JUDGE JOHN E. GABRIELLI

(1963-1984)

John E. Gabrielli was born April 24, 1921, in Reno, Nevada of immigrant parents, Dominic and Josephine Gabrielli, who were subsequently naturalized in the Court over which Judge Gabrielli was eventually to preside. He is of the Catholic faith.

The family consisted of two other brothers. In 1922 the family moved to Oakland, California, where the father worked as a laborer on the street construction and the mother worked in the cotton mills.

He went to school in Oakland through the third grade. In 1930 the family moved back to Reno. He attended the Orvis Ring School, North Side Junior High School, and Reno High School, graduating in 1939, after which he entered the University of Nevada from whence he graduated in 1943. While attending the University of Nevada he was a basketball and football manager and Junior Class President, also a member of the A.T.O., Coffin and Keys, Blue Keys, and Sagers.

He then entered the Armed Services on March 15, 1943, and in November of 1943 was on the Casino front in Italy as a Private Infantry Replacement, after which he was transferred to the M.P. Platoon of the Third Infantry Division. He eventually became Corporal. He participated in the Anzio Beachhead conflict and the invasion of Southern France and Central Europe.

He met his wife, Lillian, in Rome and they were married in Reno in 1947. She is the formed Lillian DiVita. They have five children ranging from 5 to 17 years in age.

He was honorably discharged from the Service in October of 1945 and returned to the United States to enter law school at Hastings College of Law, University of California, San Francisco, California. He graduated in 1949. He passed the Nevada State Bar in 1949. He then became associated in the law practice with Gordon W. Rice. This firm later became the law firm of McCarren, Rice, Wedge and Blakey, an association at first and a partnership later. The firm was eventually dissolved at the death of Senator Patrick McCarren and the election of Gordon W. Rice to the Bench.

He was appointed as City Attorney of Sparks, Nevada, and served from 1955 to 1957. In 1959 he joined the District attorney's Office of Washoe County and was in charge of the Uniform Reciprocal Support and Hospital Welfare Division.

He ran for District Judge of the Second Judicial District Court in 1962 where he now presides.