David C. Gaise

The Reverend David C. Gaise, 97, died Sunday, September 13 at Ten Broeck Commons in Lake Katrine. Rev. Gaise was Pastor Emeritus of Redeemer Lutheran Church, Kingston where he served as Pastor for 30 years. Rev. Gaise had moved from his home in Whiting, NJ to Ten Broeck Commons on August 10, 2009.


Rev. Gaise was born in Buffalo, New York on November 9, 1911 the only child of Charles and Adelaide Borth Gaise. He graduated from Niagara Falls High School in 1929 and Wagner College in 1935. He graduated from Hartwick Seminary in May 1938 and was ordained the following month. He married Dorothy Carr on May 7, 1938 and began his ministry in Central Bridge, New York serving as Pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church from 1938 to 1943. He accepted a call to Trinity Lutheran Church in Albany in 1943 and served as Pastor there until 1947. In February 1947 he began his ministry at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Kingston where he served until his retirement in June 1977 and where he was Pastor Emeritus until his death. He received a Masters of Divinity from the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago in 1956 and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Divinity from Hartwick College in 1959.


Rev. Gaise was active in the Kingston community during his pastorate at Redeemer. He was influential in the formation of the Kingston Area Council of Churches and along with M. Clifford Miller organized the Parent-Teachers Organization at Kingston High School. Rev. Gaise was one of the original members of the Ulster County Mental Health Board which founded the first community mental health center adjacent to Kingston Hospital and he was a member of the Kingston Kiwanis Club for 14 years.


Rev. Gaise served on the Board of Trustees of Wagner College, his alma mater from 1956 to 1970. Upon his retirement from the active ministry he served as Archivist of the Lutheran Church, New York Metropolitan Synod for over a decade.


Rev. Gaise was predeceased by his wife Dorothy who died in 1996. He is survived by two daughters, Carol Crews and her husband John of Port Ewen and Jean Swedberg and her husband John of Staten Island; two grandsons, John David Crews of Port Ewen and Christopher Crews of Kingston; a sister-in-law, Ruth Denise of Monroe Township, NJ; two nieces, Susan Harris and her husband Stan of New Canaan, CT, Jan Loughran and her husband Christopher of Princeton Junction, NJ, a nephew David Denise and his wife Gail of Princeton, NJ and a dear friend William Edwards of Manchester, NJ who cared for him for four years.


Calling hours will be held on Wednesday, September 16 at the Keyser Funeral Service, 326 Albany Avenue, Kingston from 2:00-4:00 PM and 7:00-9:00PM. A service of Christian Burial will be held on Thursday, September 17 at 11:00 AM at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, 104 Wurts Street, Kingston with the Reverend Audrey Pedersen presiding. Burial will be private.


In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations to Redeemer Lutheran Church, 104 Wurts Street, Kingston, NY 12401 or Wagner College, One Campus Road, Staten Island, NY 10301.