WESTFIELD – Gordon (Gordie) Joseph Smith left our world on Wednesday, December 5, 2012. Gordon was born on May 5, 1926, the seventh child of the late Raymond S. and Mary (Murphy) Smith.
Gordon was a graduate of Westfield High School in 1945. He was drafted into the Army in 1944. In March of 1945 he was sent overseas with Patton’s 10th Armored Division and was part of the last fighting in Germany before V.E. Day, in May 1945. After his discharge in 1946, he returned to Westfield and enrolled in the Boston School of Anatomy and Embalming. Jobs were scarce and he was driving taxi cabs for the former M&M Cab Company until 1949 when he started working in the stock room at the H. B. Smith Co. until he retired as Vice President of Purchasing in 1989. Gordon joined Mt. Moriah lodge of Masons in 1950 and served as Worshipful Master in 1961-1962. In 1971, he joined All Scottish Rite Bodies and Melha Shrine and in 1981 was appointed an officer. He served as Potentate in 1988. During those years he was a member of the Melha Mounted Patrol, serving as Captain for 3 years. Gordon was a member of the Legion of Honor and an honorary member of Melha Clowns and Melha’s Shrine clubs.
In 1948, he married his childhood friend, Doris Louise Kilb with whom he celebrated their 64th Anniversary in 2012. In 2004, they sold their home on Atwater Street in Westfield and the “Home of their Retirement Dreams” at Norwich Lake in Huntington, before moving to Quail Run Estates in Agawam.
Gordon is survived by his wife, Doris; and his brother, Leonard Smith and his wife Mary (Cleary) of North Adams. He was predeceased by his parents and sister, Margaret Bandzul and her husband George; sister, Florence Tuller and her husband Ed; brother, Raymond C. Smith and his wife Gerda (Pearson); brother, J. Dennison Smith and his first wife Marcelle (Leveraux); brother (and skiing partner) Calvin F. Smith and his wife Germaine (Leveraux) and HIS HORSE, BRANDY. Besides skiing, Gordon enjoyed golf, boating and kayaking on Norwich Lake.
The funeral will be Sunday, December 9th, at 2:00 p.m. at the Firtion-Adams Funeral Service, 76 Broad Street in Westfield. Calling hours will precede the service at the funeral home on Sunday from 12:00-2:00 p.m. Burial with military honors will be in the Massachusetts Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery in Agawam at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 11th.
Gordon requested that donations be made in his memory, to Shriner’s Hospital for Children, 516 Carew Street, Springfield, MA 01104.
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