Gloria E. Gordon
November 11, 1926 - August 27, 2018
Gloria E. Gordon passed peacefully from this life to be at home with her Savior on August 27, at the age of 91. Born Gloria Moser in Concrete, Washington, she moved with her parents to California as a baby. Later they moved to Langley, WA on Whidbey Island, and finally to Stanwood, WA where she graduated from high school. After graduation, while working at Bargreens, thoughts about college and the interesting opportunities offered became a reality and she enrolled at the University of Washington. Because it was wartime and many young men were off to the battlefields, Gloria and some of the young women were housed in fraternities (minus the guys). And because UW had the Navy V-12 program as well as ROTC, those young men were house in the women’s dorms. (Don’t try to figure out that reasoning!)
Gloria became friends with a young woman in the frat house, Dorothy Walker of Twin Falls, Idaho, who introduced her to a handsome young friend from Twin Falls, Lyle Gordon. Rather than being drafted, Lyle chose the Navy program, allowing him to enroll at UW and enter the engineering program. The dating mores in the early 1940’s were not like anything of today, especially if one was in the Navy V-12/NROTC program as Lyle was. He and Gloria were seen holding hands while walking on the campus. Lyle received demerits for showing undue affection in public and was restricted on campus for a weekend. The punishment didn’t dampen his ardor, and Lyle and Gloria married on September 7, 1946, in the Stanwood Methodist Church. Gloria then began her PHTC degree (Put Husband Through College), which included typing Lyle’s doctoral thesis several years later in 1962 – perfectly, with no mistakes or erasures allowed, on a manual Underwood typewriter – while tending her 3 small children.
Gloria and Lyle moved from Seattle to Everett in the early 1950s, where they had 3 children: Robert “Bob” of Everett, Gail (husband Dan) Dougherty of Portland OR, and John (wife Michelle) of Everett. Before her first child was born, Gloria left General Insurance Company to be a full-time mother and homemaker, a role she relished and did superbly. She was a fabulous cook and baker, frequently using home-grown fruits and vegetables from her well-tended garden. Her sewing excellence was well known – she had a keen eye for color and style and was highly skilled with a sewing machine, needle, and thread. Her creativity extended to many artistic endeavors – needlework, painting on canvas as well as fabric, quilting, card making, whatever peaked her interest at the time. Gloria’s green thumb was also well known. Her yard reflected her love of flowers, greenery, and coaxing plants to grow and thrive.
Gloria’s children could always count on her to be in the stands or the audience for their many sports activities, recitals, and events. She supported and encouraged their academic and extra-curricular activities and achievements. While they were in school, she was active in the PTA and faithfully served on committees.
Gloria had a servant’s heart. She used her love-language of “doing things for others” not just for her family, but for her church community as well. She and Lyle joined First Baptist Church when they first came to Everett. Gloria was a deaconess, sang in the choir, served as Circle chair, and shared her gifts of sewing and cooking in many ways: making robes for the children and youth choirs, White Cross work and innumerable other seamstress jobs. She also spent many hours in the kitchen cooking for various functions as well as baking many dozens of cookies for the Friday Night Ministry, weddings and funerals and other occasions. She taught Sunday school classes, and after her own children were grown and gone, helped with the after-school tutoring program.
While Gloria was a dynamic “domestic engineer”, she had a broad view to the world, teaching her kids that we’re all humans and that while we grow up in different parts of the world with different cultures, religions and economics, we’re still basically the same inside. She loved to travel and explore different places, and it was a consistent part of her life. She and Lyle took a second honeymoon in 1950, a 3-month road trip, starting in Detroit with their newly purchased Plymouth, visiting landmarks and family in the east and south, mid-west and California on the way back to Everett. Since then they’ve visited 49 of the 50 states, including Hawaii and a couple cruises to Alaska. Gloria and Lyle visited Russia, Hungary, and Italy in the 1970s. They participated in a mission trip to Mexico and Costa Rica. They walked on the Great Wall of China and took one of the last cruises down the Yangtze River before the new dam was built. They visited Australia and New Zealand twice…
Gloria’s family grew to include 6 grandchildren. From son Bob: Kate (Nabil) Sawiris and Michael Gordon; from son John: Hollis Gordon and Kindall Gordon, all of Everett. From daughter Gail: Brian Block and Jeff Block of Portland, OR. In 2014 came great-grandson Michael “Misho” Sawiris followed in 2017 by great-granddaughter Genevieve Gloria “G.G.” Sawiris of Everett.
Gloria will be greatly missed by her loving husband and family and by all who knew her. They are consoled by knowing that she is at peace in a better place, singing with the angels.
FUNERAL INFORMATION
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, September 15, 2018, at 2:00
First Baptist Church, 1616 Pacific Avenue, Everett, WA