KMEA Hall of Fame
David Gish
Inducted in 2010
David E. Gish is a native Kansan who grew up in Garden City. He received his post-high school education at the University of Kansas (BME) and Wichita State University (MME) with further graduate studies at Northwestern University. His teaching career has spanned five decades with stops in Downs, Sublette, Lily Lake, Hutchinson, Shawnee Mission, Blue Valley, Olathe and as music substitute teacher in the Blue Valley Schools. Shawnee Mission West High Symphonic Band performed at the 1973 Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago. Gish went to the Blue Valley Schools in 1979 to start the district's first-ever school string orchestra program. Gish served as an officer in the Northeastern Kansas Band Association, and was the 1971 KMEA State Band Chair. Honors include 1964 Outstanding Young Educator, presented by the Sublette Jr. Chamber of Commerce; 1983 Leawood Middle School Master Teacher; 1988 Greater Kansas City Recognition of Excellence in Teaching; 1999 Certificate of Recognition by the University of Kansas Institute for Research in Learning Disabilities; Valley Schools nominee for Kansas Master Teacher; 1994 Certificate of Honor for Outstanding Contribution to the Teaching Profession by Emporia State University.