Peter V. Ruddick is a Shawnee Mission North Alumni of 1968 and was selected to give a speech at graduation.

This was Peter’s first time at a North graduation because on his own graduation day he was in the hospital from a camping trip he had taken the week that seniors got out. He got sick and was put in the hospital and was diagnosed with diabetes. He was told he had 20 years left to live but still continued to go to college following graduation without knowing what he wanted to do at all.

Towards the end of his college career, Ruddick decided he wanted to become a lawyer. His parents sent him to law school and after many years of school became a lawyer and has even worked as a judge all around the Kansas City metro area.

Ruddick really stressed to the seniors that no matter the challenges you are given, if you don’t know what career path you want to follow, you can overcome those challenges and your destiny can be fulfilled.

Education

– Shawnee Mission North High School, 1968.

-University of Kansas, Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and Political Science (1971).

-University of Kansas School of Law, Juris Doctor (1974).

-National Judicial College, University of Nevada, 1993.

Family

Married since 1982 to Lynette McCall Ruddick; two daughters, Lyndsay

Cast, teacher in Olathe School District, and Lauren Ruddick, Digital

Marketing, Chicago, Illinois. Two grandchildren.

Judicial

-Judge of the District Court, Tenth Judicial District. Appointed 1992, retired

2012. Criminal Court Docket. Handled Felony and Misdemeanor Cases

from commencement through trial and post-conviction proceedings,

including five capital cases, twenty-three murder cases and over 200 jury

cases.

Assigned Judge of the Kansas Court of Appeals (1998) and Kansas Supreme

Court (2011).

Municipal Judge, Eudora, Kansas, 1984-1992.

Municipal Judge, Desoto, Kansas, 1991-1992.

Education, Family, and Judicial from Peter Ruddick Curriculum Vitae