Judge Andrew Valdez pens the story of his mentor

Intermountain Catholic

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SALT LAKE CITY — If you've ever had occasion to sit in the courtroom of Juvenile Court Judge Andrew A. Valdez, chances are you've heard him address a young defendant with the words: "We have to find a mentor for you." Valdez means those words, so much so that more than one arresting police officer has walked out of his courtroom with a child in tow, murmuring to the youngster, "I don't know how he talked me into this, but for now, it's you and me."

SALT LAKE CITY — If you’ve ever had occasion to sit in the courtroom of Juvenile Court Judge Andrew A. Valdez, chances are you’ve heard him address a young defendant with the words: "We have to find a mentor for you." Valdez means those words, so much so that more than one arresting police officer has walked out of his courtroom with a child in tow, murmuring to the youngster, "I don’t know how he talked me into this, but for now, it’s you and me."

The Village Project is Judge Valdez’ 10-year-old program that finds adult mentors for troubled young people he sees in his courtroom. If they’re lucky, the children find the Village Program and its mentors from many occupations before they land in trouble and have to face Judge Valdez.

The Village Program, with its name inspired by the African proverb; "It takes a village to raise a child," arose from Valdez’ own experience. The judge’s first book, "No One Makes It Alone," chronicles the mentoring relationship that began when Jack Keller, owner of a downtown Salt Lake City print shop, plucked 11-year-old Andy Valdez off the corner of Second South and Main Street, where Andy sold newspapers every day, and took him under his wing. Keller taught Valdez to play tennis and embedding in the future judge the value of a good education.

"This book is my own ‘West Side Story,’ Valdez told a large audience at a December reading and book signing in the Salt Lake City Public Library’s auditorium. "Jack Keller took a poor, fatherless west side paper boy and mentored him to manhood. From Jack I would learn that mentoring is all about where we come from and who helped us along the way."

Valdez was raised on the west side of Salt Lake City in Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish by his single mother. He and his brother, James, helped out with family finances through their newspaper sales. It was Keller who convinced Valdez, already an athletic child, that "if you play tennis, you will go to college, and sports will teach you how to get along."

Valdez said as he got better at the game Keller took him to country clubs to play, "where I felt like a raisin in a bowl of rice. Often, I was the only non-white there. But I loved to play. Jack and tennis taught me there was a world of possibilities out there."

"No One Makes It Alone," available in local bookstores, is written in the third person, and traces the remarkable relationship between Keller and Valdez. Keller was strong, insisting on only the best behavior from the young Valdez. Their story is one of hope and kindness. Valdez describes himself as "a small, frozen rabbit" selling newspapers until past sundown on the pre-Salt Palace streets with their notorious bars. He would eventually leave the street corner to work in Keller’s print shop. Keller had little money with which to pay Valdez, but getting him off the streets was important.

From Keller, who called himself "Jack Mormon," Valdez also learned that Mormons and Catholics aren’t so very different, and that "God is in your heart, so judge with your heart, not with your eyes."

Their relationship would be a mixture of tears and laughter as Valdez grew up and eventually away from Keller. Later in his life, Valdez would find his mentor homeless and suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. The judge, his wife, Joyce, and their family, would care for Keller, finding him a warm, secure bed and good health care at Sunshine Terrace in Logan, until Keller’s death in April 2000.

Valdez shares his story openly and honestly, "wishing I’d savored every moment of the time I spent with Jack.

"When the other kids on the tennis courts would call me names and joke about my clothes behind my back, Jack would tell me, ‘Don’t you ever forget, you’re just as good as they are.’"

Admitting he was never a good student, Valdez said he was drawn to study law because the lawyers he saw dressed as well as the drug dealers in his neighborhood. Becoming a lawyer "was a promise I kept to Jack."

He calls his relationship with Keller, "a mix of grace and serendipity," that he wishes for all the children he sees in his courtroom.

"Jack often comes to my mind when I’m on the bench," he said. "Children are hostages to divorce and drug addiction and absentee fathers...

"They need protection. They need help. They need mentors. Like me, they need mentors in their lives like Jack Keller."