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
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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