Thomas Gallagher

GALLAGHER
Colonel (Ret)
Thomas Kevin Gallagher (1928-2011)

A proud American life has ended. As guarded as he was gregarious, Colonel Thomas Kevin Gallagher closed his blue eyes for the last time on November 26, 2011. His life of 83 years was one of service and loyalty to God, country, and family. He leaves behind a legacy of accomplishment and his contribution to the USAF and national intelligence cannot be overstated. Thomas Kevin Gallagher was born to Charles and Laura Gallagher on January 18, 1928. Both he and older brother Charles were raised in Butte, Montana, where they were altar boys and students at Immaculate Conception and graduates of Boys' Central High School. Gallagher attended Notre Dame University and graduated from Gonzaga University. He enlisted in the Navy, but it was not long before he found his true career calling in the United States Air Force (USAF). He married Betty Ann Erickson over Independence Day weekend 1952. They moved to Monterey, California, where he excelled at the Army Language School, quickly becoming fluent in Russian. That move was the first of dozens he and Betty Ann would make. In 1954, daughter Keleen Ann was born in England, which gave the family the opportunity to visit each county in England, Scotland, Wales, and his ancestral Ireland. During visits to Ireland, he met his father's family from County Mayo. Though a fiercely proud American, Gallagher never lost touch with his Irish roots. Daughter Karen Marie was born in 1958 in Texas. His family moved with him to all but one of his duty stations, including a memorable assignment as Attaché in Moscow during the Cuban Missile Crisis. While the circumstances were a closely guarded secret, Gallagher earned the Legion of Merit while only a Captain. He volunteered to serve in Vietnam as Director of Joint Service, Special Intelligence Collection, where he earned a Bronze Star. When he returned, he had lost 30 percent of his hearing after a bomb exploded under his transport bus. He would have a lifelong struggle to hear but remained an engaging conversationalist. Gallagher's career spanned more than forty years and took his family around the world including Texas, England, Germany, Russia/USSR, Southeast Asia, Okinawa, Washington DC, and his beloved Hawaii. He engaged in multidisciplinary foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, communications security, information security, operations security, and command control and intelligence operations with the USAF, National Security Agency (NSA), Defense Intelligence Agency, and TRW. He had the unquestionable confidence of his peers and the personnel he supervised. He was Deputy for Intelligence for the Pacific, Chief of Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) and Technical Sensors Division, and DOD Chief of Special Operations Division at NSA. At the time of his USAF retirement, Gallagher was considered a living repository of all data on signals intelligence and was recognized as one of the most talented and dynamic forces in his field. Gallagher was also devoted to his Church and family. He took great pride in commissioning his daughter Keleen into Air Force Nurse Corps and seeing daughter Karen work as a television news anchor/reporter. Throughout his life, he had an unshakable devotion to the Lord, his country, and his family. Gallagher is survived by daughters, Karen Gallagher and Keleen Miller, son-in-law Evan Miller (Lt Col USAFR Ret), and treasured grandchildren Michelle, Kevan, Lauren, and Caroline, and cousins in Montana, Ireland, and California. His family will remember his playful Irish wit, love of animals, commitment to lifelong learning, and the love and support he provided each of them.
Services
Visitation will begin at 5:00 p.m. with a Rosary to be recited at 7:00 p.m. on December 4 at Mission Park Funeral Chapels North, 3401 Cherry Ridge Dr, San Antonio, TX 78230. On December 5, Fr. Eddie Bernal will celebrate a Catholic Mass in Gallagher's honor at Air Force Village Chapel at 11:45 a.m., followed by interment at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery at 1:30 p.m. Memorial donations may be made to the Alzheimer's Association (http://www.alz.org, 800.272.3900) or to your local animal shelter. For personal acknowledgement you may sign the guestbook at www.missionparks.com in the obituary section. Arrangements with: