Carolyn Dimmick Final PDF.indd - Washington Secretary of State

Dimmick: Who wrote the article?
Hughes: Mary Elizabeth Nicholas. I didn’t know Mary Elizabeth, but I won’t make fun of
her because she’s writing in her genre and in her era. And I sure wrote a lot worse stuff
than that. She asks, “What do her children think of her being a judge?” “I don’t think they
have any real conception of just what the job is,” you reply. My little boy has seen ‘Laughin’
a couple of times, so he does give me a ‘Here comes the judge’ now and then.” Is that
true?
Dimmick: Uh-huh.
Hughes: “Away from the office and court it is Mrs. Dimmick who enjoys interior decorating
and antiquing. ‘Junk-tiquing’ really,” she says, “just old furniture. I like to refinish it.” Do
you still like to refinish furniture?
Dimmick: No. (laughs) It’s all gone.
Hughes: Here’s the golf part: “She also likes water sports, swimming and water skiing, and
says she is planning to take up golf, which her husband plays enthusiastically.” Is that just
so much boilerplate?
Dimmick: I don’t remember planning to take up golf. Although I will tell you this: I did take
a couple of lessons at Cy’s request. And then I would go back to Charlie Mortimer, the pro
over at Inglewood Golf Club, and Charlie would say, “You haven’t been practicing.” And
I’d say, “No Charlie, I’m working. I don’t have time to practice.” And he said, “You know, I
don’t have time to teach you.” I said, “It’s a deal.” And that was the end of it.
Hughes: That’s funny!
Dimmick: I planned to take it up but it didn’t take. Let’s put it that way. If you could do it
without having to practice I could have done it.
Hughes: Meantime, Charles Smith tells the story that if you worked for Charles O. Carroll
during that era, a prerequisite was that you were active in the Republican Party. At
Carroll’s insistence, Smith became president of the Young Attorneys for Nixon. Did he have
you out doorbelling too?
Dimmick: Not for Nixon.
Hughes: But were you required to be a Republican? What did you do?
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