Friends, family and legal community pack historic courthouse to bid Judge Sally Pokorny farewell

photo by: Shawn Valverde

Judge Sally Pokorny is pictured with Judge James McCabria Friday, April 10, 2026, at her retirement ceremony at the historic Douglas County Courthouse.

Judge Sally Pokorny warned the crowd at her retirement ceremony Friday that she was a “crier,” and sure enough she shed a few tears almost immediately as she declared “I’m the luckiest woman in the world.”

That was the “bottom line of my entire life,” she said: luck.

Luck in having the parents, neighbors, teachers and lifelong friends she made growing up in Independence, Kansas. Luck in her education, opportunities and colleagues. In her two sons, Brian and Mike, whom she’d often “drag” to court, to the chagrin of male attorneys. Luck in her band of supportive women friends. In winding up in Lawrence and deciding two weeks before the deadline to apply for a judgeship. And luck in getting it, which she called “the most marvelous, wonderful miracle of my life.”

It was all a bunch of good fortune that she somehow “stumbled into,” she told the packed Douglas County Courthouse.

But those in attendance — scores of friends, relatives, coworkers, cops, and judges past and present, including Kansas Chief Justice Eric Rosen — didn’t talk about Pokorny’s luck at all. They talked about her talents, her intellect, her character and compassion. The consensus seemed to be that if luck was involved, it was the luck of the legal profession and the community in having her around for nearly 50 years as a lawyer and a judge.

photo by: Shawn Valverde

Judge Sally Pokorny is pictured with Kansas Chief Justice Eric Rosen Friday, April 10, 2026, at her retirement ceremony at the historic Douglas County Courthouse.

Judge James McCabria said Pokorny had the “secret sauce” of being a good judge: She’s “smart, a straight shooter and cares about people.”

Douglas County Chief Judge Mark Simpson, who like McCabria had argued cases in front of her as prosecutors before joining her on the bench, credited Pokorny with being “the heart and soul of the Behavioral Health Court,” a specialty court that Pokorny presided over for the last 10 years and that she previously told the Journal-World was the thing she’d like most to be remembered for.

Simpson read comments from Behavioral Health Court graduates, who called Pokorny’s involvement in their lives “life-changing” and “a path to freedom.” One of them said, “I love a judge who wears leather” — a nod to Pokorny’s sense of style, which also includes a vast collection of colorful sneakers. Her footwear Friday featured flowers.

photo by: Shawn Valverde

Judge Sally Pokorny’s longtime court reporter, Mary Kay Howe, is pictured Friday, April 10, 2026, at Pokorny’s retirement ceremony at the historic Douglas County Courthouse.

Mary Kay Howe, Pokorny’s longtime court reporter until her own retirement last year, spoke at length about how Pokorny was not only a good boss — “I couldn’t have asked for anybody better” — but also a great friend who couldn’t understand why it took years for Howe, who had previously only worked for men, to start calling her “Sally” instead of “Judge.”

On Friday, Howe continued calling her Judge, but she expanded the title to “Judge of the People” in recognition of what she called Pokorny’s gift for meeting people at their “level” and making everyone feel comfortable — even, sometimes, hardened criminal defendants, who occasionally thanked her following a prison sentence.

photo by: Shawn Valverde

Patti McCormick speaks Friday, April 10, 2026, at Judge Sally Pokorny’s retirement ceremony at the historic Douglas County Courthouse.

Patti McCormick, Pokorny’s best friend of 30 years who called herself the judge’s “partner in crime,” enlisted an Atticus Finch quote from “To Kill a Mockingbird” to describe the sense of empathy Pokorny always brought to the bench: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

That sense extended to things big and small, McCormick noted. For instance, when Pokorny noticed that the courthouse weddings she presided over seemed a bit sad with no music to accompany the bride up the aisle, she got the idea to make a wedding playlist. And when jurors visited with her about the verdicts they reached, she always reassured them that they had done their best with the information they had.

Justice Rosen, who presented Pokorny with a certificate of appreciation from the Kansas Supreme Court for her “years of outstanding service,” complimented Pokorny’s candor and heart and sense of humor, and he shared how he’d call her up from time to time to get her “vital and unique perspective” on this or that legal matter.

Pokorny wrapped up the ceremony by thanking all the people in the courthouse — from court security to the IT department — who had worked “with her, not for her” — all except maybe that one “two-weeker,” she joked.

Is there anything she won’t miss about being a judge? Yes, three things, she said: being the duty judge, doing first appearances, and the courthouse toilet paper.