Fred Ray Metheny; Riverside County Judge, War Hero

Fred Ray Metheny, 74, a Riverside County jurist and war hero. A native of Lincoln, Neb., Metheny was educated at the University of Nebraska where he was quarterback and captain of a football team that played in the Rose Bowl. He was a paratrooper captain in Europe during World War II, notably in the Battle of Bulge and the Normandy invasion, where he earned a Purple Heart. An officer in the Korean War as well, Metheny also earned a Distinguished Service Cross, a Bronze Star, Belgium’s Croix de Guerre, the Queen Wilhelmina Award and a U.S. Presidential Citation. After passing the bar, Metheny was an FBI agent, a Los Angeles County deputy counsel, a chief trial attorney in Pasadena and city attorney for Palm Springs and Indian Wells. He was appointed to the Riverside County Superior Court by Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1971 and served until his retirement in 1989. Riverside and San Bernardino named him judge of the year three times. On Monday in Palm Springs after a long illness.