Oregon Circuit Court Senior Judge Nely Johnson may be retired, but she hasn’t stepped down from the bench.

She has been in Hermiston this week substituting for Judge Jeff Wallace, who is off to Iraq.

The substitute judge retired a year ago from Multnomah County Circuit Court after being on the bench about 24 years. She said it is fun to travel around the state, sitting in different courts in towns such as Redmond, Astoria and Hermiston.

“I called my husband (as she drove through the Columbia Gorge to Hermiston) and told him we need to explore more of Oregon,” Johnson said.

Johnson originally is from Romania, where her family lived until 1962, when they emigrated to Paris, France. They lived there a year until their visas were approved to come to the U.S. The family moved to Milwaukee, Wis., where there was a large Romanian community.

“It was difficult living under communism,” Johnson said of their emigration. “It was not an easy decision to make. My father knew he would lose his job.”

Her father was a plumber and electrician, in charge of the electrical system in Botosani, Romania. He had been in a labor camp during World War II. Her father also was a lay judge for their community. The family followed other family members to the U.S., living in a hotel until they could find a permanent home.

“My grandmother had left with my uncle before World War II,” Johnson said. “They first went to Canada and then to Milwaukee.”

Johnson spoke no English when she came to the U.S. She and her sister were put in a remedial reading class.

“We had a fabulous African American teacher,” Johnson said. “My sister, another girl and I were the only white faces (in the school).”

Quickly mastering English, Johnson was moved out of the class. The family moved to their new home and Johnson and her sister were in a new school. Soon she had graduated and headed to college.

Her father encouraged her to go to law school, but her mother wasn’t so sure. She wanted her daughter to become a teacher instead.

“She was worried I wouldn’t find someone to marry me,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s husband always wanted to live on the West Coast, so one summer the couple drove across the U.S. in “a car that didn’t have much life in it.” After stopping in Colorado, the pair traveled to Eugene, Portland and Seattle. After deciding Eugene was too quiet and Seattle too big, Johnson and her husband moved to Portland and have lived there since. Both are attorneys.

This was Johnson’s first trip to Hermiston, but she is enjoying her time here. She said her court in Portland had a greater caseload, but criminals are basically the same throughout the state.

“You seem to have the same kind of charges,” Johnson said about her court time in Hermiston.

When Johnson leaves, Judge Lyle Velure of Eugene will sit in Wallace’s chair. Umatilla Circuit Court Judge Dan Hill will then substitute for Wallace for the next year. Wallace will spend the next year in Iraq with his National Guard unit.

In the meantime, Johnson is exploring everything Hermiston has to offer, in between watching the Olympics and sitting on the bench.

“It’s kind of fun,” Johnson said.