13 Facts About Charles Crookham

Charles Crookham was the son of Kenneth Crookham, who worked for an automobile dealership at the time, and who later went into the business himself.

Charles Crookham grew up in the family home on Northeast 38th Street, attending neighborhood schools.

Charles Crookham had already decided on a career in law at the age of eight, at the urging of an uncle.

Charles Crookham earned his high school diploma at Grant High School, then attended Oregon State University, Loyola College of Los Angeles, and Multnomah College, before graduating Stanford University with a BA, and earning a JD from Northwestern School of Law.

Charles Crookham remained active in the Army Reserve after the war's conclusion, rising to the rank of colonel.

Charles Crookham was first appointed to the bench by Oregon Governor Mark O Hatfield in 1962, serving as a judge from 1963 to 1988, and as presiding judge between 1978 and 1985.

Charles Crookham once held a mock funeral service at the courthouse for Roman numerals, retiring them from use in state pleadings.

Foote had been a young clerk for Charles Crookham as presiding judge.

Appearances in Charles Crookham's court were "short and sweet," according to a quotation in the press by Timothy Wood of the Oregon Department of Justice, who had argued at trial before the judge.

Charles Crookham didn't cut the lawyers' arguments short out of impatience or rudeness, but because he had already studied the issues so thoroughly.

In January, 1992, Crookham became Oregon Attorney General, appointed by the Governor, Barbara Roberts to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of David B Frohnmayer who left to become University of Oregon's law school dean.

Charles Crookham's decision left the field wide open for candidates, and a hotly contested race resulted in both the Republican and Democratic Party of Oregon primaries that year.

Crookham's son, Berkeley Fitzcharles Crookham was convicted in 1995 at age 36 "on a felony charge in the beating of his [6-week-old] infant daughter" and booked into jail on June 28,1995, in Multnomah County, Oregon in a case covered extensively in the Oregon press.