John Robert GAISER

1931 - 2025

Jun 11, 1931 - Dec 31, 2025

The family of John R. Gaiser is sad to announce his death on Wednesday, December 31st, 2025, from complications due to heart disease. He was 94. His life will be celebrated on January 13th, 2026, at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, in Spokane, WA. He was deeply and dearly loved by his family and many friends.

John was born June 11th, 1931, at the Gritman Hospital in Moscow, Idaho, the third of three children of John and Theresa (Semler) Gaiser. He grew up on the family farm north of Moscow, ID, and was born to be a farmer. His earliest memory was of a horse-drawn combine, and he loved hanging around his dad and dogs and getting into various kinds of mischief. Once, while jumping over a hay bale, he stuck his tongue out at his sister, Betty, and nearly bit it off when he fell. It "bled like crazy," but apparently, there wasn't much the doctor could do. He recalled, "But I sure scared the hell out of all the people in the waiting room."

John always worked. By the time he was ten years old, he was helping his father and brother-in-law, Marvin Dahl, on the farm, mowing hay, dusting peas, and driving every kind of farm vehicle. Later, at the Ursuline Academy in Moscow, he earned extra money serving as an altar boy for the many weddings of young men leaving for military service. At $1.00 per wedding, he felt like he was "rolling in dough." By the time he was in high school in 1945, his family had moved into town. John would get out of school at 3:00 PM and - only fourteen years old but provided with a special underage driver's license - go out to the farm. He worked with his favorite tractor - a bright orange model "B" Allis-Chalmers - until sunset, and then drove back to town in the dark.

He entered Moscow High School in 1945. where he played basketball and football. In one football game, the field was so muddy that by the end of the first quarter, his dad had no idea which player he was. Because most of his life had been spent on the farm, John only went trick-or-treating one time. After filling his pillowcase with candy at the Kappa house on the University of Idaho campus, he ran into a wire sticking out from a post. Once again, he was bleeding like crazy.

John graduated from high school in 1949. After working locally at various jobs, including the grain elevator and the Plymouth dealership, and briefly attending the University of Idaho, he volunteered to serve in the Army in 1952. In 1953, he arrived in Korea and was sent to the Kansas Line. In August of 1954, he was transferred into the 8097th Army Unit. Nominally, this group performed geographic surveys but were secretly assigned to intelligence operations. He finally rotated home in February 1955, with the rank of sergeant. He always said that even though he'd grown up in Moscow, he had never been colder than during a Korean winter.

Upon discharge from the Army, he returned to Moscow. One day, his friend, Norman Oleson, was trying to get out of taking his cousin, Sherry Oleson, to the movie East of Eden, starring James Dean. Moscow wasn't that big, so John knew Sherry was extremely good-looking. He went to a payphone and called her up.

It was apparently a great date. They were married in 1956. During this time, he enrolled again at the University of Idaho using the GI Bill and graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agronomy. John and Sherry's son, Dean, was born in 1957, followed by another son, Chris, in 1960. John was hired as an agronomist by Western Farmers Association, and this led the young family from Moscow to Spokane to Walla Walla, where daughter, Ann, was born in 1964. John then took a job with Pacific Supply as a field agronomist working on potatoes and sugar beets in Twin Falls, ID. This job only lasted 6 months before he had a much better offer and was hired by the Wilbur-Ellis Company to start a branch in Spokane in the spring of 1966.

The job suited his friendly, gregarious nature. He loved driving around the Palouse, enjoying the landscape and talking with his customers. He was an excellent salesman and was well-respected by those with whom he worked closely. He was the Spokane branch manager for many years before transitioning to the regional Specialty Products Group and was known as the "idea man," developing many products and their brands. He won several company and industry awards during his long career at Wilbur-Ellis. After retiring in 2006 after 40 years, he and Sherry traveled extensively, visiting Greece, Ireland, Germany, and several other countries. In his later years, he loved to read American history and the fiction of Ivan Doig and Louis L'Amour, tend his hybrid tea roses, spend time at his cabin on Coeur d'Alene Lake, and hang out with Sherry, by then retired from her own career as an English professor at Spokane Falls Community College.

John was preceded in death by his parents, John and Theresa Gaiser; his sister, Betty Dahl; and his brother, Don Gaiser. He is mourned by his colleagues, neighbors, friends, and his family, of whom he was enormously proud: his wife of 69 years, Sherry Gaiser; children, Dean Gaiser of Spokane, Christopher Gaiser McMinnville, OR, and Annette Gaiser of Portland, OR; daughter-in-law, Anna Keesey; grandchildren, Alex Gaiser and wife Elizabeth, Ilsa (Gaiser) McCartt and husband Andrew, Joaquin Keesey, Matthew Butler, and Zachary Butler; and great-grandson, Finnegan McCartt.

John will be interred at Moscow Cemetery in Moscow, ID, on January 14th, 2026, at 1:00 PM. Contributions in John's memory can be made to Meals on Wheels of Spokane.

We shall always miss him.