Retired attorney who practised for 47 years in the dark

Retired attorney looks back on a career that spans 47 years as Beaver County attorney and later as the southwestern Utah county's public defender. Not literally though, since John Christiansen has been blind since the age of four. But his blindness never interfered with his ability to practise the law. Asked how he manages to get around the town, he points out that he has had 76 years to practice and that he really never thinks about it.

Nowadays, he spends retirement like any other 80-year-old - daily trips to the post office and grocery store, working around home and helping out neighbors. He does so without a cane, a guide dog or a personal assistant. "I don't really miss being an attorney," he says. "It was time" - especially after 36 years (nine terms) as county attorney and 11 as a public defender.

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