Percy Charles Heckendorf

Judge Heckendorf, 76, dies of stroke

Judge Percy Charies Heckendorf, 76, of 32 E. Junipero St., died yesterday afternoon in a local hospital of a stroke suffered Dec. 20.

He served as county district attorney from 1930 through 1942 and was a Superior Court judge from 1960 until his retirement eight years later.

He was born in Santa Rosa Nov. 5, 1898, to August J. and Jeanne Oriard Heckendorf. They came to Santa Barbara in 1908. He received his elementary education in local schools and was student body president at Santa Barbara High School when he graduated in 1919.

He attended Stanford University, graduating in 1923 with a BA degree, and from Stanford Law School with a doctor of jurisprudence degree in 1926.

During his boyhood he worked to help support his family, selling magazines, serving as a chauffeur for various Santa Barbara families, and clerking in State Street stores. While at the university he played semipro baseball, a sport he carried into his leisure time during his middle years in Santa Barbara.

In 1926 he joined the law firm of Heaney, Price & Postel, engaging in legal practice until 1930, when he became district attorney. He resigned that post in 1942 to accept an appointment by Gov. Earl Warren to head the state Department of Professional and Vocational Standards, and to serve on the Governor's Council. He returned from Sacramento in 1946 to resume private practice here.

In 1960 he was named to the Superior Court bench by Gov. Edmund G. Brown to succeed Judge Atwell Westwick. He retired from the bench Sept. 30, 1968, but was occasionally called back into service to preside over trials. He was hearing the Raef murder case at the time of his stroke.

Serving on the City Council from the Fifth Ward, Judge Heckendorf was chairman of the Water Commission during Norris Montgomery's term as mayor and represented Santa Barbara in the final adoption of the Cachuma water project. He was also active in local highway problems.

He presided at the trial of two swindlers responsible for the Embarcadero Estates land scandal in 1962.

Judge Heckendorf married Mrs. Louise Hall in the Stanford University chapel at Palo Alto in June, 1965.

He was a member of the Elks Lodge, the Native Sons of the Golden West, Santa Barbara Club, University Club, Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity, Kiwanis Club, Olympic Club of San Francisco, the county Bar Assn., and the state Bar Assn. He served as president of the District Attorneys Association of California.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by three stepchildren, Mrs. Julie Meads of San Francisco, Mrs. Victoria Krend and Martin Hall of Santa Barbara, and two grandchildren, Carlene Meads and Julie Louise Krend.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Welch-Ryce Associates chapel, with the Rev. Virgil Cordona, OFM, of the Old Mission officiating. Interment will be in Calvary Cemetery. Honorary pallbearers will be Judges John T. Rickard, Coleman Stewart, Charles S. Stevens Jr. and C. Douglas Smith; J. F. Goux, A. C. Postel and John E. Nordenson.

Friends may contribute to the Santa Barbara County Heart Assn. or the Memorial Rehabilitation Foundation at General Hospital in memory of Judge Heckendorf.