Robert Gahan Scholarship Fund

Robert Gahan was a Guidance Counselor at Stillman Valley High School in Stillman Valley, Illinois in the mid-late 80's. By all accounts, Robert first and foremost was a good human being, and a great guidance counselor to all students. He cared deeply about each student and wanted to set them on a great path for their future. He worked hard to find a path to college or an apprenticeship for each child that came through the school. On Monday, April 21st 1986, Robert's body was found brutally beaten and burned in a rural area near Roscoe, IL. After a very long legal process including multiple overturned convictions, his killer was sentenced to 40 years in prison. During Robert's trial, his private, personal life was made an open book. The circuit judge presiding over the case stated that "the trial robbed a good and moral man of the kind words that would follow a normal death", and called it a “shame” that the defendant and defense attorney tarnished Robert Gahan’s reputation. Robert identified as gay, but times were very different in the 1980’s. Stillman Valley is a very small, rural, and traditional community about 25 minutes outside of Rockford, IL. Because of this, Robert was not comfortable being open with his sexuality and kept it to himself in his professional life and even in some aspects of his personal life. It wasn’t until the investigation into the crime that took Roberts life, that this personal information on Robert came to light. In a small minded town and community, you can imagine that this new information on the beloved High School Guidance Counselor was not received well. I grew up in Stillman Valley and although I was not around or even alive during this time period, I am lucky enough to have connections with some of the locals that were either in the community or in school during the 1980’s. A few of these people that knew Mr. Gahan have stated that Stillman Valley and SVHS tried to keep the case “hush hush”, push it under the rug, and move on as quickly as possible once the details of Mr. Gahan’s personal life came to light in the most horrific way possible. I truly believe that Robert Gahan was not honored in the way he deserved following his murder due to the simple fact that he was gay. There is a small excerpt in the SVHS yearbook from either ’86 or ’87. One particular page has a photo of Mr. Gahan with his date of birth, date of death, and the following: “Teacher And Friend, Compassionate, Sympathetic, Competent. He Will Be Missed”. According to multiple accounts, this is the extent of memorial for Robert Gahan. During my years in the Stillman Valley school district, I lost my first grade teacher to cancer, I watched a classmate lose his mother to cancer, I watched my sister lose a friend to suicide, I lost a friend and teammate to a car accident, and the list goes on. In a lot of these situations, we held memorials, we had fundraisers, foundations were started, and photos or memorial bricks were dedicated to these people to be placed on the walls of the school to engrave their memories forever. I fear that Robert Gahan was ignored simply because of who he was. Mr. Gahan was an innovator. He thought outside of the box, had the best interest of each individual student, and contributed to the lives of so many kids that walked the same halls that I did. I believe that no one deserves to be forgotten, and I believe that is exactly how Stillman Valley thanked Mr. Gahan for his service. Forgetting him.