Peter Emmons Riddle, as you know, was a high achiever, a man of many accomplishments, a wearer of many hats. Depending on the setting, he was regularly called Captain Riddle, or Judge Riddle, or your Honor, or Dad or Granddad.
I was and am
very proud to have called him “my friend.”
In fact, Pete was more than a friend; in many ways he was family. In our family, Pete was called IGOR, a title
of which he was very proud. He was our
friend for over 40 years and part of the Pate Family for almost that long. Pete and his two amazing daughters Katherine
and Susan were always welcome in our home.
There are
many yardsticks by which Pete could be measured. Such as a military officer and combat
veteran, an athlete, a lawyer and a judge.
I choose to measure Pete as a devoted father and family man. I do not think one could have been a more conscientious
and devoted father than Pete was to his two daughters and later on to his
grandchildren.
Whenever we
were together the first topic of conversation was a “sitrep” on his children and
grandchildren and my sons and grandchildren.
I think this spoke volumes about his priorities. Only after we were both caught up on this
important information did we delve into other topics of interest.
Our lives
were interwoven from the early 1970’s to the present. We had much in common, both veterans of the
Vietnam War, Pete as a Seal and I as a Marine.
We were recent law school graduates, and busy raising a family in Coronado,
with a strong interest in community.
Pete twice served on the Coronado City Council.
For a while,
we were both coaching one of our children’s soccer teams. We practiced on the same field and at the end
of the last practice of the week we would hold a scrimmage between Pete’s girls
team and our team. As coaches we had a
side wager that the coach of the losing team would have to do pushups. Thankfully, Pete usually had to do the
pushups. He would hit the ground and to
the amazement of the players and other coaches pop off about 70 pushups without
stopping.
For many
years we ran together almost every morning.
We would check in with each other in the evening and Pete would announce
he would be “standing tall” in front of my house at 0500. I would always respond, “How else could you
be standing?” Pete would then let out with
his famous belly laugh.
You can
learn a lot about a person when running for miles early in the morning. We talked most of the way. Sometimes one of us would complain and
threaten to “take off our pack” as our way of being funny. Pete would tell stories from his days playing
high school baseball as a catcher in Chicago, or about the time he broke Rev.
Jesse Jackson’s nose playing intramural football while both of them were at the
University of Chicago.
One
particular story was touching. In 1968,
after law school, Pete was a member of Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s
presidential campaign staff. On that
terrible day when Robert Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles, Gov.
Rockefeller sent Pete to the Kennedy family where he teamed up with L.A. Rams’
star Roosevelt Grier to assist and help protect the Kennedy children during
this very traumatic time in their lives.
Interestingly,
we spoke very little about our respective times in Vietnam. When Pete mentioned it, it was usually to
point out that when they wanted to know how deep a river or stream was, they
would send Pete out to act as a human depth gauge because he was always the
tallest.
However, he
did speak often and fondly of his SEAL training which you have heard about from
his teammate Admiral Irish Flynn.
During our
friendship Pete was a bachelor for a number of years. We had many talks during that difficult time
in his life, but there was always one constant, he always kept his focus on
Katherine and Susan and being the best father possible.
It was
during these many years of being a single parent that Igor really became a part
of our family. I think my wife Chris and
our four sons were more responsible for that than I. Pete enjoyed being around four rambunctious
boys. He frequently commented that we
lived on the edge of chaos, but he loved it.
And to top it off, Chris is an amazing cook and Pete can put away the food,
what a combination.
Pete always had
impeccable timing. Just by happenstance
Pete would drop by to visit just as Chris was cooking up a mound of blueberry
or banana pancakes for breakfast. Her
eyes would light up as Pete came walking into the kitchen, because even though
she was cooking for four boys, a husband and usually a foreign exchange
student, with Igor there she would get to make at least two more batches of
pancakes.
During this
time, with our four sons we had multiple sporting events every Saturday. It was our goal to make sure we attended all
of the boys’ games. Pete would frequently
jump in and volunteer to cover one or more games.
On one
occasion our oldest son Bill was playing in a JV football game and Pete was
there with our son Bryan because Chris and I were traveling to Monterey. During the game Bill suffered a severe fracture
to his upper arm at the shoulder. In
typical fashion, Pete immediately took charge, putting Bill and Bryan in his car
and driving to the ER. He then got ahold
of Chris’ brother, an orthopedic surgeon, who operated on Bill that evening. In the meantime, Pete contacted us upon our
arrival in Monterey and stayed with Bill until we got back around 1am the next
morning. He was our Igor.
However, on
occasion Igor’s help was not always fully appreciated. For years, Pete’s daughters would babysit our
boys when we went to Sunday afternoon Charger games. Pete inevitably came along to help. One afternoon we got back home and everything
looked fine in the house until we walked into the kitchen. One of us looked up and going across the
kitchen ceiling were these black marks.
When we asked the boys what caused this, they told us that Igor had held
our youngest son, Doug, upside down so he could walk on the ceiling.
Pete used to
participate in a triathlon called the “Super Frog” which was primarily for
active and former SEALS. On our Monday morning run after a Super Frog,
I asked Pete how he had done. He was crestfallen. By the time he had finished the
swim portion just about everyone was long out of the water and on their
bikes. Pete took off down the Strand on
his bike and got a flat tire that apparently took forever to repair. Then on to
the run. He said that by the time he
finished the run they were taking down the finish line banner, most contestants
had gone home and they were sweeping up the empty beer cans.
Although he
didn’t say so, I knew he would take steps to make himself more
competitive. A few weeks later on a run
he tells me he had a very embarrassing incident happen to him the day
before. In order to improve his swimming
he had decided to swim from North Island to the Amphibious Base, swimming parallel
to the beach. Well as he drew abreast of
the Central Beach lifeguard tower, a life guard comes out and asks him if he
was alright. Apparently while watching
Pete swim, the lifeguard grew concerned he might be drowning. I think it was that incident that caused Pete
to join the Masters Swimming program at UCSD under the tutelage of Sickie, whom
you will hear from later.
For me
personally it was a loss because swim practice was in the morning and I lost my
running partner, but not my friend. For
Pete, it was great. He became an accomplished competitive swimmer and met
Betsy, his wife.
In the
1980’s, with the election of George Deukmejian as Governor, Pete was one of a
handful of people the Governor relied upon to make recommendations for judicial
appointments to the state courts for San Diego County. For at least a couple of years Pete would urge
Chris and me to apply for appointment to the Superior Court. We consistently told him thanks but no
thanks. Pete persisted and I finally had
a change of heart and with the help of Pete was appointed to our local Superior
Court. Chris resisted for another year
and a half before being appointed.
About a year
after I was appointed Pete came to me for a career counseling session. Pete had a cadre of 3 or 4 people that he
would seek advice from about life or career decisions. You see, Pete had this philosophy that one
needed to be re-potted every so often.
So about once a decade Pete would seek my advice. Since he wanted to be re-potted, I considered
myself more of an advisory horticulturalist than a career counsellor.
In 1987,
Pete sought my advice on seeking a judicial appointment himself. He was not a
trial attorney, having specialized in probate and estate planning. Since I had thoroughly
enjoyed my first few months on the bench, I advised Pete to go for it, but
cautioned that because he was not a career trial attorney, there would be a
steep learning curve. To rectify this,
he decided to seek appointment to the Municipal Court and if that went well
then apply for elevation to the Superior Court.
Pete was
appointed in 1987 and took to judging like a SEAL to water. He jumped in with both feet and quickly
mastered the requirements of being a good trial court judge. Shortly thereafter he was appointed to the
Superior Court.
As one would
expect Pete took on the toughest assignments.
In the early 90’s we both sat in Juvenile Court. Pete took on a dependency calendar, which is
emotionally the most demanding assignment on any court.
I am
reminded of a quote from Pete’s favorite political figure, Theodore Roosevelt: "Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." Pete
achieved that prize as a Juvenile Court Judge.
There is no
jury so the judge must make all of the critical decisions that determine
whether and under what circumstances a child may remain with his or her
parents. Pete heard cases all day long and
then read a massive stack of files in preparation for the next day’s
calendar. He was totally dedicated to
being fully prepared and to making the best decisions possible in a very
emotionally charged arena. He did it
with a calm, gentlemanly demeanor that let all the concerned parties know that
they had been heard and their position carefully considered.
As Teddy
Roosevelt also said: "Courtesy is as much a mark of a gentleman as courage." Pete was a consummate
gentleman, with limitless courage who was courteous to all. Even after
he retired, Pete worked on assignment half time doing dependency cases. In addition to that you would find Pete
playing games with the children in the oncology ward at Rady Children’s
Hospital, serving Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless and taking history
courses at UCSD.
When Pete
married Betsy, it seemed like a match made in heaven but I think it was more
likely made in the water. We were very
happy for both of them, and as an additional bonus our food bill declined
substantially. They were married for over 20 years. Even with his disease, he insisted on having
a renewal of vows to mark 20 years.
Hopefully my
remarks have given you some insight into five decades of a man loved and
admired by so many. So Igor you now have
permission to take off that pack, you have carried it well and faithfully. You will be in our hearts forever.
Carry on, Capt. Riddle.
Carry on, Capt. Riddle.
