NEWS RELEASE: March 11, 2008
FROM: The Kansas Highway Patrol
CONTACT: TechTRP Edna Buttler (785)296-6800
Cait Purinton-Day (785) 296-6800
Major Gaunt Retires From HIghway Patrol
Colonel Terry Maple, Superintendent of the Kansas Highway Patrol, has announced that Major John R. Gaunt, Jr., retired from the Patrol on March 8, 2008. He served the citizens of Kansas for more than 33 years.
Gaunt joined the Patrol on September 27, 1974, as a civilian messenger assigned to General Headquarters in Topeka. He became a trooper in 1976, and was assigned to road patrol duties in the Topeka area. In 1982, he was promoted to sergeant and became a zone commander in the Belleville area. Gaunt was promoted to lieutenant in 1988 and was an assistant division commander in Wichita. He became the acting operations commander in Troop F, headquartered in Wichita, from 1992 to 1993. In 1998, Gaunt was promoted to captain and served as troop commander of Troop F. He was promoted to major in 2003 and served as Central Region commander until his retirement. As a member of the Patrol, Gaunt was a crash investigation instructor from 1982 to 1986, and he was a field training officer for Trooper Terry Maple in 1979.
Gaunt is a graduate of Mount Vernon High School in Alexandria, Virginia, and he earned a bachelor's of arts in sociology from Washburn University. He was a member of the Kansas DUI Center Advisory Committee from 1993 to 2006, and is a member of the Kansas Peace Officers' Association. Gaunt became a Kansas certified public manager in 2002, and he graduated from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Academy in 2004.
Congratulations, John, on your retirement!