Ivory Kimball Ivory George Kimball ( May 5 , 1843 - May 15 , 1916 ) was an American lawyer who served as a police court judge in Washington , D . C . , for 19 years . He was also the primary advocate for the Arlington Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County , Virginia . Early life . Kimball was born on May 5 , 1843 , on a farm near Jay , Maine . His parents were Wilbraham Kimball , Jr . and Anna L . Kimball ( Hatch ) . His grandfather , Richard Kimball , emigrated from Ipswich , Suffolk , England , to Boston , Massachusetts , arriving in America on April 10 , 1674 . The Kimballs moved to Fort Wayne , Indiana , in June 1846 . Ivory Kimball was educated in the city public schools , receiving a high school diploma at the age of 16 . This qualified him to teach , which he did from 1860 to 1862 . Kimball enlisted in E company of the 55th Indiana Regiment , an infantry unit . He became seriously ill during his one - year enlistment , and his full recovery took nearly a year . He was denied readmission to the military . ( The illness , dysentery with internal bleeding , recurred periodically throughout the rest of his life . ) He relocated from Indiana to Washington , D . C . , where he was employed by the United States Treasury Department . He received his law degree from Columbian College ( now The George Washington University ) in 1867 and entered the practice of law . Judgeship . In 1891 , President Benjamin Harrison unexpectedly appointed Kimball to serve as a judge in the Police Court of the District of Columbia . He was sworn in on April 1 , 1891 . He fell seriously ill in October 1895 and was forced to temporarily leave the bench to recuperate . Kimball was a candidate for reappointment to the bench in 1898 . At first , President William McKinley — not happy with Kimball ' s irascibility in court — was expected to appoint another man to the position . But McKinley surprised court observers reappointed Kimball on January 11 , 1898 , and he was quickly confirmed again by the United States Senate . There was opposition to Kimball ' s renomination when his second term expired in 1904 . Kimball was renominated for the bench by President Theodore Roosevelt . Local physician W . A . Croffut and others made complaints to the Senate about Kimball ' s ethics and behavior on the bench . An " ad hoc " subcommittee of the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia was formed to investigate the charges ( which were not specified in a public way ) in executive session . The executive hearings lasted several days in December 1903 . Although at first the " ad hoc " subcommittee was hesitant to recommend Kimball for reappointment , but their doubts dissipated and Kimball was confirmed unanimously in executive session by the entire Senate on December 19 . During his third term in office , Kimball opposed a plan to put magistrate s in police stations . He supported a successful 1904 proposal to have Congress fund construction of a new police court building , which was occupied in January 1907 . He fell seriously ill again in late July 1905 , and was forced to leave the bench for seven weeks . In 1906 , Judge Kimball asked that the city attorney be permitted to dismiss any police charge which , in that officer ' s opinion , was not a prima facie case . His request for a change in the law was denied by the city commissioners . Kimball fell seriously ill again on December 17 , 1907 , and once more needed several weeks of rest to recover . In 1908 , Kimball was seriously injured while vacationing . He was traveling aboard a steamship to the West Indies and was struck by a door . He fell , and his leg and hip were injured . Kimball claimed he needed a cane to walk , and unsuccessfully sued for damages . Kimball ' s third term expired in 1910 . By this time , Kimball had made numerous enemies among attorneys in the city due to his behavior on the bench , and many of them suggested that he leave the bench ( he was now 66 years old ) . He vigorously denied any intention of retiring . More than 112 local lawyers signed a petition asking President William Howard Taft to deny him reappointment on the basis of " temperamental unfitness " and incompetence . Taft hesitated on the appointment , and Kimball ' s term technically in January 1910 . Still Taft made no appointment . Kimball , however , claimed he was still employed by the court , as he had a month ' s vacation due him which he had not taken . Kimball left on his 31 - day vacation on February 18 . According to the " Washington Post " , Kimball ' s term on the police court bench ended on April 2 , 1910 . Role in the GAR and in constructing Memorial Amphitheater . Kimball was a long - time and active member of the Grand Army of the Republic ( GAR ) , an organization for veterans who had served in the Union army during the Civil War . In January 1902 , Kimball ran for Commander of the Department of the Potomac , a highly influential chapter of the GAR . He won the position , and was installed on February 14 , 1903 . He served a single term , as usual for Commanders . Kimball believed that not only should a new and larger amphitheater be built at Arlington National Cemetery , but also that the new amphitheater represent the dead of all wars in which the nation had fought . Kimball and the GAR began their push for a new amphitheater in 1903 , and sketches for the amphitheater were drawn up in 1904 by Frederick D . Owen ( a civilian engineer working for the United States Army Corps of Engineers ) . But legislation failed to pass Congress in 1905 and 1907 . Legislation was enacted in 1908 authorizing the establishment of a commission to design an amphitheater , but it received only $ 5 , 000 in funding . Legislation to fully fund the commission and build an amphitheater was introduced in 1912 by Senator George Sutherland . Sutherland ' s bill proposed construction of the amphitheater Kimball wanted : a 5 , 000 - seat structure with a small museum and an underground crypt ( for the burial of famous individuals ) . This bill was successful . President Taft , in one of his last acts as president , signed the legislation into law on March 4 , 1913 . The 1908 authorizing legislation established an Arlington Memorial Amphitheater Commission ( AMAC ) to oversee the design and construction of the structure . Its members included the Secretary of War , the Secretary of the Navy , the Superintendent of the U . S . Capitol , Judge Kimball ( as a representative of the GAR ) , and Charles W . Newton ( as a representative of the United Spanish War Veterans , a Spanish - American War veterans group ) . Ground for Memorial Amphitheater was broken on March 1 , 1915 . President Woodrow Wilson laid its cornerstone in a ceremony on October 13 , 1915 . Kimball participated in the ground - breaking and cornerstone ceremonies , but did not live to see the amphitheater completed . Personal life . Kimball married Anna Lovinia Ferris , a fellow teacher he met while teaching public school in Indiana . They were married on September 26 , 1865 . The couple had seven children : Ella Clara ( 1866 ) , Wilbra ( 1868 ) , Harry Gilbert ( 1870 ) , Alice May ( 1873 ) , Arthur Herbert ( 1875 ) , Bertha Louise ( 1878 ) , Edna Gertrude ( 1879 ) , and Walter Ferris ( 1873 ) . The boy Wilbra suffered from epilepsy , and died at the age of 20 . Anna Kimball died on March 23 , 1914 . Death , burial and memberships . In retirement , Kimball was named president of Edmonston & Co . , a boot manufacturing company . Kimball fell ill in February 1916 , and remained ill for several months . He took to his bed on May 12 , and died suddenly at about noon on May 15 . Funeral services were held at the Metropolitan Prebysterian Church , and he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery . Kimball was a deeply religious man , as were many of his forbears . For many years , he sat on the board of directors of the Central Union Mission , an outreach center for the poor in Washington . Kimball was also very active in Freemasonry . He was a 32d Degree Scottish Rite Mason , and was active in a number of lodges and branches of Masonry , including : Hiram Lodge No . 10 , Free and Accepted Masons ; Mount Vernon Chapter No . 3 , Royal Arch Masonry ; Washington Council No . 1 , Royal and Select Masters ; Columbia Commandery No . 2 , Knights Templar ; and Almas Temple , Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine .