In memory of Gene Gandy

To honor the life of William Eugene (Gene) Gandy. William Eugene (Gene) Gandy, LP, JD, was born in Honey Grove, Texas, in 1938. In 1956, Gene graduated from Honey Grove High School, where he was Valedictorian. He enrolled in what is now the University of North Texas, where he was selected to be pianist for the prestigious One O’Clock Lab Band. After graduating in 1960, Gene was drafted into the U.S. Army. While stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, Gene served as a legal clerk and court reporter. This glimpse of the legal profession led him to abandon his music career and apply for law school. He entered the University of Denver School of Law and received his JD in 1965. Gene served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Denver, and later he went into private law practice in Denver.

A Texan to the core, Gene returned to his hometown of Honey Grove in 1971 to manage his family land and cattle operation and practice law. When funeral homes stopped providing ambulance service, Honey Grove found itself without emergency medical care. Gene and several other volunteers responded to this need. He and his friends founded the Honey Grove Volunteer Ambulance Service. Gene headed the financial campaign that raised enough money to purchase a new ambulance outfitted with state-of-the-art medical equipment.

Initially trained in first aid, Gene attended Paramedic school at Texarkana College under Director Lynn Vickers, graduating in 1981. He then began teaching in an EMT program at Paris Junior College. Eight years later, in 1989, he moved from volunteer to full-time, abandoning law and establishing the paramedic program at Tyler Junior College. Gene served as head of the program until 2022. Gene spent three years with Texas’ Shackelford County EMS, then taught two more years at Cochise College in Arizona. He later worked for PERCOM, a provider of online EMS education.

Gene fell in love with EMS in the 1970’s and was involved in the NAEMT and helped with writing the initial rules and regulations for EMS in Texas. The committee prior to the current GETAC was TEMSAC (the Texas EMS Advisory Council). TEMSAC was charged with developing a comprehensive state EMS plan. He served on that committee until it met the “sunset” date established by the state Legislature. Gene continued to be active in furthering the profession, serving on state EMS committees and helping develop regulations and exams.

Gene dedicated himself to the enhancement of EMT educational curricula. He was a nationally sought-after lecturer, and he often testified in trials involving allegations of professional negligence on the part of emergency medical personnel. He served on the editorial advisory board of EMS World, a major publisher of educational material and sponsor of continuing education seminars for emergency medical professionals, for more than a decade. He reviewed article submissions and EMS World Expo proposals until shortly before his death.