Agency's New Transitional Housing Unit Named After Kosciusko Law Pioneer
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Pam Kennedy, building inspector for Housing Opportunities of Warsaw, had a house to name.
Intended to serve as transitory housing for families getting on their feet, the house's name, Kennedy felt, should serve as an inspiration to its occupants.
Kennedy found who she was looking for while researching the life of the late Lucy Upson.
Self-motivated and independent, Lucy E. Upson was the first woman attorney in Kosciusko County. She practiced law here and in surrounding counties for 50 years.
She was born on a farm near Warsaw Aug. 4, 1886, a daughter of Arthur and Lucretia Vanator Upson. She graduated from Warsaw High School in 1904 then attended Fort Wayne International Business College. After graduation she worked in the law offices of Vesey and Vesey in Fort Wayne.
Following her family to the state of Washington for a year, Upson returned to Warsaw in 1910 and went to work in the law office of Stookey and Anglin. There she served as legal secretary, preparing trial briefs.
Anglin died in 1915 and Stookey died in 1923. Finding herself with a considerable amount of business to be finished and clients who wanted her services, Upson began to prepare herself for the bar examinations.
She studied to become an attorney through a correspondence course .
In those days one became a lawyer upon passing oral examinations given in the Kosciusko County courthouse. Upson was the last person in the county to be tested that way. Afterwards, law students traveled to Indianapolis to pass written tests.
On April 10, 1926, she was admitted to the Kosciusko County bar.
For four years Upson worked with Bowser and Bowser until she opened her own office in 1930 in the Coleman building on West Center Street across from the courthouse. That building sold and she relocated above the Ace Hardware on South Buffalo Street.
For two years she worked in Chicago at the American Extension School of Law. She found the work interesting but again missed Warsaw, moving back in 1948.
Upson opened law offices at 216 S. Buffalo St. until her later years, when she worked out of her home in Winona Lake. In 1967 she was associated with William Dalton II.
In addition to being the first woman to practice law in Kosciusko County, she was the first woman attorney to appear in Elkhart Circuit Court. In 1975 she was still the only woman lawyer in the county.
Upson said in a 1975 Times-Union interview she was never much of an orator, preferring to work out a compromise on behalf of her clients. Today this method is called mediation, a method she pioneered.
Through the years her strongest interests were estates, real estate contracts and tax work.
She attributed much of her success to pretrial preparation. She cited several incidents where extra attention to detail made all the difference between winning and losing a case.
"If you're a woman in a field like that," she said, "where men are in the same field, you have to be sure you are prepared. A lot of men go into court not very well prepared."
Whether or not that sentiment is true today, Upson said she experienced overt discrimination only once, when Morrison Rockhill refused to talk to her about a case because he couldn't talk to a woman. His partner, Walter Brubaker, quickly contacted her and worked out a compromise.
She was a charter member of the Kosciusko County Historical Society, drawing up its bylaws. Also a 1927 charter member of the Warsaw Chapter of Business and Professional Women's Club, she served as that organization's second president for two years. She also was a member of the Winona Lake Presbyterian Church, Daughters of the American Revolution and the Winona Lake Literary Club.
A member of the American Bar Association, she served as president of the county chapter. Politically a Republican, Upson was active locally and attended several national conventions. [[In-content Ad]]
Pam Kennedy, building inspector for Housing Opportunities of Warsaw, had a house to name.
Intended to serve as transitory housing for families getting on their feet, the house's name, Kennedy felt, should serve as an inspiration to its occupants.
Kennedy found who she was looking for while researching the life of the late Lucy Upson.
Self-motivated and independent, Lucy E. Upson was the first woman attorney in Kosciusko County. She practiced law here and in surrounding counties for 50 years.
She was born on a farm near Warsaw Aug. 4, 1886, a daughter of Arthur and Lucretia Vanator Upson. She graduated from Warsaw High School in 1904 then attended Fort Wayne International Business College. After graduation she worked in the law offices of Vesey and Vesey in Fort Wayne.
Following her family to the state of Washington for a year, Upson returned to Warsaw in 1910 and went to work in the law office of Stookey and Anglin. There she served as legal secretary, preparing trial briefs.
Anglin died in 1915 and Stookey died in 1923. Finding herself with a considerable amount of business to be finished and clients who wanted her services, Upson began to prepare herself for the bar examinations.
She studied to become an attorney through a correspondence course .
In those days one became a lawyer upon passing oral examinations given in the Kosciusko County courthouse. Upson was the last person in the county to be tested that way. Afterwards, law students traveled to Indianapolis to pass written tests.
On April 10, 1926, she was admitted to the Kosciusko County bar.
For four years Upson worked with Bowser and Bowser until she opened her own office in 1930 in the Coleman building on West Center Street across from the courthouse. That building sold and she relocated above the Ace Hardware on South Buffalo Street.
For two years she worked in Chicago at the American Extension School of Law. She found the work interesting but again missed Warsaw, moving back in 1948.
Upson opened law offices at 216 S. Buffalo St. until her later years, when she worked out of her home in Winona Lake. In 1967 she was associated with William Dalton II.
In addition to being the first woman to practice law in Kosciusko County, she was the first woman attorney to appear in Elkhart Circuit Court. In 1975 she was still the only woman lawyer in the county.
Upson said in a 1975 Times-Union interview she was never much of an orator, preferring to work out a compromise on behalf of her clients. Today this method is called mediation, a method she pioneered.
Through the years her strongest interests were estates, real estate contracts and tax work.
She attributed much of her success to pretrial preparation. She cited several incidents where extra attention to detail made all the difference between winning and losing a case.
"If you're a woman in a field like that," she said, "where men are in the same field, you have to be sure you are prepared. A lot of men go into court not very well prepared."
Whether or not that sentiment is true today, Upson said she experienced overt discrimination only once, when Morrison Rockhill refused to talk to her about a case because he couldn't talk to a woman. His partner, Walter Brubaker, quickly contacted her and worked out a compromise.
She was a charter member of the Kosciusko County Historical Society, drawing up its bylaws. Also a 1927 charter member of the Warsaw Chapter of Business and Professional Women's Club, she served as that organization's second president for two years. She also was a member of the Winona Lake Presbyterian Church, Daughters of the American Revolution and the Winona Lake Literary Club.
A member of the American Bar Association, she served as president of the county chapter. Politically a Republican, Upson was active locally and attended several national conventions. [[In-content Ad]]