Mr. Gaertner graduated from West Texas A&M with a bachelors in music. He has taught for over 25 years in every classification from C to 6A. He has taught at Amarillo High, Gladewater Middle School, New Diana High School, Carthage Junior High, Whitehouse Junior High and now Kilgore High School.  Mr. Gaertner is a woodwind specialist focusing on clarinet and saxophone. He performs professionally with the Sounds of Swing and Souled Out Jazz Band as well as other local groups. He has performed internationally in Austria and Prague. 

Mr. Gaertner is a member of The National Association of Military Marching Bands and the Texas Music Educators Association.  He is an active member of the Marvin United Methodist Church chancel choir and tunes pianos locally. 

He has been married for over 25 years to Catherine Gaertner who is the theater director at Kilgore High School and has two wonderful daughters, Grace who is a choir director at Perryton Junior High in Perryton, and Ella who is a waitress at The Back Porch in Kilgore.