An Interview with C. Brett Bode Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission C. Brett Bode was in private practice and was an assistant city attorney for East Peoria, from 1968-70, and then was a public defender in Tazewell County from 1970-72 while also maintaining a private practice. In 1972 he was elected State’s Attorney of Tazewell County and served in that position until 1976, when he returned to private practice. Bode also served as a public defender in Tazewell County after he was State’s Attorney from 1976-82. He became an Associate Judge in the Tenth Judicial Circuit in 1982 and served in that position until his retirement in 1999. Interview Dates: April 2nd, 2015; October 23rd, 2015; and December 15th, 2015 Interview Location: Judge Bode’s home, Pekin, Illinois Interview Format: Video Interviewer: Justin Law, Oral Historian, Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission Technical Assistance: Matt Burns, Director of Administration, Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission Transcription: Interviews One and Two: Benjamin Belzer, Research Associate/Collections Manager, Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission Interview Three: Audio Transcription Center, Boston Massachusetts Editing: Justin Law, and Judge Bode Total pages: Interview One, 65; Interview Two, 57; Interview Three, 60 Total time: Interview One, 02:49:07; Interview Two, 02:26:37; Interview Three, 02:48:38 1 Abstract C. Brett Bode Biographical: Carlton Brett Bode was born in Evanston, Illinois on July 9th, 1939, and spent his early life in Irving Park, Illinois and teenage years in Fox River Grove, Illinois. Graduating from Crystal Lake High School in 1957 he joined the Marine Corps and became a helicopter pilot. Bode served five years of active duty, and then was in the Marine Corp. Reserves for another five years. He attended and graduated from the University of Illinois in Urbana/Champaign in 1968, receiving a law degree, and was admitted to the bar that same year. Bode was engaged in the private practice of law from 1968-72, serving as an assistant city attorney for East Peoria from 1968-70, and as a public defender for Tazewell County from 1970-72. In 1972, he was elected the State’s Attorney of Tazewell County, and served in that position until 1976. From 1976-82 Bode was in private practice and worked as a public defender in Tazewell County. In 1982 he became an Associate Circuit Judge for the 10th Judicial Circuit, and served in that position until his retirement in 1999. Judge Bode and his wife Carolyn have six children. Topics Covered: Parents and family background; growing up in the Irving Park, Illinois; early education; delivering newspapers; childhood activities; family life and memories; childhood memories; moving to and living in Fox River Grove in the 50s; adolescence; Crystal Lake High School; visits to family farm; early jobs; meeting Carolyn; joining the Marines; Cold War and communism; service in the Marines; learning to fly; Marine corps. memories; flying helicopters; ABC school; Operation Swordfish and Starfish Prime; political and social views as a young man; applying to the University of Illinois; jobs in college; conception of his generation; memories of Champaign/Urbana; jobs in college; growing family; applying to law school; U of I law school; influential professors; civil rights movement and Vietnam war; law review article; starting out in private practice and as assistant city attorney for East Peoria; open housing and race relations; local bar; early cases; memories of judges; Strawberry Alarm Clock case; private practice; public defender work; running for State’s Attorney; implementing new policies as State’s Attorney; State’s Attorney’s office and work; memorable cases; President Nixon’s visit to Pekin; President Ford’s visit to Pekin; Ronald Reagan’s visit to Pekin; decision to leave the State’s Attorney’s office; private practice, appellate work, and public defender work; memories of judges; decision to seek a judgeship; becoming a judge; early years as a judge; religious experiences; juvenile court memories; teenage pregnancy panel; becoming a foster parent; early cases as a judge; juvenile delinquency; juvenile court memories; other dockets worked and changes in legal profession; domestic relations; child custody cases; traffic court; criminal justice system; end of career and retirement; contempt; patience; cases he struggles with; cameras in the courtroom; relating to the media; public awareness of the judiciary; bar associations; role of judiciary in society; pro bono and philanthropic work; civic engagement; future of the profession; and legacy. 2 Note: Readers of this oral history should note that this is a transcript of the spoken word, and that it has been edited for clarity and elaboration. The interviewer, interviewee, and editors attempted to preserve the informal, conversational style that is inherent in such historical sources while also editing for clarity and elaboration. The Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission is not responsible for the factual accuracy of the oral history, nor for the views expressed therein. 3 Judge C. Brett Bode: An Oral History LAW: This is an oral history interview with Judge C. Brett Bode. We are in his home in Pekin, Illinois. Today’s date is April 2nd, 2015. This is interview number one and we are going to focus on Judge Bode’s background. So Judge Bode I thought we would start with when and where were you born? BODE: I was born on July 9th, 1939 in Evanston, Illinois. And my father was Carlton Edward Bode and my mother was Eleanor Kile. My father was one of two children of Harry and Lillian Bode who, during the Depression, came from up into the Chicagoland area from Missouri, Hannibal, Missouri. My grandfather Harry was a railroader and worked all the time I knew him on the Chicago & North Western Railroad. I always understood he was a plumber or steamfitter. My grandmother Lillian was an entrepreneur, she was way ahead of her time. My earliest memories of her was a tea room that she had in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, where she owned and operated it and was the major cook and I remember when I was about four or maybe I was even younger, seeing her with a bandana around her head and flames shooting up into the hood over the stove as she was cooking. She got out of the restaurant business and became an owner of a gift shop and she specialized in gifts, mostly stuff for home decorating, lamps and pictures and doodads for the home. And she had, over the years she had shops at, only one shop at a time, but she had them on Irving Park Road, a couple on Irving Park Road at different locations in Chicago and one on Kedzie [Avenue] and her last one was in Des Plaines, Illinois, where she retired from. My father went to – was born in Hannibal, [Missouri], and immigrated up here to Chicagoland area with his parents and he had a sister, a few years younger, Delores and I 4 understood they lived at various locations in Chicago, almost always rental, occupying rental units. I always heard from family lore that grandma kind of supported the family during some tough times during the Depression when Pop, we called him Pop Harry, was out of work. Delores and my dad both attended Maine Township High School in the Des Plaines area and they graduated from there. My dad, I think, went to Northwestern [University] right out of high school on a part-time basis. He went to work for DuPont paint manufacturer which was located on Clybourn Street in Chicago, where he worked I think at some laboratory jobs there for a while. Eventually he worked his whole work- life at that same location, worked over forty years, I think it was like forty-four years total before he retired and he ended up being like the third senior person in the plant. He was laid off when the plant closed, he was sixty-four, and that’s a story in itself. His heart was always in journalism, he liked to write. He took a couple of years of journalism training at Northwestern. I think he always felt bad that he didn’t complete college. I was the first member of the family ever to go on to college. My grandparents Harry and Lillian I don’t think either one of them graduated from high school, maybe Lillian did but I know Harry didn’t. Years later I had occasion when I was involved with antiques to look at an eighth grade examination from around 1900, what was expected that eighth graders would have learned and I would say that very few college students could have handled the exam very well today. If you got an eighth grade education in those years back before the turn of the century you got a pretty good education. At least my grandparents always seemed to be well read, very knowledgeable about life and the times. As I understand it when I was first born they lived in Des Plaines but shortly thereafter moved to the Irving Park region of Chicago, on the northwest side of Chicago. 5 This was a pretty vibrant area in the city. We lived in a three story walk-up apartment building, brownstone, it probably had about thirty-six units in it; we were on the third floor. I thought it was really large but it really, really wasn’t, it was really a two bedroom apartment, they called them a flat at that time. It was nice and it was a good neighborhood. It had wooden back porches and wooden staircases in the back to go down to the alley area and behind the alley there were other apartments on streets nearby that their back of them would face and that was kind of where the neighborhood kids would gather and play.