Awarded Service Above Self
 
Portland Rotary Club honored recently retired G-PISD Superintendent, Dr. Paul Clore as “Service Above Self” award recipient at a dinner at Northshore Country Club. The country club, along with local businesses, the City of Portland, and Gregory-Portland ISD were among 12 sponsors of this event. Eight of these sponsors were represented by Portland Rotary Club Rotarians.
 
After mixing and mingling, Portland Rotary Club President, Jimmy Earnest opened the evening with the Rotary Four Way Blessing and Rotarian Dick Myer led us in the Pledge. MC of the night, City Manager and Rotarian, Randy Wright gave facts about Rotary and introduced speakers who praised Dr. Clore’s exemplary work of 19 years in GPISD. Among many notable accomplishments, Dr. Clore was named Region 2 Superintendent of the Year in 2004 and finalist for State Superintendent the same year. Dr. Clore was described by his peers as a visionary, a financial whiz, an artful negotiator, a dedicated educator, a masterful leader and a humble, kind, caring, incomparable individual. Dr. Clore’s tenure as Superintendent held many challenges: He was instrumental in the successful passage of three bond elections. He handled the aftermath of hurricanes’ property destruction and taking in additional students from neighboring towns; rapid growth and economic development in the community and in his last year, dealing with Covid and distance learning issues.
 
A Rotarian for 10 years, Dr. Clore participated in local events, regularly attended weekly meetings and always added wisdom and insight to discussions on matters of importance to Rotary. At the close of the evening, Dr. Clore thanked everyone and in the true nature of ‘service above self’ he reminded us that the purpose of this event was a Portland Rotary Club fundraiser for student scholarships.