“I want to serve Columbiana County with integrity,” the 42-year-old Leetonia resident said.

The swearing-in ceremony took place in the courtroom where she previously served as a county assistant prosecutor and now will serve as judge. Her first day on the bench is Friday.

“I’m looking forward to it,” she said with a smile.

As she thanked everyone for being there and for supporting her, she especially thanked Seventh District Court of Appeals Judges Carol Ann Robb and Katelyn Dickey, who both served previously as Municipal Court judges in the county.

Columbiana County’s newest judge joins other members of the local judiciary for a photo op after her swearing in Monday in Municipal Court. The judges include front from left, Probate/Juvenile Court Judge Thomas Baronzzi, Seventh District Court of Appeals Judge Carol Ann Robb, new Municipal Court Judge Danielle Menning, Common Pleas Court Magistrate Tammie Riley Jones, Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Bickerton and retired Municipal Court Judge Mark Frost, and back from left, Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Washam, Juvenile Court Magistrate Douglas King, Common Pleas Court Magistrate Lynsey Lyle-Opalenik and Seventh District Court of Appeals Judge Katelyn Dickey. (Photo by Mary Ann Greier)

“Your integrity, diligence and grace are inspiring and everything that I aspire to as I take the bench,” Menning said.

Robb served as emcee of the ceremony, making introductions and sharing her own comments about Menning. She said if asked to describe Menning, words such as honest, hardworking, kind and loyal would come to mind, along with others, but above all those would be humble.

She said Menning has humility out of strength and isn’t threatened in placing others before herself.

“That strength of humility reflects in all she is and all she does,” Robb said.

Dickey, Menning’s lifelong friend, administered the oath of office. Menning’s new court bailiff, Holly M. Hanna, who previously worked as a victim’s advocate for the county prosecutor’s office at Municipal Court, opened and closed the court session and sang the National Anthem and America the Beautiful, accompanied by Jan Schaeffer Cox on the keyboard.

Menning’s husband, Josh, held the Bible as she recited the oath and she was surrounded by their three children, Tenley, Kenton and Blakely, with all three leading the Pledge of Allegiance. Her father, Larry Workman, offered the invocation and the benediction, while her mother, Melody Workman and her sister, Angie Laverie, offered readings.

Melody read from 1 Corinthians 10:31 which says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.”

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,” Angie read from Colossians 3:23.

Speaking of humility, Menning acknowledged her husband, her parents and her entire family, saying she remembered when she and her sisters were little, they said their prayers and always included the words to thank God for their family, their parents, their sisters, their grandparents, and “our aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.”

She said it was an all-inclusive way to have gratitude for everything in their lives and said she had that now, too. She hoped that everybody who’s helped her or been there for her feels that gratitude.

“I come from a long line of servant-hearted people and I wholeheartedly intend to carry on that tradition as I serve the people of Columbiana County as judge,” she said.

The packed courtroom included many of Menning’s family members, local officials, local law enforcement representatives and her former co-workers from the prosecutor’s office and court, along with fellow judges. Judges present besides Dickey and Robb included county Common Pleas Court Judges Scott Washam and Megan Bickerton, Common Pleas Court Magistrates Tammie Riley Jones and Lynsey Lyle-Opalenik, Probate/Juvenile Court Judge Thomas Baronzzi, Juvenile Court Magistrate Douglas King and retired Municipal Court Judge Mark Frost. Even Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Sean J. O’Brien attended.

Menning won the seat unopposed in November after beating the appointed incumbent, former Municipal Court Judge Kelly Linger, for the Republican nomination in the spring.

Menning, Linger and fellow assistant Prosecutor Christopher Weeda were all recommended for the appointment to finish Dickey’s term, which expires Wednesday, after Dickey was appointed to the appellate court. Linger got the appointment.

Menning graduated from Crestview High School in 2002, earning a bachelor’s degree in English from Kent State University in 2006. She earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Akron School of Law in May 2009, passing the bar just a few months later.

Her work experience started in January 2007 while in law school as co-director of the jail inmate assistance program and appellate review office associate for the University of Akron Legal Clinic. From June 2008 to November 2008, she was a judicial extern for a Summit County Common Pleas Court judge. From June 2009 to January 2010, she served as a staff attorney/intern for Oldham Kramer and from January 2010 to July 2012, she served as an associate with Zuzolo Law Offices. From July 2012 to August 2013, she worked as a landman for Larkspur Land Group LLC.

From April 2011 to November 2021, she worked with her husband in their family-owned business, Menning Photographic. She joined the prosecutor’s office in January 2020.