Talk:John Allen Gable

Obituary Press Release from the Theodore Roosevelt Association
John Allen Gable, Ph.D.

1943 - 2005

With profound regret, the Theodore Roosevelt Association announces the death yesterday, Feburary 18th, of its executive director, friend, and guiding light of nearly 31 years, Dr. John Allen Gable, Ph.D.

Dr. Gable was widely considered the world’s leading authority on Theodore Roosevelt. He became Executive Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association in 1974. He founded and began editing the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal, a quarterly publication, in 1975.

Dr. Gable graduated from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio in 1965 and received his Ph.D. in History from Brown University, Providence, RI, in 1972. He held teaching positions at various colleges and universities (C.W. Post Campus, Long Island University, 1977-89; Briarcliff College, 1974-1977; Brown University 1972-73). Since 1989, he’d served as Adjunct Professor of History at New College, Hofstra University.

Dr. Gable was a member of the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Committee at the American Museum of Natural History and the Advisory Board of the Roosevelt Study Center in The Netherlands. He was on the Vestry of Christ (Episcopal) Church, Oyster Bay, NY, and was a past trustee of the Oyster Bay Historical Society. Among the other organizations to which he belonged were the Organization of American Historians, the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities, and the Center for the Study of the Presidency. He is listed in Who’s Who in the East, Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World.

Dr. Gable published extensively on Theodore Roosevelt and related topics. His The Bull Moose Years: Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Party (Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1978) is considered a classic in the literature. His other Theodore Roosevelt-related writings include numerous magazine and journal articles, forewords, introductions, contributed chapters, and prefaces, along with a number of books for which he served as editor. Most recently, he’d been especially proud to serve as the editor for a special armed forces edition of Theodore Roosevelt’s The Man in the Arena, a compendium of speeches, letters and essays. Dr. Gable also wrote a highly-respected history of his boyhood church, The Goodness that Doth Crown Our Days: A History of Trinity Parish, Lenox, Massachusetts (Trinity Parish, Lenox, MA, 1993), and a history of his adopted church in Oyster Bay: How Firm a Foundation: The Anglican Church in Oyster Bay, New York and Colonial America (Oyster Bay: Christ Church, 2004).

Dr. Gable did extensive television and film work. He served as historical consultant and on-camera commentator for TR: An American Lion, produced and directed by David de Vries and shown as a History Channel special in 2003. Additionally, he appeared in the PBS “American Experience” film TR: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (1996), and in numerous productions for A&E, C-SPAN and NBC (including the Today Show).

Shortly before his death, Dr. Gable had been voted the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal: an honor previously granted to such scholars, statesman and artists as David McCullough, George H.W. Bush, Hamilton Fish, Paul Nitze, Philip Habib, Ralph Bunche, and Robert Frost. (Another recipient was Dr. Gable’s own mentor and forerunner as Executive Director of the Association, Herman Hagedorn, who received the Medal in 1956.) As well, one month ago, Dr. Gable was presented with a special book of personal tributes composed by more than two dozen of his friends and colleagues, among them the Pulitzer Prize winners Edmund Morris, James MacGregor Burns, David McCullough and Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

Dr. Gable’s survivors include his mother, Mary Jane Gable, of Naples, Florida; a brother, Patrick Gable of Pittsfield, MA; a sister, Bonnie Jean Gable, of Lenox, MA; a sister-in-law, Janet Gable, of Pittsfield; and nieces Mary and Bonnie Jean, of Los Angeles and Corvallis, Oregon, respectively.

A memorial service will be held 11 AM on Friday, February 25th, at Christ Church, 61 East Main Street, Oyster Bay. A later funeral service will be held at Trinity Parish, Lenox, MA.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made to Christ Church (address above) or the Theodore Roosevelt Association, P.O. Box 719, Oyster Bay, NY 11771.

Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tr-m/message/1027 —Preceding unsigned comment added by SimonATL (talk • contribs) 21:19, 26 November 2007 (UTC)