Education
Though born in Grimes County, Texas, VanDeaver was reared on a cattle operation near Clarksville in Red River County in northeast Texas and graduated in 1977 from Clarksville High School.
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Gary VanDeaver
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He holds a doctorate obtained in 1996 in professional education from Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University–Commerce, formerly East Texas State University. In December 2014, he retired as superintendent of the New Boston district. Having begun as a vocational agriculture teacher, VanDeaver has worked for thirty-three years in the education profession.
He is a past president of the New Boston Lions International and his local Chamber of Commerce.
VanDeaver has been married since 1983 to the former Pamela Sue Nevill (born 1963), who is also an educator. The couple has two grown daughters, Kacey and Katelyn VanDeaver.
In the primary election held on March 4, 2014, VanDeaver, in his last year as school superintendent, unseated the two-term District 1 Republican incumbent, George Lavender, a businessman from Texarkana in far northeastern Texas. VanDeaver received 9,400 votes (543 percent) to Lavender"s 7,898 (457 percent).VanDeaver had no Democratic opposition in the general election held on November 4, 2014.
Both Lavender and VanDeaver call themselves "conservative Republicans."
VanDeaver defeated George Lavender in a rematch in the Republican primary on March 1, 2016.
VanDeaver received 18,263 votes (619 percent) to Lavender"s 11,242 (381 percent).
Membership
He is a member of the Red River County Fair Association and the Bogata Rodeo Association, also in Red River County, and he sits on the board of the Texas Future Farmers of America. He is a member of the National Rifle Association and a deacon and Sunday school teacher at the First Baptist Church of New Boston.
