Andy_Gordon
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Andrew
George Gordon
Husband
to Nancy,
Father
to Liz, Geoff & Carol,
Grandfather
to Andy, Alec, Nate, Heidi, Ben, and Abigail
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September
16, 1924 to October 11, 2005
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With his family at his side, Andy Gordon "shuffled
off his mortal coil" (his expression) at his home in Seattle
on October 11, 2005. His
family was his deepest, most fulfilling joy, so it was appropriate that
they comforted and sustained him at home overlooking
Puget Sound
during his final days on this earth.
A rugged, but soft hearted individual, Andy Gordon came screaming
into our world on September 16, 1924, and at 6 days, still in the
hospital, was diagnosed with a broken leg (his mother thought he may
have been dropped by a nurse, and the
bill for the broken leg was never paid).
Andy attended Norwell public schools when he wasn’t hanging out
on Turtle Rock down at the North River, tending his trap line on the
Second Herring Brook, or playing tennis at his best friend’s court on Main
Street, one of two paved streets in town.
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His Depression era youth was punctuated by World War II, where he served
with the ski troops of the 10th Mountain Division in Italy,
picking up a Bronze Star, Combat Infantry Badge, and three Purple
Hearts. Leading his squad
in the assault on “unclimbable” Riva Ridge on February 19th,
1945, a story memorialized in the novel Night Climb, and a pivotal victory for
the Allies up the backbone of Italy, was one of Andy’s greatest
lifetime moments. |
Tom Brokaw’s The Greatest Generation
was written about kids like Andy, who left safe and loving homes as
teenagers to save the world from tyranny.
Many didn't return.
Andy’s association with the 10th Mountain Division
was especially important to him in his retirement, with its extensive
and active alumni groups, both in New England
and in Seattle (Mt Rainier chapter) where he and his wife Nancy spent
most of their retirement years.
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After the war, he attended
Yale
College, graduating in 1949. While
there he met the love of his life,
Nancy (Atwood), whom he married on July 22, 1950.
Right after that, living on the
North River
in Greenbush, he decided to buy and build a business that would let him
live and bring up a family in the town he grew up in, Norwell. For
thirty years, Andy Gordon sold and serviced insurance from the agency in
Norwell Center that still bears his name. |
| Andy recognized his responsibility to the
community that supported him. He
served as a director for Quincy Savings Bank, as director for the South
Shore Natural Science Center, chaired the local United Way
chapter, and was president of the North River Community Club and South
River Beach Club. During
the 1960's and 1970’s, he served on the Board of Directors of South Shore
Hospital, and was President of the Board for 1971 and 1972, while also a
trustee of the
Dana
Hall
School
in
Wellesley, MA. He also played a lot of
tennis, infected his family with a passion for skiing, continued to swim in the North River, and spent as much time as he could at the Pinnacle
in Freedom, NH with his family and good friends, and later with Nancy at
their second home in Marsh Harbour, Abaco, in the Bahamas. |
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| Andy dodged bullets in Italy, throat cancer in his
60’s, several melanomas in his 70’s, but at 81 a stroke
reduced the fire in him to an ember. For two weeks, the ember
spread warmth and love to his family, but on the morning of October
11th
finally stopped burning. His
truest legacy, the profound and limitless love for his wife and
children, lives on through their families, as they mourn his
passing, and celebrate the goodness, strength and grace that was
this wonderful husband, father, and grandfather.
Andy Gordon is survived by his wife of fifty-five years,
Nancy, of Seattle and Duxbury, The Reverend Elizabeth Gordon
Meade (Gary) of Geneva IL, Geoff Gordon (Kay) of Norwell, and Carol Gordon Stone (Malcolm) of Duxbury, MA, a half dozen
sad grandchildren (Andy & Alec Meade, Nate, Heidi & Ben
Gordon, and Abigail Stone), a brother, Donald, of Denver, CO and a few friends whom he did not
outlast. For over a
half century he showed his family how to live, and at the end,
together as a family, he showed them how to die.
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In
lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: Tenth Mountain Division
Foundation, Inc. /
133 South Van Gordon Street, Suite 200
/
Lakewood
,
CO
80228
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