GREENFIELD — Before Ronald L. Gottschalk served nearly 30 years as a Hancock County judge, his appointment to the bench in the early 1970s was a turning point for Indiana’s county court system.
Gottschalk, a former Hancock Circuit Court judge, died March 2 at the age of 81.
In 1971, then-Gov. Edgar Whitcomb appointed Gottschalk as judge of the newly formed Hancock County Court, according to a Daily Reporter article from November 1971. The state chose Hancock County as a pilot court to handle traffic cases, misdemeanors and small claims. It replaced the Greenfield City Court, New Palestine Town Court and the county’s three justice-of-the-peace courts.
The court would later become Hancock County Superior Court 2. Gottschalk presided over the court until the end of 1978, when he was elected circuit court judge. He retired in the summer of 1999, following an investigation by the Indiana Supreme Court’s Judicial Qualifications Review Commission.
Gottschalk, who was born in Bunker Hill, received his undergraduate degree from Indiana University and obtained his law from the IU School of Law Indianapolis, according to his obituary. He worked as an insurance claims adjuster and lawyer before being named judge.
Jim Bradbury, who served as Hancock County sheriff from 1991 to 1998 during a nearly 40-year career at the sheriff’s department, investigated dozens of cases that went before Gottschalk.
“He seemed to be a fair person,” Bradbury said. “He listened to both sides of the story. Sometimes, he came up with the decision that you liked; sometimes, you didn’t like it.”
The two kept in contact over the years and saw each other around town after Gottschalk retired.
Richard Culver, who previously served as judge in Hancock County Superior Court 2 and Hancock Circuit Court, worked with Gottschalk during the latter half of the late judge’s career. Gottschalk had a reputation of moving his schedule around to hear cases in a timely manner, Culver said, adding lawyers wouldn’t have to worry about their cases “getting lost in the shuffle” if Gottschalk was on the bench.
Back then, Culver said, the law allowed attorneys to change the venue of cases at will. Many Marion County lawyers, he said, would chose Hancock County because of its well-regarded judges. Culver said Gottschalk processed cases efficiently and attracted much outside legal business to the county.
Gottschalk was also willing to give young lawyers in the county advice, Culver said, teaching them the “realities of the practice of law” after they spent years learning “ivory tower theories” in school.
One of those budding law students was Ron Pritzke. He met Gottschalk in 1972, shortly after he was appointed to the county court. Pritzke worked as an interim deputy prosecutor during his third year in law school and represented the prosecutor’s office in the Hancock County Court.
“He was very helpful to me, very gracious and something of a mentor because he was dealing with someone who didn’t know what he was doing,” Pritzke said.
Gottschalk counseled Pritzke on how to handle himself in the courtroom as an attorney and taught him procedural rules. Prtizke recalled his mentor’s “no nonsense” yet fair demeanor in court.
They later became good friends and occasionally went on fishing trips together, Pritzke said. Gottschalk also spent time out of the courtroom hunting, golfing and shooting sporting clays, his obituary reads.
Gottschalk is survived by his wife, Teri House Gottschalk; daughters, Lynn Gottschalk, Lindsey House and Sarah House; sons, Nicholas House and Spencer House of Indianapolis; and four grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, Robert and Marjorie Gottschalk; and son, Dr. Robert “Bob” Gottschalk, who worked as a dentist in Greenfield until his death in 2015.
