By Paul Janczewski
Legal News
Albert H. Callahan wore many hats during his long and illustrious life: as a caregiver to his disabled brother, an Eagle Scout, a naval lieutenant during World War II in the Pacific, a loving husband and father, and as a municipal attorney for Fenton, first as a village and later as a city.
The former Genesee County attorney was remembered by family and friends at a memorial service March 12 at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Fenton, and followed by a military salute. Callahan, 92, died February 23 in Tennessee of cancer, where he and his wife of 68 years, Eileen, had moved in 2000. He is survived by his wife; son Douglas; daughter Diane; and grandchildren.
"People will remember my dad as a man of outstanding integrity, honesty and ability," said Douglas Callahan. "He was kind of an intellectual. He would read and research things, trying to get it right."
Callahan was born in Baltimore, and relatives said the family was involved in the seafood business. He was the second of six siblings, but was thrust into the role of man of the house after their father became involved with alcohol. Despite those hardships, Albert took care of an older brother who was disabled.
"He grew up during the Depression," said Douglas Callahan.
He heard stories of how the family would turn on the stove to keep warm, and how they'd sell anything and everything to make ends meet and eat. He said his father wanted to go to college, but the only way that would happen is if he joined the military to take advantage of the G.I. Bill.
Douglas Callahan said his father joined the Navy when he was 16, and served briefly until they discovered he was too young. Later, he said his dad re-enlisted and made lieutenant. He served on active duty for a number of years, and during World War II was involved in the invasion of Sicily. He also spent time in North Africa, Italy, and Hawaii.
But while working for the Naval Department in Washington, D.C., and before his tours during the war, he met his future wife at a New Year's Eve party in Baltimore.
"My mom had a wonderful voice, she was a singer, and my dad made sure he got her coat when she was ready to leave so he could give it to her," Douglas Callahan said.
After his military discharge in 1945, Callahan went to the University of Michigan, finishing both the undergraduate program and the law degree program in less than four years. The accelerated pace was out of necessity, because the G.I. Bill would only pay for four years of college.
"He wanted to be an attorney at a pretty young age," Douglas Callahan said. "He thought it was a very noble profession."
He said his father was a field agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation for several years, and was recruited to be in the Secret Service, but turned it down because he wanted a career in law.
He moved to Michigan, and was a prosecuting attorney for Genesee County briefly before entering private practice for 35 years in Fenton, handling probate and real estate matters. He became the attorney for the village of Fenton in 1954, and presided over legal matters and worked on the Fenton Charter Commission when Fenton became a city in 1964. He remained Fenton's city attorney until 1988.
Douglas Callahan followed in his father's footsteps and became Fenton City Attorney in 1987, serving in that position until 2001.
Father and son also shared an office in Fenton for a number of years. Douglas Callahan graduated from Michigan State University and the Detroit College of Law, and said he and his father enjoyed a lot of good-natured rivalry when U-M and MSU collided in sports over the years.
But he also said he learned a lot about practicing law from his father, and even got into the legal profession partly because of his father.
"I always enjoyed practicing with Dad," he said.
"I'd have all these questions, and he'd say, 'Did you look in the court rules?' But we worked real well together."
Douglas Callahan said many people may have viewed his father as being very serious because "he didn't go in for a lot of small talk." But he said his dad was a fun guy, that kids loved him, and he was very interesting with a great sense of humor.
But he was well-read, and anything he tried to learn he would plunge into and become well-versed about.
"He loved golf, and he had a stack of books three-feet high. He was never very good at golf, but he knew everything about it," Douglas Callahan said.
He was a great bridge player, loved chess, and was a good swimmer. "Anything he wanted to do, he just dived right into it," he said.
He also was a lifelong Catholic, and served as an altar boy, and later as an usher. After he retired and moved to Tennessee, he joined a church there and remained active as a parishioner.
In Fenton, Douglas Callahan said his father loved the community and it's people, and as the city prosecutor in charge of handling all misdemeanor cases, he established programs to aid youths who got in trouble.
"He was well respected in Fenton and among the lawyers in the Genesee County Bar Association," Douglas Callahan said. "Whenever I went to court, the judges always asked how he was."
Callahan also impressed Fenton officials, and several former mayors attended the memorial service.
Carl Hammond, who was mayor from 1985-89, said he enjoyed Callahan.
"He was wonderful person to work with," he said. "He was really calm, took his time for decisions, and always gave good advice."
Hammond said even after he left, Callahan kept a close eye on the city.
"He just exemplified real good integrity in whatever he said or did," he said.
Hammond also said Callahan had a "nice dry sense of humor." Sitting next to Callahan at city council meetings, he said the attorney "would just nudge me a little bit and say 'You can't do that' (during questionable legal decisions). He was just a good man."
Patricia Lockwood, mayor from 1989-2001, said she spent more time with Douglas Callahan as city attorney, but knew Albert and what he had done for the city.
"The influence of Albert on Doug was very obvious, and very evident," Lockwood said. "Douglas carried on the tradition of pure integrity that his father established, and always being one step ahead and making sure we kept our feet to the fire in terms of things that might impact our city legally."
She cited Albert as a "great family man and a great community activist."
"He was quite good at not over-stepping his bounds as city attorney," Douglas Callahan said.
He recalled cases his father was instrumental in, such as one involving rules of evidence, and another which set the stage regulating ordinance rulings against gravel trucks going up and down certain streets.
"He enjoyed working for Fenton, and going to council meetings and guiding them through difficult problems," Douglas Callahan said. "He just cared about the people. And he was enormously thorough. He would make sure everything was done before he closed the file."
Published: Thu, Mar 17, 2011
