Keith Gary, widely known as Sheriff Gary passed away this morning at the age of 84.
Gary ended a 46-year career in law enforcement in 2016 when he retired as Grayson County Sheriff. He became sheriff on Jan. 1, 1997 and was re-elected four times.
Gary was born in Laredo, Texas and at age 12 moved to San Antonio. He started college as a music major at St. Mary’s before transferring to Sam Houston State where he met his wife Uva. He graduated from Lamar University in with a B.S. in Social Science.
As a student at Lamar, Gary was required to take a speech class and chose the topic “The Need for a Republican Party in Jefferson County” where he interviewed the Republican Party chair in Jefferson County to get information. Years later, he went to a meeting of the Republican party, which was in its infancy in Texas, at the time, and a lawyer approached him. The Northern part of the district (Tyler) had gotten the appointment for U.S. attorney, so the southern part of the district wanted to have a person from Beaumont or Port Arthur appointed as Marshal. He asked the lawyer, “You’re really serious?” and the man replied, “Oh yes!” At the library in Beaumont, all he could find about Federal Marshals was a breakdown of the Department of Justice from a few government textbooks. In the 1960s, a Marshal was an administrator with a group of deputies to direct.
A few days later, the lawyer called him to ask if he had made a decision about the Marshal job and said, “We have to get someone in Tyler by Sunday to be interviewed.” Gary replied, “I’m not sure I am qualified for that, but go ahead if you want and submit my name.”
He drove 200 miles and arrived at the old Blackstone Hotel and there were eight-to-ten cowboy-types were standing there, all wearing western hats and boots. Gary walks up in an olive green suit and flat shoes, at the end of the line and where all the other men were waiting to be interviewed by a panel of judges.
He was questioned by a panel of eight who explained they would let him know their decision.
“The next day, Monday morning I went to the insurance office where I worked and about 10:30 and the receptionist said there was a telegram for me. I opened it up and it said, ‘It is my pleasure to nominate you for U.S. Marshal, signed John G. Tower,’ who was a Senator in Texas at the time. It took about five to six months to do a background investigation. I was sworn in and served in that capacity for eight years, from 1969-1977. Then the politics went against me.”
Jimmy Carter was elected President which meant all the Republican appointees were on the way out. While the family lived in Corpus Christi, he earned a master’s degree in Criminal Justice from Texas A&M, then completed another bachelor’s degree as a Chemical Dependency Counselor through a distance learning program from the University of New York.
“I liked law enforcement so much that I decided to stay in the field. I became a Federal Probation officer but had to be stationed in Corpus Christi, where the vacancy was and we lived there for three years. I wanted to get back into the Eastern District because of the ties I had in the area. In 1980, I applied for the exact same position in Sherman and they selected me to open the new office.”
He lived in Grayson County for a little while, while wife Uva and children stayed behind. Brian was going to be a junior, in 11th grade and BeBe was an 8th grader. He used the time alone to search for the best school district in Grayson, visited several and ultimately chose Howe. He continued as Federal Probation Officer for the next eight years.
The Republicans had won back the Presidency and with Senator Phil Gramm and Gary becoming friends, he applied for the Marshal job again, went to Washington, DC to meet with Gramm, who had been a professor at Texas A&M before being elected. Gary asked how A&M was going to do that year in football.
Gramm responded, “I hate to rush you off, but I have a committee meeting and I really need to go. I appreciate you flying up here. We’ll get around to looking at this as soon as we can. So stay alert and we’ll get back with you.”
They walked to the door of the office. Gramm reached over and took him by the elbow and said, “You know what? With your background, there’s no need to interview anybody else. As far as I’m concerned, you’ll be our Marshal.” So he went back to the Marshal job in Tyler and spent eight years doing that.
In 1994, he decided to retire and return to Grayson County. Gary and wife Uva tried to buy a lot in Howe, but couldn’t find one and finally found a builder for a house in Sherman. He was approached about being Sheriff of the County, ran for Sheriff and was the first Republican to be elected.
At the end of his days as Sheriff, he said he was most proud of the fact that the jail eventually had 97 jailers and every position was filled and 200 additional beds had been built. For the last 96 beds, they didn’t have to pass a bond issue to make additional room. Not a penny was owed because they found innovative ways to add beds. Gary said he wishes we didn’t have to lock people up, but there are people who are dangerous to society that have to be corralled.
The low point in his career was when five violent inmates escaped from Grayson County jail. The leadership team is constantly reassessing the security in the jail, so that type of incident will never happen again. He believes it is a much better agency now.
The U.S. Marshal Service is the oldest law enforcement agency in the country, founded in 1789. The President appoints, Senate confirms. At age 34, he was the second youngest Marshal in the U.S. The first time he was a Marshal, Richard Nixon was in office. There are only 94 Marshals in the United States and four in Texas. He retired from Marshal service in 1994.
One of his most memorable times was during his first time as a Marshal 1969-1977. The U.S. Marshals had an annual conference in Washington, D.C. and he had been chosen to be on a 10-member advisory board to the Director of the Marshal service. Patricia Nixon, when Nixon was Vice President, held a tea party in the Rose Garden for the 94 Marshals and he had the privilege of speaking with her and reported that “she was a very quiet lady, but easy to talk to”.
A public reception for his retirement was held on August 31, 2016 in the West Courtroom of the Grayson County Courthouse.
“The idea that we’re protecting our loved ones, protecting the citizens of the county, makes you want to get up,” Gary said. “I know that sounds corny, but it’s really true. You want to get up and get out there and meet the public and do what we can to keep an orderly society.” – Sheriff Keith Gary.
Gay Brennan contributed to this article.