As first announced in the December 30, 1934, Sioux City Sunday Journal, the law firm of Kindig, Faville, and Matthews
opened it doors January 1, 1935. The firm was comprised of two former Iowa Supreme Court Justices, James W. Kindig and
Frederick F. Faville; and Amos Matthews, formerly of the Hays, Baron & Matthews firm. The new law offices opened at 503
Farmers Loan and Trust Building in Sioux City, Iowa, located at the corner of 4th and Nebraska Streets.
The firm remains at the same location today, although the original building was torn down and rebuilt in 1975.
Following the Second World War, two University of Iowa Law School classmates, Justice Kindig’s son, Lowell C. Kindig, and Robert E. Beebe,
joined the partnership and practiced in Sioux City for over 40 years, as other attorneys joined the firm
from time to time. The firm has counted among its members Iowa Supreme Court Justice Maurice E. Rawlings and former Nebraska County Court Judge
Neil McCluhan.
In perhaps its most significant case, the firm represented the family of Sgt. John Rice, who, in August, 1951, became the
center of controversy in Sioux City when officials at Memorial Park Cemetery refused to allow his burial there because of his
Native American heritage. Sgt. Rice was a decorated World War II veteran and Korean War casualty.
The event eventually required the intervention of President Harry S. Truman, who ordered that he be buried in Arlington National
Cemetery. The firm filed a lawsuit on behalf of the family seeking damages against the cemetery for its discriminatory policies,
which the family claimed violated the United States and Iowa Constitutions as well as the Charter of the United Nations.
From the Iowa Supreme Court, the case went to the United States Supreme Court and in November, 1954, the court ruled against the
Rice family in a 4-4 decision.
Long time partners who have retired include Lowell Kindig (1981), Robert Beebe (1983), Neil McCluhan (1978),
Gene Probasco (1997), William Rawlings (1999), Sam Killinger (2010), Mike Jacobs (2016), Michael Ellwanger (2018), and Rebecca Nelson (2019).
Currently, there are two partners, Jeff Mohrhauser and Kathleen Roe, one associate, Nicholas J. Drenth, and four staff members in the firm.