Retired judge, Pasco school board member dies at 78

A retired Franklin County judge and Pasco School Board member is being remembered as a fair and gracious man who respected everybody who came before him.

H.W. “Pete” Felsted, 78, died Tuesday after battling pancreatic cancer.

The Pasco man recently traveled to Utah to be near his family.

“Judge Felsted was just one of the nicest guys you could ever meet in a courtroom,” said Steve Lowe, former Franklin County prosecutor. “He cared about each and every person who showed up (in court), whether it was an attorney or someone with a traffic ticket.”

Felsted presided over Franklin County District Court for 28 years.

Kennewick attorney Shelley Ajax said that instead of wielding his power on the bench, Felsted used it to love and endear and influence people.

“He was a giant who never thought himself to be. He was a kind soul who always tried to share it,” Ajax wrote in a Facebook post. “He was an influence who never stopped trying. He was a wise (man) and he never told us he was, we just learned it.”

Franklin County Clerk Mike Killian worked in District Court for almost 10 years as a deputy clerk after Felsted hired him in 1991. The judge also sponsored him to join the Pasco Kiwanis Club in 1999.

Felsted was a good friend and a mentor who “helped me get to where I am today,” Killian said.

Felsted moved to Pasco in 1966 after graduating from the University of Idaho law school. He was appointed to the bench in 1974 and was elected to seven, four-year terms.

He had a private practice in Richland until 1994, when the District Court job switched to full time because the county’s population surpassed 40,000.

When he announced his retirement in 2002, Felsted said serving as a judge had been one of the highlights of his life. He had mixed emotions about leaving the bench, but wanted to spend more time with his large family.

“I just feel like I’ve been extremely fortunate,” he told the Herald at the time. “I’ve heard that success in life has been described as finding a position you enjoy doing and to make a living doing it.”

Felsted then spent more than seven years on the Pasco School Board, resigning in January 2011.

Carol Felsted, his wife of 51 years, died in 2013.

A memorial service is planned at 4 p.m. Nov. 23 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2004 N. 24th Ave., Pasco. He will be buried in Utah next to his wife.

This story was originally published November 18, 2015 at 7:29 PM with the headline "Retired judge, Pasco school board member dies at 78."