[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 85 (Monday, May 17, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING RUSSELL EUGENE GWALTNEY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. H. MORGAN GRIFFITH

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 17, 2021

  Mr. GRIFFITH. Madam Speaker, I rise in honor of Russell Eugene 
Gwaltney, who died on March 12, 2021 at the age of 81. Russ was a local 
legend in his youth who later served his hometown as a career law 
enforcement officer who honorably fulfilled his professional duties.
  Russ was born in Roanoke, Virginia on August 21, 1939, to Charles 
Wesley Gwaltney and Florence Gay Gwaltney Boggess. His father passed 
away before he was born, and his mother, a cashier, raised him in 
Salem.
  His first calling in life was as a marbles champion. The game was 
popular in his neighborhood, and his older brother Charlie taught him 
to play at the age of four or five. He grew in skill, amassing a 
collection of marbles he won from other players. Russ lost to Charlie 
in the semifinals of a 1948 tournament sponsored by the Salem 
Recreation Department. As he recalled to the Roanoke Times in 1993, 
``When he beat me, he made me want to get better.'' Russ did, winning 
the town championship in 1949 and then the 1952 National Championship 
held in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Salem showered its national marbles 
champion with laurels upon his return. Although interest in marbles 
declined, he stayed involved in the game as an adult and helped with 
the national tournament.
  In the following years, Russ graduated from Andrew Lewis High School 
and served in the United States Navy. After starting his policing 
career in Newport News, he moved back to Salem and began his 34 years 
with the Salem Police Department, which he served as a uniformed 
officer, detective, and member of the SWAT Team, rising to the rank of 
captain. He concluded his career as chief of police in Dublin, 
Virginia.
  Russ is survived by his wife, Rita Woodyard Gwaltney; son and 
daughter-in-law, Rusty and Katy Gwaltney; daughter and grandson, Renee' 
Moore and Phoenix Moore; and brothers Charles Thomas Gwaltney and 
Douglas MacArthur Hawkins. I offer them my condolences on the loss of 
this good man, who earned a unique fame in Salem as a boy and then 
returned it with a career of faithful service in law enforcement.

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