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Volume 14, Number I
ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
May, 1971
RETIRING PROFESSOR CHOSEN TO ADDRESS GRADUATES
Forty-One Seniors Will Receive Juris Doctor
Degrees At May 31 Commencement Exercises
A FAMILIAR ROLE. At May, 1970, Commencement, Professor - Judge Wehle passes out awards
for excellence in Trial Practice. This happy recipient is graduating senior George Naze.
Commencement exercises will be held in Crummer Auditorium, Monday, May 31,
immediately following a dinner in the Great Hall in honor of the graduates at 6:30
p.m. Candidates for degrees will be presented by Richard T. Dillon, Dean of the
College of Law. John E. Johns, President of the University, will confer, the Juris
Doctor degree. Due to space limitations, admittance to the dinner will be by
invitation only. The public is cordially
invited to attend the formal exercises in
the auditorium.
Wehle Will Speak
While for 41 graduating seniors, who
will be joined for the occasion by 10
classmates scheduled to complete their
requirements for a degree at the close
of the summer session, the exercises are
appropriately referred to as a commencement, for the honored guest and
distinguished speaker, Victor O. Wehle,
they mark the end of an era. For as the
seniors step over the threshold of academic life to rendezvous with destiny in
their chosen profession, Wehle will be
drawing the curtain upon one phase of
a long and illustrious career — his nearly
two decades of service to Stetson College of Law.
Professor Wehle, or "The Judge," as
he is more familiarly known, began the
practice of law in St. Petersburg in 1925,
after receiving his law degree from Cornell. By 1945 he was a circuit judge, 6th
Judicial Circuit. In his 9th year as judge
he acquired another title, "Lecturer in
Law," having undertaken to organize
and teach a course in trial practice at
the College, which was in the process of
abandoning its DeLand quarters and relocating in St. Petersburg. On September 20, 1954, he was on hand, as a
member of a small faculty, to welcome
the first students, fewer than 100 in number, ever to attend classes on the present campus. From that day on the Judge
taught at Stetson in one capacity or
another until, in 1961, he became a
member of the full time staff with the
rank of "professor."
Retires As Judge
A staunch Democrat, Wehle lost his
judgeship in 1954 when Pinellas County
switched its allegiance to the Republican
Party. In 1964, however, he was again
on the Bench, first by an appointment
from Governor Farris Bryant and, a few
months thereafter, by mandate of the
people in the fall elections. But even the
seemingly tireless judge found the challenge of holding a judgeship and a professorship simultaneously too much of a
drain upon his energies and, forced to
choose between the academic or the judicial robe, he rendered a decision favorable to Stetson and stepped down
from the Bench.
Proud of His Students
Though Wehle's contributions to the
legal profession as a practitioner, a
judge and a teacher, through a career
of nearly half a century, are many, it is
apparent that he derives his greatest
satisfaction from the fact that today, in
the City of St. Petersburg alone, there
are I I 5 of his former students at Stetson
engaged in the practice of law. It can
be further noted that three of the present circuit court judges in Pinellas County also learned pleading and procedure
and trial techniques in his classes, not
to mention one of the county judges,
two justices of the peace, and both juvenile court judges.
Chair At Stetson
"Retirement" to Judge Wehle is certainly not synonymous with inactivity.
Already he is "booked" several months
ahead to sit for vacationing judges in
various cities around the state, and he
admits that he might even be induced to
teach again, "if needed," after a semester's "rest." In any event, whether it be
in any official capacity or not, he is
expected by students and faculty alike
to remain a part of the College of Law
for many more years. In fact, certain
steps are being taken to make this expectation likely to occur. As one example, to assure the Judge an opportunity to continue to function as the
raconteur non pareil of the College, a
special chair has been suitably inscribed
and set aside in the coffee shop for his
exclusive use. There is even support for
making its occupation by another an
honor court offense.
