WILMINGTON — Longtime Clinton County Common Pleas Court Magistrate Mary McElwee was given a retirement party Friday at the county courthouse where the Mediation Room will be named in her honor.
The plaque to be installed at the room reads as follows.
“Mary McElwee served as Magistrate for the Clinton County Common Pleas Court retiring in February 2022 with forty-two years of public service. She and husband John, a nationally recognized attorney in the area of collaborative law, raised four children who graced their parents with nine grandchildren.
“A devoted wife, mother and grandmother, Mary simultaneously fulfilled her responsibilities as a Magistrate with an inquisitive mind and a search for the correct result.
“As an advocate for continuing legal education for the local bar association, Mary organized multiple seminars for attorneys not just in Clinton County but neighboring counties. Mary mentored and supervised law students in the court as legal interns who not only learned the law but how to be a lawyer.
“Throughout her career, Mary tirelessly advocated for attempting to resolve disputes prior to trial. Through her efforts and the support of Judge William B. McCracken, she secured a grant from the Ohio Supreme Court to begin the first formal mediation program in Clinton County which has resulted in the settlement of many difficult cases.
“It is altogether fitting that litigants in the future attempting to resolve disputes in the Clinton County Common Pleas Court remember her contribution and do so in the Mary McElwee Mediation Room.”
