By Peggy Greene
This feature story appeared in the Topeka
For feeling the irregular pulse of life there is no better place than on the bench of the probate court. A probate judge needs to have sympathy, understanding, temperate judgment, a lack of vindictiveness, all bound together, seasoned with a good dash of realism.
That is a pattern into which Glenn D. Cogswell has fitted himself. He has been probate judge since 1950 and before that had served a term as judge of the Court of Topeka – five years that have added insight, knowledge, and valuable experience.
Judge Cogswell was probably the youngest judge in the nation when he was elected to the Court of Topeka at the age of 26. The junior section of “American Bar” advanced a contender who claimed to be the youngest judge sitting on any bench in the United States
Glenn has always been a little ahead of his years. In Kingman County
He is the youngest of the four sons of Mr. And Mrs. Carl Cogswell. The elder Cogswell has been well known for some years for his interest in farming and stock raising, in the Grange, in good riding horses, and the Republican Party. The family moved to Topeka
Glenn’s first jobs were hoeing potatoes and herding cattle, though he gives the credit for the latter to a wise old cow pony the family owned. The horse rounded up straying cattle, nipping them as a dog does. It might be said that the boy went along to keep the pony company.
Glenn graduated from Topeka High School and entered Washburn College
Young Cogswell is basketball material – tall, slim, athletically easy. He is also very good-looking, with thick wavy black hair, nice brown eyes, good features, even dimples when he smiles.
The war interrupted his education and he spent three years in the Navy, attaining the rank of lieutenant (J.G.). He operated on an LST moving supplies across the British channel for the Normandy
While he was stationed in England Glenn met Miss Jeanette Hallewell of Southampton . They were married May 1, 1945, just a week before the European end of the war. Glenn was released from service in December in time to reach home for the white Christmas of that year, and his wife came in February, 1946.
Their home is at 711 Park Lane. They have two children, Carolyn, 6, and David, 4. Mrs. Cogswell’s parents, Mr. And Mrs. Tom Hallewell, now live in Topeka
Glenn went back to Washburn and graduated from the law school in 1947. He opened a law office that summer and remembers that it was “pretty rough the first year.” But he survived, helped by a few jobs that are tossed out to struggling young lawyers.
He was elected to the Court of Topeka in 1948. In 1950 he ran for probate judge and was elected and in 1952 was re-elected without opposition. During these years he has kept up what private practice he has had time for and the last two years he has been associated with Frank Miller, a lawyer of wide experience and distinguished reputation.
Into the probate court come many human problems. In Topeka
In Shawnee County
Cogswell has had the wording of the titles o juvenile cases changed to eliminate any idea of prosecution or punishment. Instead of “versus,” the phrase now used is “in the interest of.” This is characteristic of his attitude that the welfare of the child is the chief objective of the court and it is the court’s duty to help rather than punish.
There was a case in which a mother was cruel to one of her children, a very small girl who had been badly beaten. Judge Cogswell took the child from the woman and placed her in the custody of a relative. An official who had been connected with the case was critical because he had not punished the woman,
Cogswell admitted that in his outrage at the cruelty his impulse had been to strike back at the woman, but his judgment said that the family was the important thing, and he believed that to punish the mother would only injure the other children, who were well treated. For some unknown reason her antagonism was directed toward only the one child.
Work in the juvenile court sometimes leaves Cogswell “downright blue.” He has seen the same children come back again and again and has been assured by psychologists and psychiatrists that they would never change. He has seen children with no moral concepts whatever, with no feeling either for right or wrong.
But there are encouragements. Children have come voluntarily to the court for help. Cogswell believes that for children to seek counsel in the courts shows that the courts are reaching a high development of usefulness. Fully half the juvenile cases are from neglect rather than delinquency.
Adoptions and commitments to state institutions are made through the probate court, which is presumed to decide who is eligible for public help. In a certain instance, Judge Cogswell does not even try to be judicial, and that is when help is asked to help a crippled child. He never turns one down.
Another duty of the probate courts is to administer trusts and wills. Wills often expose raw chunks of human nature.
There is the widow who is sometimes so obviously extravagant that the judge hates to turn over her inheritance to her, knowing it will be wasted in a few years.
There are the relatives who plead for a partial distribution, giving sad reasons why they must have a little money at once. What would they have done, he wonders, if uncle had not died just then?
There is the frail old lady who is taken care of by neighbors and friends through a long and lingering illness, but as soon as she dies, distant relatives stream into town sniffling about how much they loved dear old auntie.
The court tries to carry out the wishes of the testator, and the trouble comes from those who leave no wills. Currently pending is a case of an estate which has 44 relatives in 11 states and Alaska
Sometimes there are weddings at court. A good many of them are of men in the service or of those being married a second time.
Glenn is vice president of the State Probate Judges Association and a member of the National Council of Juvenile Judges. He is first district chairman of the Young Republican clubs and was a delegate last June to the national convention,
He is a member of the Scottish Rite and a Shriner, one of the youngest in the lodge.
He is president of the Topeka Civic Theater and has been a board member for several years. He has helped in various departments and further contributes by taking care of the children while Jeanie does make-up or sketches members of the cast. He does not have much time for leisurely reading, but he especially enjoys philosophy.
The Cogswell children are good riders – Grandpa Cogswell may have seen to that. Carolyn is bold and fearless and David won a blue ribbon at the horse show this summer. He felt belittle that his grandfather led the horse – it was one of the regulations.
After the show a man tried to buy the horse, offering a tempting sum. But one little sentence from David was more powerful than the insistent bids of the trader: “You wouldn’t sell Smokey, would you, Grandpa?”
Cogswell is only in the early chapters of a life that promises to be full and interesting. He is friendly and much liked. At Washburn he was president of his freshman class and was president of the student council when he was a senior.
Two beliefs stand out from his experience: that a lawyer should be careful not to be the judge and that every accused person has the right to be defended in court.
He believes in the dignity of the court, of whatever rank. When he was elected to the court of Topeka, he tried to conduct it so that those who came into it might learn to respect the courts, for he knew that to many people it would be the only court they would ever know and would set their attitude toward all courts.
Sitting in probate court and hearing the tough, the sad, the sometimes hopeless problems of humanity is extending Glenn Cogswell’s sympathies and knowledge. Like a traveler in a strange country, each step brings new insights into that little known world of human behavior.
No comments:
Post a Comment