[All Rise! Court is now in session for closing summation regarding the graceful and accomplished life of the Honorable Carolyn R. Dimmick]. Born on Black Thursday, in Seattle on October 24, 1929, just as the stock market began its infamous crash, Carolyn Joyce Reaber joined her parents, Maurice and Margaret Reaber, and her older brother Raymond. Her mother was a schoolteacher and writer, her dad a master mariner. When Carolyn was young her family moved to Juneau, Alaska where her father had the contract to deliver the mail by boat to outlying areas. To make ends meet, the family housed boarders - mostly workers from the nearby mine - in the upstairs part of their house while the family lived below. Returning to Seattle, her family lived on Phinney Ridge and Carolyn attended Whittier Elementary School, Lincoln High School, University of Washington, and ultimately UW School of Law. In early teenage she worked at the Seattle P-I, a job she kept throughout her years of education allowing her to always pay her own expenses. A graceful athlete, she also happened upon a side job as a "professional" water skier performing with a troupe that entertained locally. Her gender was plainly at odds with her decision to pursue a law degree: a college counselor admonished that as she was going to get married and raise children, she would be taking a law school spot from a deserving man. A law school professor cautioned that she would not be taken seriously as a lawyer if she appeared in newsreels in her bathing suit, perched on the broad shoulders of a man on water skis. Undeterred, in 1953, with law degree in hand, Carolyn went to work at the Attorney General's office in Olympia where she met handsome, gruff attorney, Cyrus Dimmick. They married two years later and raised two children, Taylor and Dana, all while Carolyn continued working. Next, she joined the King County Prosecutor's Office as a Divorce Proctor back when divorce cases required gritty evidence of unwholesome behavior. Carolyn benefitted greatly from the early mentorship of Betty Taylor Howard, a lawyer, later a judge, force of nature in her own right, and one of Carolyn's most enduring friendships. But parenting meant working intermittently and part time, which slowed her career as a lawyer. In 1965, Cy convinced her to apply for a judicial position with King County at the Northeast District Court; she got the job and thus began a career as a judge that would span the rest of her life. Judge Dimmick was appointed to the King County Superior Court in 1976 where she handled more complex and challenging cases which she approached with hard work, conviction and intellect. Her capabilities did not go unnoticed and five years later she became the first woman ever to sit on the Washington State Supreme Court, the state's highest judicial body. Justice Dimmick was keenly aware she had to work twice as hard as her brethren because failure would be judged not just against her, but her gender, and that of the women lawyers and judges coming behind her. She understood difference of opinion and evolving viewpoints that characterize appellate work, just as she understood dissent, and quickly earned the respect of her colleagues. But commuting and living part-time in Olympia was not her calling, and she missed the trial court. Her timely 1985 appointment to the United States District Court bench in Seattle remedied that. Judge Dimmick took to the federal bench the way Beethoven took to the piano. Having been a judge in state courts for 20 years, she knew, as did the lawyers in her court, who was in charge so there was no need emphasize it. One extraordinary quality: her ability to really listen, made attorneys, even on the losing side, walk out of her court knowing they'd been treated fairly. She fulfilled her term as Chief Judge of the Western District of Washington in the mid-1990's, and led by example treating everyone: lawyers, litigants, defendants, witnesses, her fellow judges, U.S. Marshals, CSO's, court deputies, law clerks and maintenance staff with complete respect. It's how she lived. Carolyn had a keen sense for artistry and design that was evident in her homes, furniture, artwork, jewelry, clothing, pottery, and, well, everything. She was a class act. If not for the law, she could have been a designer or perhaps an architect. Her skill and eye for beauty was of professional quality so it was no surprise that she was inducted by her colleagues to oversee, as "tenant representative," the design, approval and construction of the U.S. District Courthouse at Seventh Avenue and Stewart. The design, grace and solid daily function of the courthouse speaks for itself. Not to mention it came in under budget, a signature move by an old school conservative. More recently, Judge Dimmick sat on court committees, advised on hirings, oversaw Social Security cases, and paid careful attention at the judges' Thursday lunches. Closer to home, she had her own chair with the coffee shop boys in the morning, was with her family every day, invited lawyer pals and select neighbors over for happy hour, and made more new friends in retirement than some people make in a lifetime. Carolyn was predeceased by her parents, brother Raymond, and husband Cyrus. She is survived and missed greatly by her son Taylor (Sherri), daughter Dana (Bradley), granddaughters Christina (Jordan), Nichole (Derek), Madeline (Peter), grandson Spencer (Molly), great-grandchildren Cyrus, Kennedy, Charlie, Maggie, Eli and Carl; nieces, nephews, the entire Keefe family, too many friends to count, and her devoted Golden Retriever roommate, Rumble. More than 50 years ago Carolyn started an ongoing tradition, inviting friends, lawyers, and judges without nearby family to celebrate Christmas Eve with her family. Carolyn attended a gala dinner party in Bellevue on December 22nd, and two days later, just as the annual Christmas Eve tradition at her own house was gathering steam and guests were walking in the door, precisely 96 years and two months from that infamous day she arrived, Carolyn drew her last breath. It is fitting that one who lived life on her own terms should leave it the same way. By the way, the party went on . . . in her Honor.

See "Trailblazing Washington jurist Carolyn Dimmick..." article, Friday January 2 Seattle Times (page A8 and A9), https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/trailblazing-washington-jurist-carolyn-dimmick-dies-at-96/