John Gordon
May 19, 1921 — August 22, 2016
John Gordon
On the morning of Aug. 22, John passed away at his home in Middleburgh after a short illness. He was 95 years old.
Born on May 19, 1921, he was the first child of John Hamlin Gordon and Mary Avery Worth Gordon of Garden City and Rensselaerville, N.Y.
John attended Salisbury Preparatory School in Connecticut and traded in his train ticket to Yale to enlist in the Canadian Infantry in 1940. When America joined World War II, he was transferred to the United States Army Air Force, where he served as a navigator on C-47 planes, flying "The Hump" over the Himalayan Mountains in Burma. He earned a United States Air Medal and a Distinguished Flying Cross.
Upon returning stateside after the war, John attended Cornell University, where he met and married his first wife, Muriel MacHaffie Gordon in 1946, and graduated in 1947. He later earned a master's in economics at the University at Albany in 1968.
In addition to teaching, John was an award-winning author, firefighter, family man and farmer. He purchased a ridgeline farm in 1946, on which he raised sheep, cows, horses and dogs for 70 years. An avid storyteller, John loved spending time at his typewriter, and wrote three novels, in addition to a number of short stories. Most importantly, he began raising his family in 1947.
He was preceded in death by his parents, and his first wife, as well as his daughter-in-law, Mary Ellen Murphy Gordon.
He is survived by his wife, Jean Prutton Kipniss of Middleburgh; his children, Muriel Gordon Frasher of Rensselaerville, John Hamlin (Deborah) Gordon of Medusa, Alexander Edwards Gordon of Knox, Pamela Gordon (Jeff) Christensen of Middleburgh; his grandchildren, Paul Worth (Stacey) Gordon of Ravena, Sarah Avery Gordon of Rennselaerville, Margaret Elizabeth Gordon, of Houston, Texas, and Alexander Melville (Tara) Gordon of Saratoga; great-grandchildren Abigail Violet Gordon, Ellen Elizabeth Brand and Vera Elizabeth Gordon; his sister Katherine Gordon Ridgway of Cornwall, Conn.; his nephew Gordon MacDonnell Ridgway, of Cornwall, Conn., and his niece Avery Ridgway Chase, of Boylston, Mass.
The family will host a time of visitation at Palmer & Shaylor Funeral Home, 134 River St. Middleburgh from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 25.
Born on May 19, 1921, he was the first child of John Hamlin Gordon and Mary Avery Worth Gordon of Garden City and Rensselaerville, N.Y.
John attended Salisbury Preparatory School in Connecticut and traded in his train ticket to Yale to enlist in the Canadian Infantry in 1940. When America joined World War II, he was transferred to the United States Army Air Force, where he served as a navigator on C-47 planes, flying "The Hump" over the Himalayan Mountains in Burma. He earned a United States Air Medal and a Distinguished Flying Cross.
Upon returning stateside after the war, John attended Cornell University, where he met and married his first wife, Muriel MacHaffie Gordon in 1946, and graduated in 1947. He later earned a master's in economics at the University at Albany in 1968.
In addition to teaching, John was an award-winning author, firefighter, family man and farmer. He purchased a ridgeline farm in 1946, on which he raised sheep, cows, horses and dogs for 70 years. An avid storyteller, John loved spending time at his typewriter, and wrote three novels, in addition to a number of short stories. Most importantly, he began raising his family in 1947.
He was preceded in death by his parents, and his first wife, as well as his daughter-in-law, Mary Ellen Murphy Gordon.
He is survived by his wife, Jean Prutton Kipniss of Middleburgh; his children, Muriel Gordon Frasher of Rensselaerville, John Hamlin (Deborah) Gordon of Medusa, Alexander Edwards Gordon of Knox, Pamela Gordon (Jeff) Christensen of Middleburgh; his grandchildren, Paul Worth (Stacey) Gordon of Ravena, Sarah Avery Gordon of Rennselaerville, Margaret Elizabeth Gordon, of Houston, Texas, and Alexander Melville (Tara) Gordon of Saratoga; great-grandchildren Abigail Violet Gordon, Ellen Elizabeth Brand and Vera Elizabeth Gordon; his sister Katherine Gordon Ridgway of Cornwall, Conn.; his nephew Gordon MacDonnell Ridgway, of Cornwall, Conn., and his niece Avery Ridgway Chase, of Boylston, Mass.
The family will host a time of visitation at Palmer & Shaylor Funeral Home, 134 River St. Middleburgh from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 25.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of John Gordon, please visit our flower store.
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