Beyond The Gate My Journey as an Oklahoma Boy

Raised on the campus of Shawnee's Oklahoma Baptist University, where his father, the legendary Dr. John W. Raley, served as President and Chancellor for more than three decades, the young Raley grew up in a home surrounded by his scholarly father's books and his concert pianist mother's classical music. As a very small person in a grown-up world, college students and professors were his closest companions. Later, as a sea going, saltwater sailor, federal prosecutor, trial lawyer, and civic leader, he has seen much of the world, met at close range a variety of its most famous and fascinating people, and encountered some who fall in the infamous category. He is a lifelong student of history, has witnessed much of it being made, and, as this collection of stories will reflect, has been involved in the making of some of it. Politicians, poets, professors, pilots, law enforcement officers, sports and military heroes, state and national political leaders, judges and jurors, as well as a number of ordinary people who have done extraordinary things are found in these pages.

Born in Bartlesville and raised in Shawnee, John W. Raley, Jr. earned his Bachelor of Arts degrees in History and English at Oklahoma Baptist University. Following enlistment with the United States Navy he was commissioned a gunnery officer and bridge watch officer on the heavy cruiser USS Macon. He served 34 years consecutively in the Navy Reserve before retiring in 1984 with the permanent rank of Navy Captain. Raley earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law and was admitted to practice before the Oklahoma Supreme Court, the United States District Courts for the Eastern, Western and Northern Districts of Oklahoma, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. He served as Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma following law school and later was appointed by President George H. W. Bush and reappointed by President Bill Clinton as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. He served as Municipal Court Judge and Mayor of Ponca City and was a partner in the law firm of Northcutt, Raley, Clark and Gardner. A lieutenant colonel in the Civil Air Patrol, he has flown many search and rescue missions. He has served on the Board of Trustees of Oklahoma Baptist University, on the Board of Governors of the Oklahoma Bar Association, as chairman of the State Ethics Commission, and as Oklahoma Chapter President of the American Board of Trial Advocates. His memberships include the Professional Responsibility Committee of the Oklahoma Bar Association, the Oklahoma Supreme Court Commission on Oklahoma Uniform Jury Instructions, and as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Raley has been honored with the George Washington Honor Medal from the Freedom's Foundation at Valley Forge, the Special Initiative and Meritorious Service Award from the United States Department of Justice, and the Outstanding Citizen of Ponca City designation, among countless others. John W. Raley, Jr. is the father of two stalwart sons, both of whom are successful trial lawyers, and the grandfather of three beautiful and gifted grandchildren. He and his wife, Miss Caroline, reside in Ponca City where Raley is actively involved in the private practice of law with the Northcutt Law Firm.