Robert D. Gordon, 72, a former Baker City resident, died June 20, 2005, at his home in Sheridan.
His memorial service will be Thursday at Sheridan. His ashes will be scattered at Sparta.
Bob was born on June 11, 1933, at Sunnyside, Wash., to Harry and Elizabeth Stuber Gordon. When he was 2, the family moved to Richland. When Bob was 6 they moved to Sparta. At the age of 8, Bob helped in the haying. He drove a team of horses, mowed hay and used a buck rake to move hay to the stock yard.
He and his sister, Fern, rode horses five miles to school each day, sometimes through 4 to 5 feet of snow. These were very dear times for Bob.
He was a 1951 Baker High School graduate. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in January 1952 and served at Pusan, Korea, until February 1954. He was honorably discharged and settled in Pendleton to pursue the tire business he had learned while working at Lew Bros. during his high school days.
He moved to the Willamette Valley in 1970 and continued the tire business. After he retired in 2002, he started cutting firewood and selling it on the coast to allow him to spend time in the mountains that he loved so much. He had to give this up three weeks ago when he was diagnosed with cancer.
Survivors include his wife, Barbara; his stepdaughter, Shelly Cameron of Sheridan; his daughter and son-in-law, Jodi and Tracy Haff of Cheyenne, Wyo.; his son, Robert John, who is serving in Iraq with the U.S. Army, and his wife, Serina; his daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth and Damian Grimalde of Winder, Ga.; a brother and sister-in-law, Walter and Cleo of Midvale, Idaho; sister and brother-in-law, Fern and Bob Taylor of Sumpter; niece, Teresa Vaughan of Baker City; uncle, Sanford Stuber of Mount Vernon, Wash.; nine grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and numerous cousins and nieces and nephews.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, June 27, 2005
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor