Obituary of Gordon Charles Hill

“Sometimes you bite the bear, and sometimes the bear bites you.” --Gordon Charles Hill Gordon drew his last breath on September 20, 2019, after many years struggling with Alzheimer’s disease. A celebration of his life will be held on Sunday, October 6, 2019, at 1pm, at the Seminole Estates Clubhouse, located at 100 SW 195th Avenue in Beaverton, Oregon. His family observes that Alzheimer’s is a bitch; we would not wish it on our worst enemy. In lieu of flowers, we encourage your donations in his memory to the Alzheimer’s Association. His parents, Charles Sheldon Hill of North Dakota and Jean Laberta (Shirey) of Iowa, brought Gordon into this world on May 2, 1942, in Seattle. Gordon lived with his mother following his parents’ divorce in 1944. Difficult years—and an early sign of Gordon’s signature bullheaded independence—led to Gordon walking out of his childhood home at age 14 and walking across the city of Seattle to his father’s house. From then, Gordon lived with his father through his graduation from Roosevelt High School in 1960. After high school, Gordon followed his namesake uncle, Gordon Shirey, into the Merchant Marines, working on a tugboat in Alaska and cargo ships that took him to many ports of call across the Pacific and, via the Panama Canal, the Atlantic. Gordon traded in the sailor’s life to attend Oregon State University, where he met his future wife, Judy Rae Fulton. Gordon and Judy married on September 6, 1964, at the First Congregational Church in Hillsboro, lived in a tiny apartment, and treated themselves on Friday nights to five cent ice cream cones for Judy and five cent cigars for Gordon. They graduated together from OSU in June 1966. The Vietnam War intervened and took Gordon, once again, across the Pacific. In September 1966, Gordon was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. He was four months into his one year tour of duty with the 903rd Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron when Judy gave birth to their first child, Kristine Jo, in August 1968. Gordon was honorably discharged in September 1970, having achieved the rank of Captain and earning the Commendation Medal for his service in Vietnam. Gordon and Judy had their second child, Sharon Ann, while living again in Seattle, and soon after made their way to Hillsboro, Oregon, where Gordon eventually settled into a 28 year career with Senco Fastening Systems. Over the years, Gordon built two houses for his family. He taught his daughters how to fish, shoot a rifle, build a fire, play cribbage, sail a boat, and work hard. He was known to speak in wistful tones of the open sea, a tot of rum, and a cigar. In actuality, he swore off alcohol in his 50s, but he drank coffee by the gallon. He took up sailing and thereafter always owned a boat and a plan for a trip on the water. Beginning with granddaughter Emily in 1995, Gordon embraced being a grandfather. Once, while doting on Emily in her toddler years, Gordon announced, in characteristic tactlessness, to his younger daughter that she and her sister “were never as cute” as his first grandchild. More joy followed when grandsons David, Ben, and Ian arrived in 1999, 2005, and 2007, respectively. Whether forged by his early childhood or his experience in a combat zone, or some unknown origin, Gordon was renowned for his stubborn belief that he was right and only a fool would disagree with him. He clung to the correctness of his opinion despite the humbling lessons that inevitably come from being married. In his 55 years of marriage with Judy, he lost every bet they ever entered into and paid dearly over the years with the purchases of several new, state-of-the-art sewing machines. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that a measure of success in life is to “win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children…”. We can attest that Gordon managed to do both in abundance, and he is greatly missed. In addition to his wife, Gordon is survived by his daughters, Kristine Jo Hill (George Garcia), Sharon Ann Reese (David Reese); grandchildren Emily Ann Nicole Hill, David Cyrus Parker Garcia, Benjamin Charles Reese, and Ian Joseph Reese; half-sisters Vera Peterson and Victoria Grogan; and his half-brother, William Martin.Gordon’s ashes will be interred with military honors at Willamette National Cemetery.