Adam Gefreh

Judge Gefreh was born in Emmons County, North Dakota, December 31, 1918. Attended the rural Marie School District in Emmons County, where he received his elementary education. In 1938 he attended the spring and summer quarter at the Ellendale State Teachers College, after teaching rural school for two years, he attended the Northern State Teachers College of South Dakota, 1940-1941. After four years in the military he attended the Catholic University Law School in Washington, D.C., where he received his law degree in 1949, he was admitted to the Bar in the District of Columbia and North Dakota that same year, later he was admitted to the Bar in the state of Colorado. He practiced law in Linton, North Dakota. In 1951 he was elected as a legislator, serving six years in the House and four years in the Senate. In November 1962 he was elected Judge of the Third Judicial District, term to begin January 1963, he served in that capacity until his resignation in 1972, to become the first Administrative Law Judge for the Office of Hearings and Appeals for the Social Security Administration, in Fargo, North Dakota. After three years in Fargo, he moved to Colorado, where he continued to serve as Administrative Law Judge for the Social Security Administration, until his retirement in 1996. He died November 18, 2009 in Littleton, Colorado, at the age of 90.