Introduction
When I was a student in Hicksville High, I didn’t know what to make of Principal Leon Galloway. My older sister Marilyn had known him as her teacher, and she spoke highly of him. She spoke highly in the same way about Raymond Rusch, whom I later knew as an Assistant Principal. When Mr. Rusch and I first met, he greeted me warmly and asked about Marilyn. In contrast, the few times that Mr. Galloway and I spoke seemed impersonal; he definitely did not exude warmth in my direction.
But in the 1990s, when I got involved with HixNews, I saw that other people (including Bob Casale) recalled him with warmth and gratitude. Obviously, there was a side of Mr. Galloway that I never got to see. Then more time went by, and as I researched Hicksville’s history, I sometimes would notice his name in old newspapers, in a context that surprised me. I finally decided to peek a little into the life of Leon J. Galloway, and this brief article is the result.
Note: I’ve tried something different in this article. In the Appendices, for each Source I list, I’ve categorized the information it provided. That may help readers who want look into things in greater detail.
