Denver County CO Archives Obituaries.....Decker, Westbrook Schoonmaker January 16, 1903 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/co/cofiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Melba Deuprey noodlestheclown@comcast.net December 8, 2006, 1:39 pm Denver Times [photo] JUDGE WESTBROOK S. DECKER The well beloved jurist and advocate who passed away yesterday. THE LAST SLEEP OVERTAKES JUDGE WESTBROOK S. DECKER Death of a Brilliant Lawyer and a Soldier and Citizen Who Loved His Fellow-men. Westbrook Schoonmaker Decker, scion of an old Holland-Dutch family of New York and for years a prominent and lovable figure in Denver life, died yesterday afternoon of pneumonia. His end came peacefully after two years of bad health and he died surrounded by his family. Judge Decker was one of the most brilliant of the Western jurists. His clear insight, his judicial mind and his magnetic oratory paced him in the front rank of his profession. Through his great interest in all public questions and his stand always on the side of the oppressed, he became recognized as the friend of the masses. Judge Decker was born on April 22, 1839, and reared on a farm near Tyree, Seneca county, N.Y., his early education being obtained in the old- fashioned district schools. At 16 he entered the Brockport Collegiate institute and spent three years there. When he graduated he secured a position as a teacher for a year. Fought for the Union. In 1862 he responded to President Lincoln's call for more soldiers and enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth New York volunteers. He was a private in Company I and took part in the battles of Maryland Heights and Harper's Ferry, being taken prisoner at the latter place. An exchange was effected and he did duty at Union Hills and Centerville. At the battle of Gettysburg he was very severely wounded and had to lie in a hospital five months. In 1864 he was made a second lieutenant in a colored regiment and shortly afterward was sent to Brownsville, Tex., as assistant provost marshal. The law claimed his attention at the close of the war and in 1865, at the age of 26, he entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and two years later was graduated. Mr. Decker was admitted to the bar in Kankakee, Ill., in 1867 and he began the practice of law there. The next year he was elected city attorney and in 1869 was re-elected. The second term he did not serve out, as he was chosen county judge of Kankakee county, a position he held four years. First District Attorney. Judge Decker's health failed him in 1874 and he came to Denver and opened an office. With him came his wife, who was a Miss Katherine Worden, and their two children. President Grant appointed him district attorney for Colorado in 1877, the first under the state government. Three years later he resigned and resumed his practice. Judge Decker was appointed to the bench in 1887 to fill an unexpired term in the district court and shortly afterward was selected for the full term of six years. This seat he resigned in 1891 and again took up his private practice. Mrs. Decker died in 1891 and three years later he married Sarah S. Platt, who survives her husband. Two children also survive, Mrs. George Sargent of Pueblo and Mason L. Decker of Denver. His parents reared him in the doctrines of the old Dutch Reformed church, but when he came to Denver he associated himself with the Congregational church. A Worthy Tribute. Politically Judge Decker was a Republican until 1897, when on account of the silver issue he left the party. He was affiliated with the Denver and the Colorado Bar associations and also had large mining interests. The Hon. T. J. O'Donnell, Judge Decker's partner for six years and an intimate friend, said of him: "As a practitioner he was intensely vigorous, in prosecution alert and active. He was one of the very straightest men in relation to the ethics of the profession, and was so regarded by his colleagues. "He was upright on the bench. He decided many notable cases and cases in which it was thought that social, political and other like influences might affect him, but it was the consensus of opinion that he was in every case moved by none of these things. "He was a man of domestic habits and fond of home, but he was also fond of friends and of anecdote, consequently the life of many a banquet. He was warm and genial in character, always sunny in his disposition. He was noted for his kindliness toward all unto whom there was no specific reason for being otherwise; then he was eminently just and firm. Additional Comments: Fairmount cemetery Sec W 1/2 Lot 151 Blk 2 U.S. Attorney Colorado Supreme Court Judge File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/denver/obits/d/decker_westbrook_1903.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cofiles/ File size: 5.1 Kb