The Shelbyville News
Wednesday January 17, 1979
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| A well-known ex-city resident, Mrs. James (Berniece L.) Emmert, 75, formerly of 607 Shelby street, died Tuesday at the Brandel care Center, Highland Park, Illinois, after a brief illness.
She was the widow of Judge James Emmert, ex-Shelbyville Mayor and former Indiana Attorney General and Chief Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court.
Mrs. Emmert, a registered nurse, was believed to be Shelby County's first public health nurse. She also was active in the mental health organization here. |
A resident of Shelbyville for more than 50 years, Mrs. Emmert moved to the Highland Park, Illinois area last year. Her local memberships include the First United Methodist Church and Chapter AL, P.E.O.
Born May 13, 1903 in Vincennes, a daughter of Henry and Hallie Foster, she was married January 1, 1929 in Indianapolis to Judge James A. Emmert, who died April 14, 1974.
Surviving are two daughters, Mrs. Paul S. (Elizabeth) Allor, Whittier, California and Mrs. Barney B. (Catharine) Regen, Dickson, Tennessee, a son, James A. Emmert Jr., Glencoe, Illinois; two sisters, Mrs. Milton Rohrer, Vincennes and Mrs. Peter Cullison of Maryland, and six grandchildren.
Services tentatively are scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday at the Ewing Mortuary, where friends may call from 3-8 p.m. Sunday. The Rev. Jack B. Haskins will officiate at the services. Burial will be in Forest Hill Cemetery. Memorials are requested to be in the form of contributions to a favorite charity.
Contributed by Barb Huff for Phyllis Fleming
The Shelbyville News
Monday April 15, 1974
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JUDGE EMMERT, 78, DIES
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| One of Shelbyville's most widely known and prominent citizens, former Indiana Attorney General and Supreme Court Chief Justice James A. Emmert, 78, of Shelby street, died Sunday at 3:30 p.m. in Major Hospital, where he had been a patient two weeks.
He had been in failing health three years.
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Judge Emmert was graduated in 1920 from Northwestern University after an interruption for military service during World War I. He received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1923 and began his practice of law here in an office over the Shelby National Bank.
He was elected mayor of Shelbyville on the Republican ticket at the age of 30 in 1925, and four years later was elected Shelby Circuit Court Judge, a position he held for 12 years. In 1940 he returned to private law practice here with the late M.O. (Mike) Sullivan.
Election and re-election as Indiana Attorney General followed until he was elected to the bench of the Indiana Supreme Court in 1946. He was re-elected to that post in 1952 and was named Chief Justice in May 1955. He returned to Shelbyville and his private law practice in 1958, and for a time was a law partner with James M. Robinson. He had practiced law with Ralph Adams here from 1942 to the end of 1947, when he assumed the Supreme Court judgeship.
Born in Laurel September 26, 1895, Judge Emmert was the son of Clinton B. and Alice (Patterson) Emmert. He was married June 1, 1929, in Indianapolis to Berniece L. Foster, and she survives.
Also surviving are two daughters, Mrs. Paul S. (Elizabeth) Allor, Whittier, California, and Mrs. Barney B. (Catharine) Regen, Nashville, Tennessee; one son, James A. Emmert Jr., Glencoe, Illinois, and six grandchildren.
Judge Emmert had lived in Shelbyville ever since being admitted to practice law in 1923, commuting the miles to and from Indianapolis all the years he held office there.
However, Judge Emmert, a colorful individual, reduced the commuting chore during the 12 years on the Supreme Court by sleeping in his judicial chambers on a couch. Veteran newsmen recalled that early arrivals to the statehouse would sometimes see him walking down an upper hallway in his bathrobe.
In his statehouse years, Judge Emmert exerted sometimes powerful influence on GOP state politics. He never sidestepped a political battle or an opportunity to be outspoken on an issue for lack of courage.
Judge Emmert was nationally known as an expert rifleman and was a life member of the National Rifle Association. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church here, a life member of the Indiana State Bar Association, a 50-year member of the Greensburg Masonic Lodge and a member of the Pioneer Society of Indiana. The local Fraternal Order of Police pistol range is named in his honor.
Services will be Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. at the Ewing Mortuary, with the Revs. William Clayton and James H. Horner officiating. Burial will be in Forest Hill Cemetery. Friends may call at the mortuary after 4:00 p.m. Tuesday.
Friends are requested that memorial tributes be in the form of contributions to the Shelby Public Library.
Contributed by Barb Huff for Phyllis Fleming
The Shelbyville News
Wednesday October 21, 1959
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DEATH CLAIMS MRS. EMMERT
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Mother of Ex-Supreme Court Judge Succumbs
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Mrs. Alice Emmert, 91, mother of James A. Emmert of this city, former Indiana Supreme Court Judge, died at 11:30 this morning at the Shelbyville Nursing Home. She had been ill for the past year.
Mrs. Emmert, whose home was at 634 Shelby street, was born in Laurel on January 17, 1868, a daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Patterson. In May 1893, she was married to Clinton B. Emmert of Decatur county and his death occurred July 15, 1953. The couple resided here from 1923 to 1929 and then returned in 1941 after residence in Clarksburg and Greensburg. Mrs. Emmert was a member of the First Methodist Church and the Women's Club.
Surviving with the son are three grandchildren, Mrs. Elizabeth P. Allor of Evanston, Illinois, Miss Catharine Emmert of Nashville, Tennessee, and James A. Emmert Jr. of Chicago. There is one great grandchild.
Funeral services will be announced from Sleeth Funeral Home.
[Buried Forest Hill]
Contributed by Barb Huff
The Kokomo Tribune
Howard County, Indiana
July 16, 1953
Page 4
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JUDGE'S FATHER DIES
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Shelbyville, Ind.---- Clinton B. Emmert, 89, father of
Judge James A. Emmert of the Indiana Supreme Court, died Wednesday.
A retired flour
miller, he came to Shelbyville in 1941 from Clarksburg.
Contributed by Janet McColley Franklin
The Shelbyville News
Thursday July 16, 1953
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EMMERT FUNERAL TO BE FRIDAY
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City Man in Milling Business for Years
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Funeral services were arranged today for Clinton Buell Emmert, 89, father of Supreme Court Judge James A. Emmert, who died at 2:05 p.m. yesterday at the home of his son, 607 Shelby street. Mr. Emmert had been seriously ill for one month and death was due to complications.
The final rites will be held Friday at 2:00 p.m. at the Sleeth Funeral Home with Rev. H.R. Page officiating. Burial will be in Forest Hill cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 7:00 p.m. today.
Mr. Emmert was the son of Jacob and Catharine Hawk Emmert, and was born July 14, 1864, at the Hayes Mill site on Hogan Creek near Dillsboro, Indiana. His father came to this country from Musterstadt, Bavaria, Germany, when he was a small boy. His mother's family were Pennsylvania Dutch who came to Butler county, Ohio, in 1802.
His father operated a mill at Fairland for about two years beginning in 1862. The Emmert saw mill at Clarksburg, which was operated in conjunction with the flour mill there, furnished lumber for many of the furniture factories in Rushville and Shelbyville.
Mr. Emmert was the third generation of flour millers and began learning the business when he was 12 years of age. He operated mills at Clarksburg and Laurel, Indiana. For six years he managed the Kohler mill in Spencerville, Ohio, where he was elected and served a term as a member of the School Board of that city. In 1902 he returned to Clarksburg, where, except for a few years, he was in the milling business until his retirement.
In 1893 he married Alice Patterson of Laurel, and she survives with the son, daughter-in-law, Mrs. Berniece L. Emmert, and three grandchildren, Elizabeth P. Emmert of Evanston, Illinois, Catharine L. Emmert of Cambridge, Massachusetts and James A. Emmert Jr. Also surviving is a sister, Mrs. Ruby Newhouse of Rushville.
In 1923, he moved to Shelbyville, but in 1929 he returned to the milling business at Clarksburg, which he continued until the sale to the Decatur County Farm Bureau. He again moved to Shelbyville in 1941 and resided at 634 Shelby street.
Mr. Emmert was an active and devout member of the Methodist church for more than 60 years, and was a member of the First Methodist Church of this city.
Contributed by Barb Huff for Phyllis Fleming
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