District Judge Victor Westermark

	Dundy County Nebraska Genealogy Trails

Printed in the Benkelman, NE Post, November 1968

District Judge Victor Westermark has announced his retirement from the bench of the Fourteenth Judicial District on January 1, 1969. He has informed Governor Norbert Tiemann that he does not plan to continue as judge for the remainder of his term, which expires on January 1, 1971. His successor will be named by the Governor as part of the process of selecting tribunals in accordance with the "Missouri Plan," which was adopted several years ago by the Nebraska electorate.

Under the plan, a nomination committee composed of members of the legal profession and several non-professional persons will present two or more candidates for the Governor’s consideration. The candidates will be chosen from the legal profession on the basis of personal qualifications.

The Judicial Nominating Committee consists of three attorneys of the District, Daniel E. Owens, Benkelman, Hugh W. Eisenhart of Culbertson, and Charles E. McCarl of McCook. The lay members of the committee are Marion Morgan, Elwood, Dr. E. W. Yaw of Imperial and Ron Hull of McCook.

With Judge Westermark, the magic number of his career must have been 23. He was graduated from law school and began his law practice in Benkelman in 1923. Add 23 and you have the year number that he began his career as Judge of the 14th Judicial District in 1946, and add another 23 and you have 1969, the year that his resignation from that position takes effect.

Judge Westermark is a favorite son of Benkelman and Dundy county, although he was born on June 16, 1895, at Oakland, Nebraska, and was a mature man when he came here. He had served in World War I with the 353rd Aero Squadron stationed at Bordeaux, France, 1917 to 1919. and after returning from the service obtained his degree in law from the University of Nebraska.

He was well received in Benkelman from the first, and was to serve many years as both the county attorney and as the counsel for the City of Benkelman. Among his early contributions to the community was -- as one of the charter members of the Martin Bowles Post of the American Legion, as president and a faithful member of the then Benkelman Commercial Club, as a member and Past Master of Justice Lodge No. 180, AF&AM, as a worker and past president of the then Twin Valleys Association of Commercial Clubs and the Republican Valley Conservation Association, whose efforts led to the reservoir construction projects in the Republican River watershed, and he was a dedicated public servant in Dundy county and a never-tiring booster for advancement, and did a great deal for local betterment.

Even though his new responsibilities required his moving to McCook, he never forgot his days in Dundy county, and valued the hundreds of friends he had made here.

On September 4, 1926, Miss Corrine Robidoux became his bride and they were the parents of one daughter, Celestine, who passed away several years ago.

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