Joseph Maier

TORRINGTON, WYO..... JOSEPH F. MAIER, a retired Wyoming state district judge, died on Saturday, February 11, 2006 in Fort Collins, Colorado. He was 85. There will be a Rosary/Wake service held on Thursday evening February 16, 2006 at 6:30pm at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Cheyenne. The casket will be closed. The funeral Mass will be celebrated on Friday, February 17th, 2006 at 10:30am at St. Mary's Cathedral in Cheyenne and a second service will follow Friday afternoon at 3:30pm in Torrington at St. Joseph's Children's Home Chapel. Burial will take place in the Valley View Cemetery in Torrington with full military honors. The Reverend Carl Beavers will conduct all services. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be directed to either the Honorable Joseph F. Maier Beyond the Classroom Fund at the University of Wyoming College of Law or to St. Joseph's Children's Home in Torrington. Arrangements are under the direction of the Colyer Funeral Home of Torrington and friends may send condolences to the family at www.colyerfuneralhome.com. Maier was born on November 6, 1920 in Sheridan, Wyoming the son of Joseph A. and Edna (Fauver) Maier. He grew up on a ranch outside of town; attending Sheridan schools and, as a child, he often rode his pony, 'Peggy' to class. He graduated from Sheridan High School in 1938. He went on to attend Compton Junior College in Southern California and then enrolled at the University of Wyoming but then interrupted his studies to enlist in the military after Pearl Harbor and served with the Army Infantry in the Aleutian Islands. After his discharge, he returned to the University of Wyoming and graduated first in his class from UW College of Law and was admitted to the bar in July of 1947. He then was in private practice in Sheridan and Torrington, Wyoming for 25 years. He married Helen K. Kelley on June 27, 1942 in Laramie. She died on July 14, 1991 in Cheyenne. Maier then married Ruth Ann Heist on September 18, 1993 in Cheyenne and the couple retired to Mesa, Arizona in 2001. Gov. Stan Hathaway appointed Maier as a judge for the 1st Judicial District in Cheyenne in 1972 where he served until he retired in 1987; but continued to hear cases as a judge on retirement status. Wyoming Supreme Court Justice E. James Burke later listed Maier as one of three judges who had the most impact on his early career. In an interview published in the February 2005 'Wyoming Lawyer' , the journal of the Wyoming State Bar Association, Burke said Maier and the other two judges 'really demanded that you be prepared. If you weren't, there would be consequences - and those consequences would not be pretty.' Maier also served in the Judge Advocate General Corps while in the Army Reserve where he retired as a Colonel in 1974. Maier served on the Goshen County School District board and was a tennis coach at Torrington High School. He was also a member of the Wyoming State School Board Association and served as a trustee of St. Joseph's Children's Home in Torrington. He was a member of the International Association of Trial Judges, the Rotary International, and the American Legion. He was also a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. Maier was an avid tennis player and he enjoyed fishing and playing bridge and cribbage. He is survived by his wife, Ruth; daughters, Katheryne 'Kit' Earl of Torrington; Maggi Murdock of Casper, Wyoming; and Mary Anne Maier of Longmont, Colorado; a son, John Maier of Torrington; a stepdaughter, Judy Douglass of Wheat Ridge, Colorado; a stepson Dan Heist of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania; sister Della Vivion of Rawlins, Wyoming; 14 grandchildren and step grandchildren; and eight great grandchildren.

Joseph Maier

November 6, 1920 - February 11, 2006