerked for Justice John V. Spalding at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and then returned to Manchester to work for Devine Millimet until I became a United States District Court Judge in 1990. "Maurice Devine and Joseph Millimet were my role models and I am particularly proud that I had the opportunity to work in what was then a small law firm and help it develop into a large firm. As a federal judge, I was pleased to have a major role in securing the construction of the Warren B. Rudman Federal Courthouse in Concord; I also worked with the architectural firms that designed the building. Subsequently, as chair of the Security & Facilities Committee of the federal court system, I spent some years working to ensure that federal courts across the country had appropriate buildings in which to perform their judicial functions. "My wife and I live in downtown Boston where we can take advantage of the cultural offerings of a large city. We spend most summers at our home on Martha's Vineyard." 
Vincent J. Celeste says: "Looking back, I see both my personal life and my professional life as great experiences. I was born in Boston, Mass. and graduated from Suffolk Law School. I also attended the United States Merchant Marine Academy and served in both the Atlantic and the Pacific theaters during WWII.... I became a lawyer because it was the profession I felt best suited for." Attorney Celeste became very interested in politics. He was the Republican nominee for the United States Congress (Massachusetts) in 1950 and for the Senate in 1958. He was Secretary to Governor Christian A. Herter from 1952-1956 and a delegate to the 1952 Republican Convention. "My role models were Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and Christian Herter," says Celeste. "I am most proud of my work with the East Boston Disaster Fund, the Restoration of Wood Island Park and my work for the Association of the Blind; I am also proud of my litigation of eminent domain cases and litigation regarding Logan Airport "My wife Marie and I have three children and at present I am a developer of land in Sandown, NH and Kissimmee, Florida." 
Clifford J. Ross, who received the Manchester Bar's Lawyer of the Year Award in 1996, went to Boston College Law School, from which, he says, he graduated Magna Cum Difficulty! He continues, "I volunteered for service with the U.S. Navy Coast Guard during World War II and with the U.S. Army during the Korean War." Back home, Ross took a job with an insurance company. "I found myself wasting my spare time throwing footballs and hitting baseballs, so I applied for night law school, believing that I might learn some things that would be helpful in life. Before long, I said, 'I think I can do this!' "I was a partner with Chester and Robert Eaton in Manchester for 18 years, after which I served as Manchester City Solicitor. Then I opened my own practice and was later joined by my son Dave. "Judge Kenison was one of my role models-and Judge Bownes and Judge Loughlin. I should also include Jim Connor and Dave Nixon who have done a world of good for the people of our state." Ross and his wife Johanna have four children and several grandchildren. He says he plans to "substantially limit my practice after my fiftieth year so as to be able to teach mathematics in the Manchester school system-where, I trust, two and two still equals four-or is it five?" Robert B. Donovan says he is "pleased to be still standing." Attorney Donovan was drawn to the law because he believed it to be a "noble profession." He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and among his several role models he names Dean Irwin Griswold, Professor A. James Casner, his partners in the law, John Perkins and Everett Holland and the Hon. Thomas J. Morris. Donovan says, "Two years out of law school, I argued a case in the NH Supreme Court against former law school professor Warren Abner Seavey-and won! I also represented Louis Greco, one of those convicted in the Teddie Degan murder case (Massachusetts) in NH on a material witness issue. Greco died in prison before it was established that fraudulent testimony (FBI fraud) had convicted them (the defendants)." Donovan has been the Town of East Kingston, Town and School Moderator for 45 years. "Annette, my wife of 52 years, and I have four boys. I am still working as an attorney." |
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