Spokane educator Saling dies at 80

As a teacher, a school principal and a community college president, Gerald Saling was a staunch supporter of education. When he brought that expertise to the state Senate, the members of his caucus listened.

“When Jerry Saling zoned in on a subject, he wouldn’t be denied,” state Sen. Bob McCaslin, R-Spokane Valley, said Monday of his longtime friend and colleague.

Saling, 80, who died Friday after a four-year battle with cancer, will be remembered in a service Wednesday morning.

McCaslin said Saling was a guy who could tell a joke and take one, but when it came to budgets, particularly the state’s budget for education, he was serious.

“He was unique when the budget proposal came around,” McCaslin recalled. The state spending plan would be passed out to members of the caucus, and the leadership would immediately ask members if they were OK with what was in it.

“He would always say, ‘No. I haven’t gone through it yet.’ ” If the budget had what he considered enough for education, he’d support it; if not, he’d work to find more money for those programs, McCaslin said. “He was a tiger on education.”

Born and raised in Spokane, Saling taught at several Spokane School District schools and was principal of Roosevelt Elementary School when he was first elected to the state House in 1964. He continued to serve as an elementary school principal throughout his three terms in the House. He didn’t run for re-election in 1970, and in 1971 he was appointed dean of instruction at Spokane Falls Community College.

Three years later, he was named president of the community college, a position he held until 1982. Two years later, Republicans were looking for a candidate in the northwest Spokane district where Saling had served years earlier in the House. He filed for the office and won relatively easily.

“Jerry was really the one that understood education,” former state Sen. Alex Deccio, R-Yakima, said. “We listened to him because the rest of us didn’t have the knowledge he had.”

When Republicans were in the majority and wanted to make cuts Saling thought were too deep, “he didn’t hesitate letting you know what he thought about it,” Deccio said.

But it wasn’t all serious, McCaslin recalled. Saling also had a great sense of humor and loved to tell jokes. One evening in Olympia, a group of legislators was eating at a restaurant, and he was sitting to Saling’s right. Saling started telling a joke about Tarzan and Jane; he hit his chest and said, “Me, Tarzan,” then hit McCaslin’s chest to say, “You, Jane.”

“He knocked me right out of the chair,” McCaslin said.

“He just loved to laugh,” agreed Ed Clark, a Spokane businessman. “Back in the days when you faxed around jokes, he was the king.”

Saling retired from the Legislature in 1992; his district was being moved to the West Side because of population shifts. In a letter to constituents, he explained he’d decided to retire even before the move was announced, saying eight years in the Senate was enough and there were other ways to serve his community beyond public office.

He was active with the Chamber of Commerce and the North Spokane Rotary, and he served on the board of SIRTI. Most recently he was a member of a commission studying salaries for elected Spokane city officials.

“He was an incredible public servant,” said former county Commissioner Kate McCaslin, who worked on some of Saling’s Senate campaigns and on other political issues. “He kept it all in perspective.”

Saling is survived by his wife, Dee, son, Ron, and daughter, Sue Betts, all of Spokane, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. The service will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Heritage Funeral Home, 508 N. Government Way. The family is asking donations be made to Hospice of Spokane or the American Cancer Society in lieu of flowers.