After being lauded by fellow jurists and family for her barrier-breaking role as Porter County’s first female deputy prosecutor and judge, retired Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary Harper addressed the large gathering of friends and officials gathered to honor her Thursday with the dedication of the courtroom at the Juvenile Service Center.
“First of all, this is my old desk I had all those years in Valpo,” she said from her seat at the front of the room, which was adorned with a vase of red and yellow roses. “I want to know where all my stuff went. There’s not a thing in here.”
Laughter and poignancy intertwined during the program, which honored Harper and her more than 40 years of service to the county, including groundbreaking programs for juveniles going through the justice system and their families that led to statewide changes.
Harper retired in 2019. The Board of Commissioners passed a resolution dedicating the courtroom to her but the program was put off by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to being the county’s first female deputy prosecutor, chief deputy prosecutor and superior and circuit court judges, Harper was the longest serving full-time female judge in state history when she retired.
“She improved each child’s chance in the system,” said Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary DeBoer, who was selected by Gov. Eric Holcomb to take Harper’s seat when she retired and was elected to the post in 2020.
Harper’s accomplishments include establishing juvenile and family court, drug court, truancy court, and teen court, DeBoer said, adding that was in addition to running a courtroom full-time on the third floor of the Valparaiso courthouse.
“Mary Harper is a doer. She is the 1%,” DeBoer said, adding later that when she was a freshman deputy prosecutor in the 1990s, she sat in awe of Harper’s court.
Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Nancy Vaidik, a close friend of Harper’s, called Harper an inspiration, mentor and friend over the years. Harper was “a superstar in this community” in the mid-1970s, taking on the hardest murder cases as a deputy prosecutor.
Vaidik said she followed Harper’s legal path in Porter County after hearing Harper speak about her work as a prosecutor when Vaidik was attending Valparaiso University’s law school. Vaidik had never met a woman who was an attorney before.
“She taught me so much,” Vaidik said, adding the two became friends, sometimes getting together over a glass of wine. When Vaidik was a trial judge in Porter County, she would step away from the bench to call Harper for advice on how to rule on an objection.
Vaidik and Harper were nicknamed the “Killer Bs.”
“It didn’t refer to buzzing,” Vaidik added.
Jim Harper, Harper’s son, said he couldn’t be prouder and it was important for his mother to be honored in person. As his mother faced health struggles since her retirement, many of the people in the room had dropped off food, checked in to see how she was doing and offered support in other ways.
“This is her community and it is incredibly meaningful that she is able to be with her community today,” Jim Harper said, adding his mother was most proud of the work she did in juvenile court. “She cares deeply about this court and the work that she and her team performed.”
In Porter County, Judge Harper said, kids are loved.
“I can’t tell you how honored I have been and how much solace it has given me over the past couple years to think about all the work we’ve done,” Harper said, adding she didn’t think commissioners should have named the courtroom for her. “I really thought they should have named it the ‘Porter County Cares About its Children Courtroom.'”
alavalley@chicagotribune.com
