Helen Jackson Frye was an American judge and attorney in the state of Oregon.
Background
Helen Jackson was born in Klamath Falls, Oregon on December 10, 1930, the daughter of Elizabeth (Kirkpatrick) and Earl Jackson. She grew up on a potato and grain farm in Klamath County. Her father died when she was three, and she was raised by her maternal grandparents from age three to nine while her mother and sibling recovered from tuberculosis.
Her mother remarried and they moved from the family farm.
Education
After high school she attended the University of Oregon where she graduated in 1953 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and served as class president of her sophomore class.
Career
Born in Southern Oregon, she served as an active federal district court judge in Portland, Oregon, for 15 years and as a judge for the Oregon Circuit Court for nine years. At the time of her death she was a senior judge for the United States District Court for the District of Oregon. To pay for school, Frye worked as a babysitter and a waitress.
After graduation, she taught in public schools.
In 1961, Frye earned a Master"s degree at the University of Oregon. She graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1966 with a juris doctorate degree.
In 1971, Frye left private practice and became a judge for the Oregon Circuit Court’s second district covering Lane County. Oregon Governor Tom McCall appointed her to the position, and she became the first female judge of the Oregon Circuit Courts.
She remained on that court after winning election to a full term and re-election until 1980, when she became a judge for a new seat on the United States District Court for the District of Oregon
In 1973, as circuit court judge Frye she presided over the trial of Dayton Leroy Rogers, who was found not guilty by reason of mental defect.
Rogers was sent to the Oregon State Hospital, was released on December 12, 1974, and then went on to kill several women before being sent to death row. Nominated on December 3, 1979, by United States. President Jimmy Carter, she was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 20, 1980, and received her federal commission that same day. She was the first woman on Oregon"s only federal court.
While on the court, she presided over the case that voided the incorporation of the community of Rajneeshpuram in Central Oregon.
She also dismissed a case concerning the protection of the northern spotted owl from logging in 1989. In 1992, she was the trial court level judge for Kyllo v.
United States, an unlawful search case that made it to the United States Supreme Court in 2001. On December 10, 1995, she assumed senior status on the court and was no longer a full-time judge.
After serving as a part-time judge after moving to senior status, she later retired completely from the court.
Helen Frye died on April 21, 2011, at the age of 80.
Membership
She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.