Shirley Gordon playing cards with extra-large type because she has lost a lot of her vision. She turned 103 in January.
A Christmas card from the Gordons from St. Thomas' Mission in Point Hope. Daughter Paneen was also named Shirley, but has gone by Paneen, the Iñupiaq word for "girl," since she was a baby.
Shirley Gordon, wife, mother and Episcopal missionary, is full of wry humor. She lives in a condo in Fairbanks.
Editor's Note: National Centenarian's Day is Sept. 22. The day honors those who've celebrated 100 birthdays or more. We're publishing profiles of people who have hit this milestone. The Alaska Commission on Aging is working with the Governor's Office, Pioneer Homes and Long Term Care Ombudsman to celebrate Alaska's centenarians. This interview was made possible thanks to the Alaska Commission on Aging.
Forgive Shirley Gordon if she doesn't tell you she's fine if you ask.
"All my life people have asked, "How are you? And you're supposed to say, 'Fine. How are you?' I could never do that. I could say I'm fine, but I'd be lying."
Shirley is a direct, wry woman who has made Alaska her home for most of the last 83 years.
Now 103, Shirley recalls her life fondly, even if she downplays the role she had as an Episcopal missionary in Point Hope, and the civic contributions she made to her community throughout her time in the state.
Shirley, who was born in Eugene, Oregon, was raised in Washington state across the Columbia River. She wanted to go to the University of Oregon. But as an out-of-state resident, tuition was more than her family could bear. At age 20, she got a job with the Army Corps of Engineers in Alaska. She and a friend took the SS Yukon, operated by the Alaska Steamship Co., from Seattle to Seward for the job.
"Before we left the dock, we met a man who had come from North Carolina. He had just graduated from the seminary," she said. He introduced himself to all the girls on the ship, and Shirley was one of them. "We got well acquainted in the 10 or 11 days it took us to get to Seward," she said.
Shirley was raised a Christian, but when she got to high school, her denomination told her that dancing was a sin. "So I said goodbye."
When she met Bill Gordon, Shirley knew little about the Episcopal church. But she was willing to learn.
Soon after getting to Seward, Bill was asked if he was willing to go to Point Hope to spend his three years of service. "When he asked me what I thought about that. I said, 'Not without me.' I proposed to him. I was 20."
They married in Seward in the middle of World War II, which kept most people from being able to enter the Territory of Alaska. Fortunately, Shirley's father, who had served in World War I and re-enlisted and was serving in Juneau at the time, was able to attend.
Soon after, the young couple went to Point Hope. The bishop was happy to get another person to work, and suddenly, Bill and Shirley Gordon were both Episcopal missionaries in one of the most remote areas of the church's reach.
"We loved Point Hope," Shirley said. "We loved the people." They planned to spend the rest of their lives there.
Bill Gordon logged thousands of miles traveling by dog team along the Arctic Coast. For her part, Shirley had two children in the Point Hope days, though they were both born in Longview, Washington, where her mother lived.
"They are Alaskans," she said of her children who were born out of state. "They have never forgiven me" for having them in Washington.
Then, in 1948, Bill was selected to be the Episcopal bishop of Alaska-from Point Hope to Ketchikan.
"He said, 'I can't do that.' I said to him, 'Bill, we prayed to God that he would choose the right man for the job. Are you going to tell God he made a mistake?'"
But to do the job, the couple and their young children-they had four in all-moved, first to Nenana and then to Fairbanks.
It was there that Bill bought a small airplane. He began flying to villages and earned the moniker "the flying bishop."
The Gordons lived in Fairbanks for 26 years, first on the edge of town by the airstrip. As the town grew, they were no longer on the outskirts. In these years, Shirley hosted hundreds of people-new clergy, missionaries, women traveling between village and city-providing a sense of home for a few days or few weeks.
Bishop Gordon left Alaska in 1974 in order to for a new bishop to be elected to what was now a diocese and not a territorial outpost. He wanted someone new to take the reins, so he and Shirley left the state to let the new bishop establish himself.
Bill offered himself up as an assistant bishop to different communities, and the Gordons landed in Michigan. For the next 20 years, they lived there, away from the state that had launched them as a couple and family.
When Bill Gordon died in 1994 of prostate cancer, Shirley moved back to Fairbanks. Her surviving children and daughter-in-law either live nearby or come visit. She also has grandchildren in the area.
Shirley has lost a lot of her vision in recent years and she doesn't drive, but she but thinks 104 and beyond is within reach. She has a granddaughter will be turning 52-half her age-next year. It's a goal to celebrate their birthdays together.
