Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Domestic Relations Magistrate J. Bradley Allison sits at his bench during his last week on the job. (Photo by Mary Ann Greier)

LISBON — Longtime local attorney and Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Domestic Relations Magistrate J. Bradley Allison is retiring his robe, vacating the bench and heading south.

“I will embrace whatever the next challenge is,” he said.

During a recent interview about his pending retirement, which becomes official Dec. 31, Allison talked about life before, during and in the future after serving as a magistrate under Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Washam the past 15 years. He also had a private practice for 25 years.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity to serve the citizens of this county,” he said.

His last day to work was Dec. 19, but he already has a part-time remote gig lined up with a law firm in Columbus. That’s a job he can do when he and his wife Susan move back to Maryville, Tenn. from East Palestine.

“We’re leaving one home and going to another home,” he said.

Allison said going back to Tennessee is really something he and his wife have talked about since moving to Ohio. He grew up in Ohio and graduated from East Palestine High School in 1978, the son of James R. and Eleanor Allison, but then went to Tennessee for college, earning a bachelor’s degree from Maryville College. He met his wife in Tennessee and he earned his law degree at the University of Tennessee and practiced law in Tennessee for four years.

Then tragedy struck.

His father James, a longtime attorney in East Palestine, was killed in a car accident on Sept. 11, 1989.

Allison made the decision to move his family to his hometown and take over his father’s law practice, partnering with his dad’s law partner, Dan Blasdel, who’s now retired.

He and Susan became part of the community, raising two daughters and one son. Susan worked as secretary at the East Palestine Centenary United Methodist Church, but now she’s retiring too and they’re looking for their new house in Tennessee.

A skill Allison picked up in Ohio which he’ll continue to hone in his new home is this: playing the violin.

His kids were all active in band. He had no musical ability, but remembers when his kids were young, they all started piano lessons in kindergarten, then in fifth grade started playing band instruments. One played oboe, another played clarinet and one played saxophone. Their music teacher had Allison family night at her home for lessons. He would drop one child off and pick them up, then drop off the second child and picked them up, then the third child until all three had their lessons.

“I had never played a musical instrument of any kind,” Allison said.

But during COVID, when everything was shut down and everyone was confined to their homes, he learned to play the violin. He bought his first one for $100 and he had to learn how to assemble it, to put the strings on and to tighten the strings. He learned some lessons from that. Since then, he’s upgraded to a more expensive violin, he takes lessons from a teacher through Facebook and practices 45 minutes to an hour every day.

“I hope to get good enough to play publicly,” Allison said.

Actually, he already played a couple of times at the East Palestine Public Library, but his wish would be to learn to become an Irish fiddler. He said he picked violin because he heard it was the most difficult to learn and wanted a challenge. He loves it.

“It’s an escape, a release,” he said.

When asked what made him want to become a magistrate, he said when he was in private practice, he always thought the divorce process “was just a difficult, miserable process. My hope was to make it less miserable and less difficult for people.”

When the opportunity arose, he decided to do it. He was appointed by Washam and said he’ll miss the people he works with. When asked if he did what he set out to do, he said he hoped so. The duties of magistrate include handling divorces and dissolutions, deciding custody issues and child placement and issuing protection orders.

His favorite part of the job was that he helped some kids along the way and made their lives better.

“When parents continue to fight and don’t realize the impact that it has on their children,” Allison said was the most difficult part of the job. “What I would tell people all the time, you have to love your children more than you hate each other and I hope that sinks in.”

Former county Prosecutor Tammie Riley Jones was recently sworn in as the new magistrate to take Allison’s place. When asked if he had any advice for her, he said he had a statement, but not as advice.

“To me, the most important characteristics are number one, to be a good person; number two, to have respect for the institution of the court; and number three, to have respect for everyone that appears in front of you,” he said. “Tammie Jones checks all the boxes.”