MySource:Ceyockey/Thomas J. Yockey Memorial filing

This MySource relates specifically to Thomas Jean Yockey

The Memorial was filed with the Court on 11 April 2003 by Circuit Clerk Kathy A. Hott. The Memorial document will not be reproduced here in order to avoid copyright violations. Facts have been extracted as suitable without identity references to living individuals, though there is substantial information included on living persons. Personal and professional traits (e.g. soft spoken; restrained) included in the Memorial have not been paraphrased here except to say that the Yeats poem "To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing" was dedicated to Mr. Yockey in the Memorial with the note that "this could readily have been written about and for Tom."

The Memorial document indicates that

• Mr. Yockey was also known by the familiar "T.J."
• Mr. Yockey died on 11 February 2003 (80 years of age) at St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital, Effingham, Illinois
• Mr. Yockey was born on 25 December 1922 (Christmas day)
• Mr. Yockey's parents were Courtland M. Yockey and Nora Ferguson Yockey.
• Mr. Yockey graduated from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana
• Mr. Yockey graduated from John Marshall Law School, Chicago, Illinois
• Mr. Yockey held a private law practice in Newton, Illinois before late 1956
• Mr. Yockey held the post of Circuit Court Judge for the Fourth Circuit in Jasper County from 14 November 1956 to 30 November 1958
• Mr. Yockey served as a field representative for the Veterans Administration before 1960
• Mr. Yockey served as Assistant State's Attorney in Macon County, Illinois from 1960 to 1985 with a focus on juvenile court cases
• Mr. Yockey served as part-time Assistant State's Attorney (also in Macon County) from 16 December 1991 to 6 May 1995 with a focus on mental health cases
• Mr. Yockey was married to (Living) Davis on 11 May 1963 in Decatur, Illinois
• Mr. Yockey was survived by his wife; three sons and one daughter; one grand-daughter; and mother-in-law
• Mr. Yockey was preceded in death by his parents; infant brother, Richard Yockey; and father-in-law, Pearl Eugene Davis
• Mr. Yockey was instrumental through his role as Church Treasurer and volunteer worker in facilitating the retention of Reverend Mary Moore as pastor of the Unitarian Church, a post she had come to Decatur to fill
• Mr. Yockey served in the United States Army during World War II, receiving two "overseas service bars, the American campaign medal, European-African-Middle Eastern theater ribbon with three bronze battle stars, good conduct medal, and the World War II victory medal."
• Mr. Yockey was afflicted with glaucoma

A point of historical context was included in the Memorial. Mr. Yockey's tenure as Assistant State's Attorney from 1960 to 1985 came at a time when the first action against "trouble-making youngsters" was something called "station adjustment" which involved a trip to the police station and a good talking to. If the first action did not bring the "youngsters" into line, the offending juvenile was brought before juvenile court and confronted with the options of either a prison term or time spent in the St. Charles "reformatory". Such cases were allowed to continue open for "30-60-90 days", during which time the majority of offenders were effectively "scared straight".