Longest-Sitting Judge in County Remembered as ‘Giver’ : Memorial: Hundreds attend service honoring Calvin P. Schmidt. While judge was not free of controversy, family, friends amd peers extol his character.

He loved Tabasco sauce and brought his own bottle of it to restaurants when traveling in New Zealand, where the spicy potion is rare. He liked cookies so much he was known as “cookie monster” to the Girl Scout Council of Orange County, for which he served on the board of directors.

He planted fruits and distributed boxes of his harvest to court employees. And he named his daughter Tracy after Dick Tracy, the famous cartoon strip character he loved and introduced her to.

Those are some of the memories Harbor Municipal Judge Calvin P. Schmidt left behind when he died in his sleep Wednesday at age 61.

Monday, about 500 people attended a memorial service at the Newport Beach Country Club to pay their last respects to the longest-sitting jurist in Orange County. The room reserved for the ceremony was filled beyond capacity, and hundreds of mourners spilled onto the lawn outside, where a tent was set up in anticipation of the crowd.

“It’s a great tribute to Cal so many of you have turned out,” said William Sheffield, a former Orange County Superior Court judge and close friend of Schmidt. “He kind of belonged to all of us.”

He and 10 other speakers, including Schmidt’s daughter, Tracy, now 24, recounted the judge’s love of fun, his willingness to help others, his generosity.

“He loved to plant seeds in the spring,” said Selim Franklin, presiding judge of Harbor Municipal Court. “He loved to give the fruits away more than the court could absorb, I can assure you.”

Schmidt, who lived in Newport Beach, was appointed to Harbor Municipal Court in 1966 by Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown. His long career was marred in the late 1980s when he was one of a half-dozen judges at the court to be investigated by the state.

Schmidt was never charged with a crime, but the state Commission on Judicial Performance publicly rebuked him for making improper political contributions and showing favoritism to the stepdaughter of a wealthy friend.

Frank Michelena, a county lobbyist and friend of the judge, said Schmidt loved ice cream, Tabasco sauce, and fireworks--the latter so much so that he dreamed of personally igniting a pyrotechnics show one day. But he never got the chance.

“I can assure you he’s going to try to do it up above, so watch out,” Michelena said.

Choking back tears, Tracy Schmidt told mourners that she used to bargain with her father when she was younger on family issues, such as when she had to come home from dates and outings.

“Much to his regret, he taught me to argue,” she said. “I just had to sit down with the judge and have a one-on-one. He taught me to always explore and never stop moving. He taught me to sell Girl Scout cookies. Then he taught me to sell more Girl Scout cookies, and then sell more Girl Scout cookies.”

“He was truly a rare bird,” said Bernice Hurd, head of the Girl Scout Council. “You never knew what was going to happen next with Cal, but you always knew he was a giver. . . . All we had to do was ask and he’d do whatever he could. . . .”