HCBA Lawyer Magazine Vol. 30, No. 2 | Page 21

S P E C I A L F E A T U R E by Lyndsey E. Siara - Thirteenth Judicial Circuit continued from page 18 every case fair and unbiased review and every litigant their day in court. Judge Ober was very keen on describing her “position” (because “this is not just a job to me,” she explained) as a “public position of trust,” giving great deference to the office itself and what it stands for. In her view, the role of a judge is one of community service. “We’re not here for the pay or some other motivation,” she explained, “most of us serve in these roles because we love the community and we want to do good for this community.” Judge Ober’s service to the Tampa community has gone beyond the walls of the courthouse. Her community service is too vast to fully elaborate here. But Judge Ober was most proud of her efforts to start a law studies internship program at Jefferson High School, which included a judicial shadowing component; students around the county have flocked to the school to enroll. Through the Hillsborough Association of Women Lawyers, she was also heavily involved in creating the Take Your Sons and Daughters to Work Day program; another effort to expose young minds to the legal system. Her 12 years on the Board of Directors for The Spring of Tampa Bay, an organization focused on the prevention of domestic violence, is also particularly noteworthy. That service stemmed from passion developed through her judicial divisional assignment as well as her participation in the critically acclaimed PBS documentary entitled Domestic Violence 1 and 2 by Academy Award Honoree Frederick Wiseman. While it is relationships that make Judge Ober’s work life meaningful, music is what brings deep joy to her personal life. “Music is my passion,” she said, with genuine warmth. She sings it, she watches it, and she NOV - DEC 2019 | HCBA LAWYER shares it with others. She isn’t partial to any one genre, “I love all kinds of music — opera, the classics, country, even rap,” she smiled. It is a shared family passion. Judge Ober has two brothers — her oldest is a retired banker living in Atlanta, while the younger is a musician that plays gigs around Sarasota. Music is her outlet. She loves live performances and concerts. In fact, she recently attended the concert of an otherwise unnamed, twenty-something pop artist with her staff attorney, Melissa Foss — just another example of how her colleagues become family. Surrounded by screaming teenaged girls, she laughed that she might have been the oldest person in attendance. If she’s not at a concert or a musical in her free time, she is definitely spending that time with family. She is particularly close with her nieces, nephew, and two grand nephews, and they visit often. With retirement on the horizon, she ponders travel, particularly exploration of her Italian and Sicilian ancestry. She will certainly continue her charitable work. She hopes that in her retirement years, music will become a daily constant, beyond just singing in her car on the way to the courthouse. Perhaps we will see her brother/sister duo on America’s Got Talent, she mused — her behind the mic, her brother strumming his guitar … or maybe she will give in to the requests of her other musically- inclined judicial colleagues who have attempted to recruit her for various chorus groups. n Author: Lyndsey E. Siara - Thirteenth Judicial Circuit 19