VAN METRE, Peter H. 1926-2005

VAN METRE, MACK, NASS, THEDE, CHAPMAN, RICKER

Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 2/6/2014 at 23:53:00

[Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Sunday, November 6, 2005]

WATERLOO - Honorable Peter Van Metre, 78, of 807 Sheridan Road, died Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2005, at the Western Home Community, Cedar Falls.

He was born Dec. 28, 1926, in West Palm Beach, Fla., son of Horace and Maybeth Mack Van Metre. He married Jeanette Jan Thede Nass on June 29, 1974, in Waterloo.

He attended school in Waterloo, graduated from West High School in 1945, attended Iowa State Teachers College and then graduated from Trinity College with a bachelors degree and the University of Iowa with a juris doctorate degree in 1953.

He served in the U.S. Army during World War II. After graduation from Iowa, he served as law clerk in the Northern District of U.S. District Court, was in private practice with his father in the firm of Harris, Van Metre and Buckmaster, and then was in practice with Buckmaster, Van Metre and Lindeman. In 1959, at the time of his fathers death, he was appointed to the bench to succeed his father. He served as a district court judge from 1959 to 1991 and as a senior district court judge from 1991 until 2001. He also taught law classes at the University of Northern Iowa.

Mr. Van Metre was a member of Trinity Episcopal Parish, the Black Hawk County and the Iowa State Bar Associations and the Iowa Judges Association, and he was active and involved in numerous local organizations and charities.

Survived by his wife; two sons, Joseph Mack (Susan) of Clermont, Fla., and Peter Chapman (Barbara Mahler) of Austin, Texas; a stepson, Jeffrey Nass of Dysart; and three grandchildren, Laura, Emily and Sam Van Metre.

Preceded in death by his parents; and a son, Charles Ricker.

Memorial services: 1:30 p.m. Monday at Trinity Episcopal Parish, with inurnment in Memorial Park Cemetery. Friends may call from 2 to 5 p.m. today at Locke Funeral Home.

Memorials may be directed to Trinity Episcopal Parish.

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[Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Friday, November 4, 2005]

WATERLOO - The man who presided over the trial of a notorious cop killer and sent a John Wayne Gacy to prison is being remembered today.

Judge Peter Van Metre passed away Wednesday at Western Home Communities in Cedar Falls at age 78.

"He left a legacy of a hard-working judge … He was smart and a hard worker," said Judge Joe Keefe, 79, who knew Van Metre since they were both in law school.

Van Metre received his undergraduate degree from Trinity College and earned his law degree from the University of Iowa.

He was appointed a district court judge in March 1959 at the age of 33 by then-Gov. Herschel Loveless. He filled the slot left when his father, Judge Horace Van Metre, died about two weeks earlier.

At the time, he was one of Iowa's youngest district court judges.

He later retired and became a senior judge and eventually stepped down in 2001. In his retirement, he did mediation work.

Van Metre is probably best known for overseeing the trial of James Michael "T-Bone" Taylor, who was convicted of killing Waterloo officers Michael Hoing and Wayne Rice in 1981.

He also sentenced John Wayne Gacy to prison on sodomy charges in a Waterloo case. After prison, Gacy moved to Illinois and became an infamous serial killer.

Locally, those who worked with Van Metre in court remember him for other things.

In the 1970s, he was the judge that instituted the practice of having court administration officials schedule hearings and trials in Black Hawk County, said former court administrator Karen Hibben-Levi.

At the time, judges scheduled the proceedings in a series of three-ring binders. Occasionally, a judge would forget to make an entry for an upcoming event, the date would get double booked, and the parties for two cases would show up in the courtroom expecting to be heard.

After one such incident, Van Metre handed over the binder to Hibben-Levi.

"He said 'you're taking this over and you're keeping it straight,'" she said.

Jerry Olson, who kept track of every word said in Van Metre's court as his court reporter, remembers the judge as a good man to work under. He liked to be assigned to courts in the Decorah area in the fall months because of beautiful foliage there.

"Pete was a great guy. He really enjoyed people and was fun to work with," Olson said.

When Olson was having trouble selling his Iowa Falls home to move closer to Waterloo, the judge and his wife let Olson live with them.

Memorial services will be 1:30 p.m. Monday at Trinity Episcopal Parish. Visitation is at Locke Funeral Home from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

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Photo from West High School, Waterloo, class of 1945