Carolyn Dimmick Final PDF.indd - Washington Secretary of State

Hughes: Tell me about that.
Dimmick: Well, somebody was president of the Student Council, and Jim was vicepresident
and I was secretary one of those years. …
Hughes: Did you know a fellow named Rod Dimoff?
Dimmick: Roderick Dimoff. Yes I knew him.
Hughes: Justice Smith tells the story that Dimoff ran for president of the student body and
played his cello on the steps of Suzzallo Library.
Dimmick: That’s exactly what he did. And we all were backing him up, you know.
Hughes: I called him yesterday to confirm the story. He sounded like an interesting fellow.
He’s still a lawyer in Seattle.
Dimmick: Very, very interesting fellow. He was so young, way younger than the rest of us
for some reason. I think he was probably a boy genius to get there early. But he reminded
me of a very young person.
Hughes: So among those fellows of your era at the UW – the contemporaries, future
justices Jimmy Andersen, Jim Dolliver, Keith Callow, Robert Brachtenbach, Bob Utter and
Smith – who did you know best?
Dimmick: Well, I knew them in the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. All of us
worked there. I knew Charles Smith very well there. I would say he was the one I knew the
best all along.
Hughes: So what was the atmosphere like in Law School?
Dimmick: Law School was fine. We were a little intimidated. As I said earlier, we started
with seven women in my class. Only three of us graduated. For various reasons. I don’t say
they all flunked out or anything. I think the professors were kindly and didn’t seem to pick
on us, except a couple of them.
Hughes: “Us” in general, or females?
Dimmick: Females and minorities. Jack Tanner (an African American who in 1978 became
the first African-American federal judge west of the Mississippi) was in school off and on
with me. And we had the impression there was one professor who was trying to flunk out
all minorities. And at the time women were minorities. So one professor warned me not to
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