Judge John Ambrose Kendall

John A. Kendall was born in 1907 in Hendricks County.  He received his LL.B. degree from Indiana University School of Law in 1931 and was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Indiana the same year.  He received a J.D. from Indiana University in 1951. 

He practiced law in Hendricks County and was elected county prosecutor in 1932, serving until early 1939.  He lived in Danville with his wife Virginia Mattern Kendall and their children Richard and Ann.

He was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives in 1941, and in 1943 to the Indiana Senate, winning re-election in 1949.  He was Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee for five years. 

In 1952, while serving as Hendricks County Republican Chairman, Judge Kendall was elected to the Indiana Appellate Court and served from January 1, 1953 to December 31, 1956.  He was Chief Judge during the May 1953 and May 1956 terms. 

Judge Kendall, a former chairman of the Indiana Toll Road Commission, was also a member of the Indiana State Police Board and a past president of the Indiana State Bar Association.  He was a member of the Danville Friends Meeting, the Masonic Lodge, Knights Templar, Scottish Rite, the Lions Club, and Sigma Delta Kappa.  He was twice given the honor of Sagamore of the Wabash.

Judge Kendall retired in 1987 after a 56-year legal career.  He died in Greencastle on May 1, 1993.

View the In Memoriam obituary for Judge John A. Kendall
3 pages | 123 kb