Pat Gest, the first woman to lead the Oregon School Employees Association (OSEA) died on Nov. 9, 2024, at 97 years old.
Gest was elected president of OSEA in 1974, six years after she joined as an employee of the Hood River school district.
In a video posted online last month by OSEA, Gest described becoming president of OSEA as one of the most exciting and fulfilling moments in her life.
After her two-year term as president, she spent 20 years on the OSEA staff. As Hood River chapter president before becoming OSEA president, Gest led bargaining for Hood River’s first contract after Oregon’s new Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act took effect in 1973. While working for OSEA, she helped pass a bill that gave sick leave protections to classified school employees and helped lead OSEA’s first and only strike for nine rainy days in Reedsport.
Gest had five children, including two who followed her into union work.
Gest stayed involved with OSEA for decades after retiring, becoming what mentees described as a “union grandma.”
At the 2022 OSEA conference, OSEA members Krysti Sackman and Chelsea Shotts had bonded with Gest and her longtime friend Mary Slawosky when the news broke that Roe v. Wade had been overturned.
“Pat and Mary invited us to their hotel room and let me sit with them in bed and cry,” Sackman said at Gest’s Dec. 14 memorial, which was held at her Salem church and streamed online. “Then Pat looked at me and said, ‘Okay, crying time is over. What are we going to do next? What are you going to do? How are we going to fight?’ She just poured love and strength into me.”
