100 and counting
Frank Gordon doesn’t know what all of the fuss is about, preferring, he said, to “save this for the obituary.”
But the South Strabane Township resident deserves a little attention. After all, he will turn 100 years old on Thursday, and his health, quick wit and sense of humor are as strong as ever.
Plus, he just renewed his driver’s license – for five more years. But he drives only to run errands and to attend doctor and dentist appointments.
“I feel fine,” he said. “I’m happy to just sit here and watch TV.”
He owes his longevity, he said, to his family.
“I’ve not done anything to be 100, except I’ve had good care all my life,” he said as he glanced at 97-year-old Edna Gordon, his wife of 72 years. “Our three boys take care of us and make it possible for us to live independently. We’ve got it made. We’re very lucky.”
Frank Edward Gordon was born in Washington on Feb. 19, 1915, the only son and eldest of Jay Henry and Elsa McWilliams Gordon’s three children.
He was raised in the 400 block of Jefferson Avenue in what he said “once was one of the nicest neighborhoods in town.”
As a youngster, he remembers the parade held in honor of the Washington & Jefferson College football team when it played in the Rose Bowl in 1922. W&J and the University of California played to a 0-0 tie, with W&J quarterback Charlie “Pruner” West being the first African-American to play in the Rose Bowl.
Gordon said the game was “shown” on a board in front of the Observer-Reporter, with “dots” representing the players as they ran up and down the field.
He also said Washington was a hopping place when he was growing up, with multiple movies theaters downtown and an “amusement park” of sorts where Frankie I’s Bar & Grille is located on Route 19. The site featured a merry-go-round, roller-coaster and dance floor. Gordon later played trumpet in a dance band there, and he recalls comedian Red Skelton performing there as well.
Gordon graduated in January 1933 from Washington High School as class president and enrolled at W&J.
It was during the Depression, and Gordon recalls how families, including his own, “had a hard time getting by.” To help his family, Gordon worked in the machine parts division building molds at Hazel Atlas Glass Co., which later was acquired by Brockway Glass Co., and the college bookstore when he attended W&J. He graduated from W&J in 1936 with a degree in business administration, and continued to work at Hazel Atlas until his employment was interrupted by World War II.
It was during this time that Frank first noticed Edna at a cotillion, but he didn’t meet her until a few years later when she was working in a department store in downtown Washington and a mutual friend introduced them.
“I think I did,” said Frank, when asked if he made the right choice. “She didn’t,” he laughed.
The war “pushed” the couple to get married, Gordon said, noting the couple wanted to marry “before I went overseas.” They married and moved to El Paso, Texas, where he was stationed.
Gordon served as an Army captain as a member of the Cannon Company, 255th Infantry Regiment, 63rd Infantry Division in Central Europe during WWII, spending the last year of the war in Berlin.
“I learned some German, but I didn’t speak enough German to do any good,” he said. “I got down to Hitler’s bunker. It was dark as hell. I couldn’t see anything.”
After the war, the couple returned to Washington, where they raised three sons, Jay, Gary and Terry. They also have two granddaughters, Kaitron, who lives in Nashville, Tenn., and Allison of Washington. A grandson, Evan, is deceased.
Gordon has nothing special planned for his birthday, and his only wish is to eat Chinese food for dinner.
When he’s not watching television, Gordon likes to read and surf the Internet.
“I don’t keep track of time anymore,” he said.