It was originally located elsewhere in the center when the building served originally as Pullman High School.
“A color photo-portrait is one of the best-known images that community has of Oscar E. Gladish. It hangs in the foyer of the High School Auditorium (now Gladish Auditorium) in a lighted recess between the two small rooms built to house the functions of Pullman High School Student Association – the student government.
“On June 17, 1965, it appeared in the Pullman Herald. It has been displayed in the window of Hutchinson’s Studio (now location of Porch Light Pizza) opposite the City Hall (near where the artesian well fountain is located), on one of Pullman’s main downtown walkways (Kamiaken Street) leading from College Hill. Yet this portrait in obviously only a two dimensional-image of a figure with considerably more depth.
“The portrait is a relatively recent thing. It was presented to the High School by the Graduating Class of 1965, who members were sophomores when Gladish retired in 1963, after thirty-four years as Principal of Pullman High School.
“J.M. Hutchinson, long-time Pullman photographer, says it was not easy to photograph ‘Oscar.’ ‘I had known him so long. It’s easier to photograph people you don’t know so well. Oh, it easy to get a characteristic pose, because there were things he always did, but …’
“The difficulty Hutchinson experienced when Gladish sat for the portrait was composed of two things: the attempt to present a worthy image of the man in the limited dimensions of paper and tint; and, an aura about Gladish which has lingered in Hutchinson’s maturity from his high school years.
“Hutchinson recalled how Gladish would make a disciplinary point before the student body: ‘He would pound that old plywood desk they had up there … He would make it resound … with fire in his eyes.’
“Yes the photographer’s difficulties express something worth nothing at this outset of (this) paper (attempting) to profile this man: Oscar Gladish is more than you can get down on a plane surface. There is another order of dimension about him, an aura.”
