The News Times, Newport, OR Sept. 5, 2003
William "Wolfgang" Gossett
William Pratt "Wolfgang" Gossett, 73, of Depoe Bay died Sept. 1, 2003, at Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital in Lincoln City, following a stroke.
He was born July 29, 1930 in San Jose, Calif.
He served with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps, and was an administrative clerk and physical training instructor in Okinawa, Japan, at the end of World War II. He served with a U.S. Naval advisory group in South Korea from 1957 to 1959 as an administrative personnel chief and law specialist. From 1959 to 1964, he served with the Marine Corps in California, then worked for the U.S. Army Judge Advocate's office in New York City. He served with the Judge Advocate General in France from 1965 to 1966; then was in Vietnam as a military law specialist from May 1966 to October 1967, and received the Purple Heart. From 1967 to 1968, he was an administrative and legal supervisor with the 3rd BCT Brigade, Ford Ord, Calif.
He was an instructor at reserve training centers and a military law professor at Weber State College, now Weber State University, Utah. He also worked as a correctional officer and administrative director of a confinement facility at the Davis County Sheriff's Office, Farmington, Utah, and for the public defender's office in Utah.
In 1976, he was commissioned as an officer in the Utah National Guard.
He was a radio talk show host for KCGL Radio from 1981 to 1983. He also worked as a school teacher and assistant principal at Bryant Intermediate School in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1988, he was ordained as a priest in the Old Roman Catholic Diocese in Salt Lake City.
He worked as a freelance civil and criminal investigator from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, and owned and directed an agency specializing in investigation of investment fraud, cult and occult fraud, and missing persons cases.
He moved to Newport in 1994, where he worked as a legal assistant to attorney Dan Poling. From 1998 to 2002, he worked with the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.
He was a marathon runner, and enjoyed distance walking. He enjoyed storytelling and his dog, Skye.
Survivors include three sons, Steven Gossett of California, Gregory Gossett of Utah, and Kirk Gossett of Arizona; a daughter, Doris Lee Gilliam of Delaware; two brothers, Danny Gossett of California and Orien Gossett of Utah; and two sisters, Nancy Easler and Libby Lee, both of California; and his wife, Marilyn Smith of Sherwood.
A memorial service will be held Monday at Willamette National Cemetery, Portland.
