6 minute read
R. Gary Goosens
oteworthy
R. Gary Goosens ’74 – From Coal Town to D.C. Administrative Law Judge
Advertisement
BY LINDSEY BYARS
In 1950, the year Robert Gary Goosens was born, the coal industry in McDowell County, West Virginia was booming. People flocked towards the economic opportunities both within the industry, and the community that supported the workers and their families. “My grandfather was a coal miner,” says Gary Goosens ’74, who grew up in the coal towns of Gary and Northfork. His parents, Bob and Lorraine, were both public school teachers, a profession Goosens would eventually gravitate towards, though not for long.
“Growing up in communities in McDowell County typically involved coal mining and Appalachian culture, although later as I lived in larger cities, I realized that it had also involved an element of isolation,” Goosens says.
Education and professional endeavors took Gary Goosens across the United States and back throughout his career. Over the years, he has worked as a teacher and later a law professor. He followed a civil service career track that led him from being a city attorney in Clarksburg, West Virginia to eventually becoming an administrative law judge in Alabama. At the center of this journey was a deep desire to learn and follow his interests, and as this proved successful, ambition continued to drive his climb up the professional ladder.
As a young man, however, the small coal towns served as Robert Gary Goosens’s knowledge of the world. In this microcosm, coal may have been the life force, but for many kids, including Goosens, sports played an equally important part.
“Prior to my senior year, I had been more interested in football than school,” Goosens remembers. It was his English teacher that helped him redirect his focus.
“Mr. Stark in my senior year was an impetus for me to conceive of higher levels of learning,” Goosens says. “Mr. Stark enabled me to catch up academically and to form realistic professional goals for myself.”
Gary Goosens '74 with his wife, Maxine.
oteworthy
Gary Goosens '74 with his wife, Maxine.
Those professional goals did not immediately begin with college. After graduation, Goosens enlisted in the U.S. military.
“I had a lower draft number so I decided to enlist. This decision proved to be highly beneficial in providing funds for various levels of higher education and for my hiring in the federal government,” Goosens says.
After an honorable discharge from the military due to a medical condition, Goosens decided to pursue his undergraduate degree from Concord College. His mother was a Concord graduate, and the school’s reputation solidified the decision.
“I wanted to attend a college with a good reputation in southern West Virginia, affectionately known as ‘Little Harvard,’” Goosens says.
At Concord, Goosens majored in history, political science, and education. He received both a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science in 1974. Reminiscing on his time on “The Campus Beautiful,” four professors still stand out in his memory as being influential to his future career paths: history professor Dr. O’Brien, political science professors Dr. Brown and Dr. Moore, and education professor Dr. Dolan. Goosens was determined to excel scholastically so his foundation for future pursuits would prove solid, and he did.
“It was important for me to graduate Cum Laude at Concord to bolster my future professional endeavors,” Goosens says.
After graduation, Goosens returned to McDowell County as a fifth grade teacher at Switchback Elementary school. He taught for two years, but his undergraduate accolades only served to ignite a spark for his desire to pursue additional degrees.
“At that time, having high energy and ambition, I enrolled in West Virginia College of Graduate Studies one month after graduation from Concord,” Goosens says. The higher GPA from Concord paved his way into the Educational Administration program. While teaching, Goosens took classes in the evenings and also during summer breaks. In 1975, he graduated with his M.A. in Educational Administration.
In his twenties, Goosens says his interests drove his studies, and Education was not the only field that he wanted to academically pursue. His undergraduate work in political science and history took root, and following his need to know more, Goosens left McDowell County and moved to Morgantown. For the five years that followed, he studied at West Virginia University, earning a M.S. in Industrial Relations, a M.P.A. in Public Administration, and J.D. in Law.
“My ambition to study law was the product of successful undergraduate and graduate education. The higher GPA at Concord enabled acceptance into both graduate and legal programs of study,” Goosens says.
After graduating from law school, Goosens accepted a position in Clarksburg, West Virginia
- Gary Goosens '74
as an Assistant City Attorney. He held this position for two years, but ultimately he was working towards a civil service career track with the federal government.
His opportunity for a federal position came, taking Goosens to Spokane, Washington where he accepted a temporary position as a staff attorney with the Social Security Administration. While living for one year in Spokane, Goosens says he also found himself back in the classroom as a teacher. In the evenings, Goosens taught school law for Wentworth College.
A permanent staff attorney position with the Social Security Administration opened in Denver, Colorado, so Goosens accepted, staying here for three years before a promotion took him to Albuquerque, New Mexico as the Supervisory Staff Attorney.
The pursuit of knowledge was no longer impacting Goosens’s career trajectory, but rather his success in the field of law. Another promotion followed, this time taking Goosens back towards the East Coast as an Appeals Officer in Washington, D.C.
In 1991, Goosens competed for and was offered the position of Administrative Law Judge.
“My interest in becoming an administrative law judge arose after various attorney promotions within my federal agency, the Social Security Administration,” Goosens says.
This particular position took Goosens to different stations in the United States: Salt Lake City, Utah and Mobile, Alabama. This final position was conveniently located near his parents, who had retired to Navarre Beach in Florida. This also happened to be where he met and married his wife of 22-years, Maxine.
Goosens spent the last 30-years of federal service in Mobile, and this is where he and Maxine have retired.
Retirement hasn’t kept Goosens from pursuing new endeavors. During his retirement, he wrote and published a book entitled Secrets of Life Revealed in 24 Sentences.
He also is enjoying spending this time visiting and Skyping with his children and grandchildren who live in various parts of the country. His son Richard Goosens lives in Bluefield, West Virginia, Michael Goosens and Barbi McLain, his son and daughter, both live in Eugene, Oregon, and his daughter Chrissy Manahan lives in Union, Maine. His grandchildren include Elliot, Bridget, Faryn, and Wren.
The only one of Goosens’s children to pursue a law related career is Barbi, who is employed by the law school at the University of Oregon as Director of the Writing Program.
While he hasn’t lived in the area for many years, Goosens continues to collect objects from the Mountain State, such as coal art and southern West Virginia coal mining literature: “West Virginia will always be my home state.”
