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Although Dorothy Kapenstein can’t remember the details of the day she met Lisa Aversa at Girls High School in 1942, she can attest her friend had a certain quality even then.
"She was so warm and friendly," the 79-year-old said of her former classmate who would become Judge Lisa Aversa Richette. "She was never difficult with me. People may have had their differences with her, but we got along well and had a lot of time spent together as students."
"Difficult" was a word many may have used to describe the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge. The long-time resident of South Philly, most recently of the 1900 block of Lombard Street, worked throughout her career to improve the lives of the less fortunate — especially women, children and the homeless — but lost her battle with lung cancer Friday at Vitas Hospice inside St. Agnes Continuing Care Center, 1900 S. Broad St. She was 79.
It was clear during her days at Girls High she was destined for a life of prominence. The young girl, who Kapenstein described as having an "exotic" look that grabbed attention, was awarded a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania upon completing high school in ’46, where she had served as editor of the yearbook, The Milestone. She graduated the Ivy League institution in ’49.
"That was a little gem," Kapenstein said of the yearbook, recalling a house fire Richette had years ago where she lost her personal belongings, including the book. "She called the principal, who called me because I take care of the archives. And, up until three days before that I didn’t have an extra copy, but one alumnae died and it was donated to the archives. Lisa asked me to bring it to the courthouse and I did. That was the last time I saw her."
Born in ’28,
Richette grew up in South Philly during the Depression and attended high school during World War II. Bearing witness to a country undergoing a vast amount of change coupled with her maternal instincts was most likely the driving force behind her humanitarian approach to the law, Kapenstein said.
And on the bench was where Richette felt at home. As one of the first women to graduate from Yale Law School in ’52, she returned to Philadelphia, becoming an assistant district attorney under Richardson Dilworth in ’54. In ’58, she married Lawrence Jarvis Richette, her second husband after Irving Sandler. The second union ended in divorce, but the couple did have a son, Lawrence, who was the subject of a media frenzy this past summer when he allegedly beat his mother and exposed himself to a TV reporter.
In ’69, Richette penned "The Throwaway Children," a book about the juvenile justice system that was recognized in literary and judicial circles for embracing a subject not commonly broached.
"It brought about change through the system," Rudolph Garcia, chancellor of the Justinian Society — a organization of attorneys, judges and law students of Italian ancestry of which Richette was a member — said. "I think children have more rights than they [once] did, she changed the attitude and really promoted the best interest of the children."
Garcia was a personal friend of Richette’s for a decade and held her in the highest regard.
"As far as the Philadelphia legal community goes, I think she was really a giant, a trailblazer for women lawyers," he said. "When she graduated from Yale Law School with honors, she was getting offers to be a secretary. No one had really seen a woman lawyer and she persevered and proved she could be a better lawyer than a man."
Her groundbreaking, no-holds-barred attitude was the hallmark of her illustrious career. In ’71, she was named one of the first women to Common Pleas Court by Gov. Milton Shapp. It was in this position she emerged as an outspoken opponent of the death penalty and an advocate for the homeless, women and children — sharing her beliefs without fear or hesitation.
"She was never afraid to say what was on her mind, and she didn’t care who she said it to either," Kapenstein said. "She spoke up in class and had a great deal to offer. Even as a girl, she was a knowledgeable and well-read person."
Though the world changed, these traits never left Richette.
"She did things with her own unique style. Sometimes it was controversial, but she was true to herself," Garcia said.
Richette was serving as a senior judge in Family Court at the time of her death, but she made headlines for things other than her activism. The first came in ’87 when she was mugged in Center City; the other, in 2006 but also in Center City, when she was punched in the head while sitting in her car.
Controversy and heartbreak aside, Richette had a career that broke through many barriers. She earned the respect of her peers and the city that voted to keep her on the Common Pleas Court bench. She taught at several universities, including Yale and Villanova. She was consistently honored, in ’84 winning the Pearl S. Buck International Award for cultural understanding. The Justinian Society presented her with its first Outstanding Woman in Law Award in ’00.
"Lisa wasn’t aloof like you’d expect some judges to be," Garcia said. "She was brilliant, passionate, caring — somebody who you just met her and you realized she was different than everyone else. But throughout it all, she kept her passion and remembered where she came from."
