Citing the motivational book “Make Your Bed” by retired Admiral William McRaven, retired Circuit Court Judge Tom Doherty spoke about making a difference in the world by helping to change someone else’s life.  He said it was the support of others that opened doors for him, eventually leading to his successful election as a Circuit Court Judge in 2010.  McRaven’s book is based on a commencement address he gave to a graduating class at his Alma Mater, the University of Texas at Austin.  It recounts how his Navy Seal training taught him life lessons on dealing with obstacles and seizing opportunities, all beginning with the simple orderly start of one’s day by making your bed.

 

Doherty said he had humble beginnings as the oldest of five children raised in a modest home in DeKalb’s Tilton Park neighborhood.  Among his early remembrances was a focus from his father on using proper grammar.  After high school graduation, he went to NIU, but things initially did not go well and he flunked out.  Enlisting in the Marine Corps gave him a second chance and said he learned respect, leadership, and discipline.  He went on to return to NIU and graduated.  He began a business career away from the area but moved back working in Real Estate.  It was at the urging and financial help of businessman Tom Rosenow that he pursued a dream of earning his law degree.  He practiced law for 24 years before entering the race for Circuit Court Judge.  Doherty noted the backing of his wife and multiple others who helped him in his campaign, including 40 people who marched with him in that year’s Pumpkinfest Parade.  He won with 54.33% of the vote.

 

Doherty explained how his decisions on the bench impacted many people presiding over so-called high-volume cases.  He said he would hear as many as 300 cases a week involving traffic citations, DUI, misdemeanor charges, small claims, and foreclosures.  He also presided over weddings.  Doherty said he was inspired to deal with the many court matters he faced by following the guidance in Admiral McRaven’s book by starting each day with the small act of “making the bed.”                  

The Rotary Club of Sycamore is committed to supporting many great causes. Following are the causes we have support since July 2022:

March 26, 1911 – American playwright Tennessee Williams (author of such works as The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) is born in Columbus, Mississippi.  

 

March 29, 1867 – Baseball pitching legend Cy Young is born in Gilmore, Ohio.  He holds the major league baseball record for most career wins; 511.

 

March 30, 1853 – Famed post-Impressionist Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh is born in Zundert, Netherlands.

 

March 31, 1732 – Composer (considered the father of the symphony) Franz Joseph Haydn is born in Rohrau, Austria.

March 28, 1979 – At 4 AM, one of the worst accidents in the history of the U.S. nuclear power industry began when a pressure valve in the Unit 2 reactor at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania failed to close.  Cooling water, contaminated with radiation, drained from the open valve into adjoining buildings and the unit’s fuel core began to overheat.  Fears of a core meltdown that could release radiation and sicken area residents led to more than 100,000 people fleeing nearby towns.  Slowly the reactor core cooled and no one outside the plant had exposure to adverse levels of radiation, but the incident greatly eroded the public’s faith in nuclear power.   

 

March 29, 1973 – Two months after the signing of the Vietnam peace agreement, the last U.S. combat troops leave South Vietnam and the government of North Vietnam frees many remaining American prisoners of war ending America’s direct intervention in the Vietnam conflict.  The war between the North and South Vietnamese continued and civilian U. S. Defense Department employees remained in Saigon until the last Americans were airlifted out of Saigon on April 30, 1975, when the city fell to the communists.

 

March 30, 1981 – President Ronald Reagan survives an assassination attempt by John Hinckley after being shot in the left lung; his press secretary, James Brady suffers permanent brain damage after also being wounded.

 

March 31, 1968 – President Lyndon Johnson makes the surprise announcement that he will not seek reelection because of the Vietnam conflict.