Former Appeals Court Judge Dies

Ralph Edgerton Spokane

Memorial service for Ralph Phipps Edgerton, former Spokane Superior Court and state Appeals Court judge, will be at 2 p.m. Monday at The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. Ball and Dodd Funeral Home-South is in charge of cremation.

Mr. Edgerton, 87, died Wednesday. He was born in Sandpoint.

Mr. Edgerton went from being a messenger boy in a Spokane bank to one of the area’s most respected legal scholars.

“He was especially known for being an excellent writer,” said Court of Appeals Judge Ray Munson. “He would help others with their writing, and beyond that, could explain the reason why. He was a great help.”

He married Frances Still in 1939. They were divorced in 1966, and she preceded him in death.

In 1967 he married Ilse Graham, who died in 1984.

In 1986 he married Jean Hardy.

He graduated from Lewis and Clark High School, Whitman College and Gonzaga University.

He held several positions including correspondent for The Spokesman-Review, providing news about Whitman College. During the summer of 1930, he worked as a reporter and part-time night editor for the Walla Walla Union.

He served as a clerk in the legal department of the Crop Production Loan office, worked in the Blister Rust Control agency, and was a field worker for the Forest Service.

He was admitted to the Washington State Bar in 1936 and worked in private practice until 1949.

He was a law instructor at Gonzaga University in 1946 and 1947. He served for a brief period as a justice of the peace, now known as District Court judge, for the county and precinct of Spokane.

Later, reflecting on his career, Edgerton said he benefitted from “a little starvation” as he began legal work.

“It took three years before I cracked $100 a month,” he said in 1956.

In 1949 he was appointed by Gov. Arthur Langlie as a Superior Court judge and remained in that position until 1972, when he was appointed state Court of Appeals judge by Gov. Daniel Evans.

He ran for election that fall and was defeated.

After retiring that year, Edgerton served on the Court of Appeals as a pro tempore judge every year from 1973 through 1994.

He was a member of The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist; Beta Theta Pi, Gamma Zeta Chapter at Whitman College; Oriental Masonic Lodge No. 74; Scottish Rite of Freemasonry; and the El Katif Temple; and was a 32nd-degree Mason.

He was a member of the Whitman College Board of Overseers, Sons of the American Revolution, Eastern Washington Historical Society, The Westerners, Society of Mayflower Descendants, Order of Founders and Patriots of America, and Morning Star Boys Ranch.

Mr. Edgerton is survived by his wife of 10 years; one daughter, Lynne Kinnunen of Spokane; two stepdaughters, Lynda Wolf and Sandra Padrta; two stepsons, John Graham and John Hardy; four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be made to Whitman College or The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.

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