Thomas F. Gallant

A memorial service for Thomas F. Gallant, age 97, of Granville, will be held at 2:00 pm on Saturday, March 7, at First Presbyterian Church, 110 West Broadway in Granville with Pastor Wallace Bubar officiating. A private graveside service will take place at Denison University College Cemetery.

Tom was born January 22, 1928, in Delaware, Ohio, to the late Ellis F. and Blanche (Walker) Gallant. He attended and graduated from Frank B. Willis High School. Following graduation in 1946, he enrolled in Ohio Wesleyan University, graduating in 1950. While there he met Myra Rowley, whom he married in 1951. He majored in secondary education, sociology and English. His first teaching job was as a social studies and English teacher at the Junior High School in Huron, Ohio. After teaching only two months, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he was assigned to teach in the Counterintelligence Corps at Ft. Holabird, Maryland.

Tom completed a master’s degree at the University of Maryland (College Park), after which he and Myra returned to Huron, where he became an elementary teaching principal with a full-time 5th grade class. After four years, he became the high school principal and served in the position for eight years. In Huron, Tom was active in the Presbyterian Church and the local Rotary Club, where he served as president. After attending Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, he was awarded a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree.

In 1965 Tom was hired at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, as Chair of the Department of Education, where he served for 28 years before retiring in 1993. In Granville he was President of the local PTA, Vice President of the Granville Historical Society, and member of the Board of Elders of the Granville Presbyterian Church. Tom continued his membership in Rotary and received the Service Above Self Award and the Vocational Service Award. He was a member of the Granville Village Council for 13 years, six of which were served as Mayor.

Tom, Myra and their five children camped and traveled throughout the United States during summers and vacations. The couple bought a cottage in Eastern Ohio on Leesville Lake in 1982. This provided the opportunity for fishing, swimming and boating. At about the same time, they bought a beach property at New Smyrna Beach, Florida. This provided a great ocean view and good fishing from the beach. Tom spent one morning a week as a volunteer at nearby Canaveral National Seashore, cleaning up the beach and campsites, clearing trails, painting and doing other jobs. Tom’s retirement from Denison and Myra’s from teaching music gave them the opportunity to travel to all seven continents before moving to Otterbein Granville.

Tom is preceded in death by his wife, Myra, in July 2025. They were married for 74 years. He is survived by a son Stephen (wife Jennifer, deceased), Ohio; a daughter Katherine Nutt (husband Dennis) and their daughters Lindsey and Sarah, Virginia; a son Richard (wife Amy), New York, and their daughters Nancy Porter (husband Matt), Utah, and Megan and son Atlas, New York; a son Bruce and his daughter Myra, Illinois; and a son Ronald (wife Jennifer) and their sons Carter and Austin, Virginia.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the First Presbyterian Church, 110 W Broadway, Granville, Ohio 43023; https://www.granpres.org/ or Granville Rotary Club, P.O. Box 296, Granville, OH 43023.

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