{"id":39102,"date":"2015-12-01T08:01:17","date_gmt":"2015-12-01T13:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=39102"},"modified":"2022-09-28T09:55:32","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T13:55:32","slug":"legal-laureate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2015\/12\/01\/legal-laureate\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal laureate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Military<\/a>

Military duty during Vietnam and a long law career highlight the journey of Wright State alumnus Garrett Gall ’73. (Photo by Erin Pence)<\/p><\/div>\n

Stationed in San Francisco during the Vietnam War, Army officer Garrett Gall was tasked with escorting the bodies of soldiers killed in the war back to their families.<\/p>\n

During that agonizing duty, Gall once had to return the remains of a couple\u2019s only son. To Gall\u2019s surprise, the soldier\u2019s mother asked him to stay with the couple while they navigated their grief.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember the first night sitting and she wanted to take me through her son\u2019s life in Vietnam,\u201d Gall recalled. \u201cI was so impressed by somebody who in their moment of probably greatest pain was able to reach out and say come stay with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a lesson in kindness and understanding that would stick with Gall over the years as he finished his military duty, got college degrees from Wright State University and the University of Toledo and built successful careers as an attorney and prosecutor.<\/p>\n

And it was a lesson that would give Gall insight into the human condition and an openmindedness and understanding view as he prosecuted cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I learned is that so much of crime is really unplanned; it\u2019s very spontaneous,\u201d Gall said. \u201cMost people are not inherently cruel or evil. They are people who are perhaps in self-made difficult circumstances and they react to things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 69-year-old Gall is currently reacting to his own retirement. After a 30-year career with the Auglaize and Greene County prosecutor\u2019s offices, Gall is spending a lot of time with his bicycle. He cycled about 2,800 miles last year and plans to cycle 2,500 miles this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019m a sheltered hyperactive person,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t sit still well, even in retirement.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2005, Gall donated one of his kidneys at age 58.<\/p>\n

“Donating a kidney doesn’t change your life,” he said. “I do more now than I did then.”<\/p>\n

Part of his retirement activity is acknowledging the skills and the direction Wright State gave him and the recognition that college today is much more of a financial challenge than it was for him.<\/p>\n

As a result, he and his wife, Kathleen \u2014 who got her master\u2019s degree in education<\/a> from Wright State \u2014 have funded a scholarship for Wright State students who major in theatre or dance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really enjoy the theatre,\u201d he said. \u201cBut even more than enjoying the theatre, we really appreciate seeing the work and talent that goes into that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gall has also created a fund for an annual merit award to Wright State’s outstanding Model UN delegate. In addition, he has been a valued member of the College of Liberal Arts Dean\u2019s Leadership Board and contributed to leadership and study-abroad scholarships.<\/p>\n

Gall grew up in the Dayton View neighborhood and graduated from Chaminade High School before enrolling at the University of Dayton, where he studied psychology for two years before enlisting in the U.S. Army.<\/p>\n

He was commissioned as an officer in 1967, pulled duty in San Francisco and then spent two years in Vietnam working as a transportation officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned a lot about myself, my abilities, my shortcomings,\u201d he said. \u201cIt helped me grow. I came out a different person than I went in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gall got a job at Reynolds and Reynolds as a computer operator and programmer, realized he was not built to sit at a desk, so he enrolled at Wright State as a full-time student.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a very energetic place,\u201d he recalled. \u201cMany of the professors were young. There was just a vitality to all of it, and I got caught up in that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gall said he became determined to succeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe enthusiasm I remember from some of the instructors was transferred to me,\u201d he said. \u201cI was taking things on. I was a worker. I was motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gall graduated with honors in political science<\/a> in 1973, got his law degree from the University of Toledo in 1976 and landed a job with a law firm in St. Marys, Ohio.<\/p>\n

In 1986, his wife woke up on a Sunday morning with severe abdominal pain. She was diagnosed with liver cancer and passed away five months later, leaving Gall to raise the couple\u2019s three children, the youngest of which was less than a year old.<\/p>\n

So Gall joined the Auglaize County Prosecutor\u2019s Office as an assistant prosecutor, giving him a more regular work schedule. In 1994, he was elected prosecutor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like going from playing defense to playing offense; there is a somewhat different skill set,\u201d he said. \u201cBut having been a defense attorney made me a better prosecutor.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1997, Gall remarried, moved to Dayton and was hired by the Greene County Prosecutor\u2019s Office as an assistant prosecutor. He retired in 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been interesting,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve gone down roads I never expected to go down, but I look back and don\u2019t think I regret anything. So much of life is not the product of great planning, but is the product of moments that change your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Military duty during Vietnam and a long law career highlight the journey of Wright State alumnus Garrett Gall ’73. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":39104,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,733,4299,2037,2104,4859,2040,2060,744,725,2045,747,715,4855],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-alumni-profile","category-arts-scene","category-teacher-education","category-fine-and-performing-arts","category-giving","category-graduate","category-education-human-services","category-home-news-sidebar","category-honors-program","category-liberal-arts","category-news","category-social-sciences-and-international-studies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39102"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42136,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39102\/revisions\/42136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}