Paul F. Gaiser

compiled by Columbian staff in 1989

Suppose you were superintendent of schools. Suddenly enrollment explodes by more than 400 percent. What would you do?

 

(Paul F. Gaiser on Dedication Day at Clark College.)

Paul F. Gaiser, longtime Vancouver superintendent, was equal to the challenge. During the early years of World War II, when the influx of shipyard workers caused Vancouver enrollment to jump from 3,300 to more than 14,000 in 18 months, Gaiser recruited PTA mothers to serve as temporary teachers and somehow, through double-shifting and other maneuvers, managed to keep the education mill functioning.

Gaiser had been a second lieutenant of field artillery in World War I and had already established solid credentials as a teacher, coach, principal and superintendent in other school districts of Washington and Oregon when he was hired by the Vancouver district in 1931.

Gaiser's first position here was as high-school principal, at a salary of $3,000 per year. Three years later, he was to become superintendent of schools, a post he was to hold for 18 years.

In 1945, Clark Junior College became part of the Vancouver School District, and Gaiser was appointed president. For the next seven years, Gaiser had to serve both as district superintendent and college president. In 1952, the hard-working savant became Clark's full-time president.

He died Jan. 16, 1987, at age 93. However, his name lives on in Gaiser Middle School and Gaiser Hall on the Clark campus.

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