Judge Rachel Kittson-MaQatish

Biography:

November 2019 Linn County voters elected Rachel Kittson-MaQatish to the bench. She is the Family Treatment Court Judge, the juvenile dependency administrative judge, and has all other types of cases assigned to her. She is a member of the Oregon Behavioral Health Advisory Committee and is the chair to the BHAC Family Treatment Court Steering Committee.

Judge Kittson-MaQatish has lived in Linn County for most of her life. Her father was a drywaller with a six grade education and her mother labored in a factory for over thirty years.

Judge Kittson-MaQatish has overcome personal struggles including being a teenage-single mother. As a child she worked picking berries, mowing lawns and washing and waxing semi-trucks. As an adult she has been a waitress, a CNA, courtesy clerk, an administrative assistant, and as a single mother eventually worked in mills to support her family.

Through the generosity of others and her hard academic work, she earned over $70,000 in scholarships that enabled her to become a lawyer. She earned her associate degree at Linn Benton Community College, her bachelor's in business administration at Oregon State University and her Juris Doctor at Willamette University College of Law.

As an attorney she worked in the private sector. She practiced family law, personal injury, was a contract attorney for Linn County seeking hospital commitment for mentally ill persons who had become dangerous and prosecuted for the City of Lebanon.

Volunteerism has always been important to her and she credits the recognition of her service for her position on the bench. Prior to being elected Judge Kittson-MaQatish received the Sweet Home Senior First Citizen Award, Lebanon's Woman of the Year award and the LBCC Distinguished Alumni Award. She created, and for six years directed the Hero Half Marathon, a run that raised money for a local chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America, as well as scholarships that honored veterans who were killed in action. She served as the Lebanon Optimist President for two years, receiving the distinguished club award both years. She has served as a Parent Teacher Council member, a Boys and Girls Club coach and co-coordinator of Mothers of Preschoolers.

In her spare time, you can find her in the stands watching her children and grandchildren playing sports, on the river, traveling to the Middle East or surrounded by those that bring her the most joy.

Note: No document can be "filed" officially with the court by emailing or faxing it to a judge or member of a judge's staff.