Judge Dwight Martin Cheever

Judge Dwight Martin Cheever hailed from Chicago, where he was born in 1913.  He graduated from University of Michigan Law School in 1940 with degrees in law and business.[1]

Judge Cheever closed out his legal career as a Probate Juvenile Judge for Allegan County, where he had previously served as a prosecuting attorney.  His judicial tenure spanned over twenty years: 1957 to 1965 as a municipal judge, and as a Probate Judge September 1965 to 1977… but his legacy in Allegan is the Cheever Treatment Center for at-risk youth.

On 9 May 1963, Judge Cheever was the defendant in the case of People v. Cheever, answering a charge of “illegally parking a motor vehicle” in the city of Otsego, Michigan.  The case was ultimately heard by the Michigan Supreme Court via jury trial, the jury returning a final verdict of “guilty as charged.”[2]

Dwight M. CHEEVER – Allegan, Michigan, died Wednesday, October 8, 1997 at Metron of Allegan Care Center. Mr. Cheever was born August 15, 1913 in Chicago, IL, the son of Dwight B. and Arline (Vallette) Cheever.  Mr. Cheever served in the U.S. Marine Corps, and was a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Michigan Law School [1940]. He had been employed by the F.B.I. for 7 years. He had been associated with Wilkes & Stone Law Office and with Leo Hoffman Law Office in Allegan. He then became a prosecutor, a Municipal Judge and lastly a Probate Juvenile Judge in Allegan. He had also taught Business Law at Western Michigan University and at Ferris State University and had been an oil landman for many years.  Surviving are his wife, Claire; 3 children and their spouses, Martha Cheever Richardson and her husband, Wallace, of Nebraska, Martin A. and Linda Cheever of Washington, and Carl and Gail Cheever of California; 4 grandchildren, Sarah, Carrie, Alex and Paul. He was preceded in death by his brother, Bruce B. Cheever. Memorial Services will be held Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Gorden Funeral Residence Allegan Chapel, Rev. Ned Pierson officiating. Private interment services at Oakwood Cemetery, Allegan. Memorial contributions may be made to the Allegan Library or the Cheever Treatment Center.[3]

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1. Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1940), 152: “DWIGHT M. CHEEVER LL.B., M.B.A. Cedarvilie, Mich. Sigma Phi Delta Theta Phi Law Club Scabbard and Blade.”
2. People v. Cheever, 370 Mich. 165 (1963 121 N.W.2d 430).
3. Obituary from Kalamazoo Gazette (Oct 1997)