Carolyn Dimmick Final PDF.indd - Washington Secretary of State

Hughes: Was that tough thing to see, all the dysfunction parading through the courtroom?
Dimmick: Well, I didn’t get as burned out as Charlie Smith did. I think Charlie got his
heart and soul into every case. And after having been 10 years on another bench before I
went to the Superior Court (in 1976), you get a little more, and then a little more… You just
realize you can’t live with it every day or you’re not going to make it.
Hughes: Was there a landmark moment when you really realized that was happening?
When you saw some things that cut so much to your soul that you came home and talked
to Cy and the kids?
Dimmick: Well, I did that often. I did that often.
Hughes: I imagine that’s one of the good things about having an attorney for a spouse: He
or she knows the ropes?
Dimmick: Well, he spent his time defending. … Of course he never made any money
because people are in trouble and they’re in trouble because they don’t have any money
usually. He never sued anybody for a fee. Some people paid him; some didn’t. But he felt
that he could afford to do it because he had working wife. (chuckles) They called him the
“gentleman lawyer” like a “gentleman farmer.” He didn’t really have to make a living at it,
but he devoted his time to it.
Hughes: What did you two do for fun?
Dimmick: He played golf. I went to art galleries and junking with my girlfriends … A lot of
those kinds of things.
Hughes: What kind of art do you like?
Dimmick: My collection is Pacific Northwest artists. You know, Bill Cummings… (glancing
around her office) I took them all home.
Hughes: Kenneth Callahan?
Dimmick: I don’t have a Callahan. … I like modern art now. I’m getting into it more and
more. Like these are the great California plains painters. (glancing toward a painting)
Hughes: I was admiring that earlier. There was one in that genre on “Antiques Roadshow”
just the other night.
Dimmick: I saw that one.
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