Judicial Career

Abrahamson was known for visiting all 72 counties in Wisconsin several times during her judicial career. She wanted to hear the concerns of people statewide.

In 1988 Abrahamson competed in the 11th Annual World Muskie Hunt at Lake Tomahawk. She had never fished from a boat before. Her first catch was a 36 ¼-inch legal muskie!

Abrahamson often officiated at weddings. The most unusual one occurred during the 25th Anniversary of the Great Circus Parade in Milwaukee. She married two Circus World Museum employees atop of the Temple Tableau wagon before a crowd of 700,000 people.

Abrahamson admired Charlotte (from Charlotte’s Web) for being resourceful, sensible, versatile, a true friend, and a great writer. She admired Fern for taking action to correct a great injustice. Abrahamson would often compliment her son’s achievements by exclaiming “Some Pig!”

In 1985, the Department of Public Instruction asked Abrahamson to name her favorite children’s book. She chose Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White.

Abrahamson was the first Wisconsin justice to be a juror. During her career on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, she served on juries in two cases.

Abrahamson was known to work such long hours she rarely cooked. At her retirement party, ex-governor Jim Doyle recalled a time when she promised to bring his ailing mother chicken soup. She arrived bearing a can of Campbell’s soup!

In 1979, Abrahamson became the first woman in Wisconsin’s 131-year history to be elected to a full 10-year term on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. She defeated her opponent, Attorney Howard H. Boyle Jr., by winning 66% of the vote.

The Abrahamsons became quite the power couple. She was serving as Wisconsin’s first woman justice. He was a University of Wisconsin zoology professor who worked on a joint project between the United States and Japanese governments studying the effects of atomic bomb radiation on human survivors.

Historically, lawyers would address the all-male supreme court as “gentlemen.” After Abrahamson joined the court, they weren’t sure how to address her or the court. She told people, tongue in cheek, to call her Ms. Justice (pronounced MisJustice)!