John Foster Symes

• Publication year: 1990
• Pages: 1284
• Citation: Vol. 19 No. 7 Pg. 1284

19 Colo.Law. 1284 Colorado Lawyer 1990.

1990, July, Pg. 1284. JOHN FOSTER SYMES

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1284

Vol. 19, No. 7, Pg. 1284

JOHN FOSTER SYMES

by James L. Treece, Walter Bowman, Virginia McMurtry and Robert Welch

[Please see hardcopy for image]

James L. Treece, Englewood, is a member of the CBA Awards Committee and a partner of Treece and Bahr; Walter Bowman Denver, is a former U.S. District Court clerk under Judge Symes; Virginia McMurtry, Englewood, is the daughter of Judge Symes; and Robert Welch, Denver, is a former business secretary of Judge Symes.

When John Foster Symes died at the age of 73 in 1951, The Denver Post said of him,

Few Judges in the nation commanded greater respect from friends and foes alike. Courageous in his decisions and personal convictions, Judge Symes sought truth and justice as he understood those virtues with reverent devotion. What more can be said of a man

To the underprivileged and the lowly, he extended sympathetic mercy and through his human understanding, he was able to set aright many a misdirected life. It was in these moods and moments that he truly touched the hearts of those who observed this little known side of the man.

On Symes's retirement from the federal bench in 1949, Lee Casey, a well-known Rocky Mountain News columnist at the time, wrote of him that he had ended "a career of more than a quarter-century's distinguished and able service to the people and the judiciary" and that he was modest, unassuming, performed notably and was a credit to the state of Colorado and to the bench.

Symes was born in Denver on February 10, 1878, the second child of George Gifford and Sophie Foster Symes. His father had served with distinction in the Civil War, was wounded in the Battle of Atlanta, and had been appointed federal judge of the Territory of Montana by President Grant in 1872. He then served Colorado for two terms as Congressman, 1884-1888.

The Symes family wealth was established and its name became a long-lasting part of the Denver community when George Gifford Symes built the Symes Block on six lots at 16th and Champa Streets in downtown Denver, reportedly using fees he earned in litigation over a Georgetown mine. The Colorado Federal Court was located in the Symes Block from 1884 until 1889, and several well-known law firms were (and are) housed there. The Woolworth store still is located in the present-day Symes Building.(fn1)

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