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Richard Galli
Having served his country as a member of both the Peace Corps and the Montana National Guard, Richard Galli is truly a unique Montanian. He was raised in Great Falls but moved around quite a bit being a part of a military family. He returned to Bozeman from his first stint with the Army in 1984. Our conversation was a well detailed journey through time. Galli has a large reserve of information on all things war, politics, and history; but his wisdom is what’ll resonate most. a few years in the early nineties volunteering with the Peace Corps in Botswana. There, he taught both world and US history, as well as agriculture. They stayed with families and got to learn from them and their culture. When they returned, he got a teaching job at the Bridger Program Alternative High School, before landing at Bozeman High. Looking back on his teaching career, Galli says he never had a student he didn’t like. He plans to retire after the coming school year. In 2004 he deployed for Iraq with the 163rd Infantry Regiment, a regiment of the Montana National Guard. At the same time, Teresa was expecting their third child. Galli was 49 years old. Thankfully, he made it home and only missed the first eleven months of his youngest child’s life. Today, Galli enjoys the comfort of his four dogs, two WWII era Jeeps, his three wonderful kids, and his lovely wife. Their home is lined with thousands of books, as well as cultural knick knacks and photographs from all their travels. His upcoming passion project is to restore the truck he and Teresa took on their honeymoon. Galli has been praised by his students and colleagues as a passionate and knowledgeable educator. He even received the Montana History Teacher of the Year Award. With a chuckle Galli recalls, “Some students gave me two gray hairs. All my gray hair isn’t from the war, it’s from students.” In the Army, he received a Combat Infantry Badge, and an Expert Infantry Badge. He is a family man, a historian, and a cornerstone of the Bozeman Community.
