When we moved into the neighborhood 50 years ago, the Chin family became our friends and neighbors. Every year Nancy, who I lost 4 years ago, and Gordon exchanged football emails about the Puppies and the Nuts. With  Washington and Ohio State both being highly ranked this year, I am certain that heavenly emails are being sent.

Having known Gordy for only a little over 10 years…though it seemed like we had been friends for many, many more years.  Our friendship grew as we enjoyed countless lunches, dinners, trips, cruises, vacations, concerts and mah jong together with Mabel, his family, and extended families and friends.  I have such fond memories of all our outings and get-togethers.  It was always fun, jovial and high-spirited.

While waiting for Mabel one day at the senior center, Gordy wanted to show me how to play Jenga as he had learned how to play it not long ago.  He was so enthralled in showing me and wanting me to play.  We played a few games, but I was not at all fascinated with it.  Of course with his humor and teasing, he couldn’t understand why I wasn’t mesmerized by the game as he was. 

Another special time I’ll always remember is when I was looking for a gown for my son’s wedding.  I had seen an ad for a local bridal shop, and I wasn’t quite sure where it was located so Mabel and Gordy kindly offered to accompany me to the store. Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything there.  A few days later I received an email from Gordy with a list of stores I may be interested in checking out.  He said coordinate with Mabel and they’ll take me.  It was indeed a surprise that he would take the time and effort to research something he probably had no interest in or knowledge of and was also willing to transport me around.  Truly a kind friend always being helpful.  

He was always so generous of his time and he would sign off his emails as the “Sage of Sterling” to me. Whenever I had a concern or question, he would share his wisdom or if he just wanted to share his knowledge of information with me.  I’m thankful I had the opportunity to have met such a caring, warm and gracious man. 

It's been a year since Gordy has left us.  He is deeply missed but I will forever cherish all the wonderful memories and feel blessed for our friendship.  We had so many good times together.

May you and your family’s hearts be filled with beautiful memories as you celebrate a life well lived.  

With heartfelt sympathy and love,

Ann  

We are sorry and sad to learn of Gordon’s recent passing.  He certainly lived a full, productive, and happy life.  Wish we had resided a little closer to each other to have gotten together socially more often.  Love to Mabel and the family.  

As a tribute to Gordon, the three stories below are being shared as examples of my fond memories of him. 

1.  In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Gordy and I used to religiously watch the Saturday afternoon matinees at Seattle’s Mount Baker Theater on South Jackson Street & 24th Avenue South.  The matinees always featured a movie, cartoon and cliffhanger serial, like our two favorites “Nyoka, the Jungle Girl” and “Ramar of the Jungle.”  Each week’s cliffhanger episode would end in a potential disaster/castastrophe for the “heroine/hero.”  Then the following Saturday’s show will reveal how they miraculously escape their near certain doom!  When we were young and energetic, we would meet at 16th Ave.S. & Jackson, he from Chinatown and me from the Central District; then we would walk up the 8 blocks to the theater.  

2.  In 1950-1951, Gordy and I earned easy “A"s as interpreters/translators in the 5th and 6th grades from our Teachers at Bailey Gatzert Elementary School.  (After the Chinese Civil War ended in the fall of mainland China in 1949 to the Chinese Communists, many Chinese fled to Hong Kong.)  The sudden surging influx of refugees overwhelmed the resources of Hong Kong.  To help alleviate the overflow problem, President Truman relaxed the immigration quota to allow more Chinese to come to America, many to Seattle.  Since there were no formal, organized English as a Second Language [ESL] Classes/Programs at that time, many 14-17 year old Chinese teenagers were placed in Seattle grade schools to learn English.  Most of these new teenagers to our school spoke the Toisanese dialect and were from the Toisan Region of Kwangtung (Guangdong) Province.  Luckily, Gordy and I could speak fairly fluent Toisanese, thanks to our parents and 4 years of Chong Wa Chinese School.  Voila—we were successful in making our teachers jobs easier and became the “teachers’ pets”!

3.  When Gordon’s new Think Tank job required a “Top Secret” clearance, he listed me as a personal character reference.  Gordy alerted me to the possibility of a FBI visit.  Sure enough, two FBI Agents knocked unannounced on the door of my parents’ house where I lived.  They asked me a wide range of personal, detailed questions about Gordon’s character, particularly his honesty, loyalty, allegiance, and moral standards.  To me, the FBI interview was smooth sailing and a piece of cake because I just had to tell them truthful, positive things about Gordon.  I had known him as an exemplary person and close friend since kindergarten; so, there was no need to lie, inflate or downplay any aspect of his life.  

Sincerely, 

Mel Chinn 

One of my dad’s goals in life was to have his children to grow up to be self-sufficient and be able to handle whatever life threw at them.  So, he taught me all of the things that dads usually teach their kids like how to swim, ride a bike, drive a car, change a flat tire, check the oil in my car, use chopsticks, drive in snow and rain, be financially responsible and so many, many other life skills.  I now appreciate all of his life lessons, though at the time, teenage me did not appreciate some of the lessons (the sliding while driving in snow lesson comes to mind). However, I am most grateful to my dad for teaching me to explore the world and try new things. His philosophy was that you should try as many things (foods, places, experiences) as possible because you may find something really awesome.  In my head I can still hear him saying “try it, you’ll like it”.  Though some things that we tried were not awesome (salted licorice, Chinese squat toilets, walking through a dark cave filled with bats), so many things that we tried were amazing (kayaking though bioluminescent water, walking over lava cracks on a volcano at night, watching the northern lights dance across the sky, watching the sunset over Waimea Bay, eating local dishes in many different countries). He spent many hours researching places and activities and creating binders of important information, places to visit and things to do while there. He was prepared for all scenarios (well, maybe not the Singapore incident).  Through all of our adventures and in life in general, I always knew that if something went badly, my dad would be there to get us out of trouble. 

In addition to giving me a great childhood filled with love, he also taught me to be silly and enjoy life. I will fondly remember my dad and me singing together in the car on road trips, eating ham and peanut butter sandwiches, making potato chip sandwiches, playing kickball in the middle of the street or badminton in the back yard with the neighbor kids, buying squirrel shaped things to tease my mom (she hates squirrels), cutting the center out of a cake because it might taste better than regular slices, and laughing after getting really lost while wandering around a foreign country looking for some obscure thing that I wanted to buy (some of these things were followed by a warning not to tell mom).  Once my dad told my sister and me that we could have anything we wanted from a jewelry store in Prague (he should have known better than to turn us loose in a jewelry store). When our jewelry was totaled and my dad was shown the bill he said “wow that’s a lot”. It was a fun day. My dad lived his life to the fullest and taught his kids to do the same.

I will miss so many things about my dad.  I know that we will be OK because he prepared us for whatever life sends us but it will be a lot less fun without him.

Love you dad.

Mick

So many stories to tell, and none can paint a full picture of you.  Despite being a dedicated provider who put in way too many hours at the job, he somehow managed to find time to teach me about growing up as a man-child.

The Sunday morning fishing trips, where it was mostly a worm drowning contest rather than actually catching fish, was a time for him and I to discuss manly-man things.  Things like what my goals in life were and how to work towards them, how to treat people, becoming a young man, and the dreaded topic of girls (and yes the usual uncomfortable sex conversations).

Athletics was another area where Dad was supportive.  From coaching my youth soccer team, despite the fact that he had absolutely no idea how to play soccer to supporting me in multiple other sports (most of which I was mediocre at).  But the biggest influence was the day I convinced him to sign me up for martial arts at a local studio.  He went back and forth with the owner for over 90 minutes, not haggling over price, but discussing whether or not the martial arts would be a good influence on his son and what would happen should I use my martial arts powers for evil.  Was this going to turn his son into a deadly machine of destruction?  No I did not, but I did end up breaking his glasses when showing him the latest move I learned in class.  

I will never forget how you helped me with school, specifically math.  I would come to you for help and you would take up to an hour reading the previous chapters in the math book to make sure you were teaching me the way the book wanted.  The summer when you tutored me in college math and found out that "wow my son actually isn't good at math".  As a statistician I don't think he ever understood how a son of his wasn't able to follow the basic concept that math has to be done in a specific order.  Only after many painful hours was he able to get me to squeak out a C+ in that course.

In one of the last conversations I had with him, I thanked him for being in my life as long as he was able.  It was important to me that he see what kind of father I had grown into under his teaching.  Because I can safely say I am a pretty good father, and much of it is from the lessons he taught me and led by example.
On to the next adventure Pops
Love You Always.
Bryan

Dad was a great provider and father and from memories of us attacking him (each daughter took a leg, and little brother was scooped up) when he came home every night, to helping with our Math homework, and those stern life "discussions" throughout the years, he prepared us in his own way for our lives in the world today.  My fondest topics are "you must drive through every type of weather for a year before you can get your driver's license" - which included a trip to a park that was more pothole than road, changing my own oil, pumping my own gas, changing wiper blades, and checking & changing a tire, "your mother is very upset you did not call before midnight to let us know you were going to be late" - which was pre-cell phone days and I forgot to bring change, and that  "safe sex college talk - always drive yourself, and have money for a phone call, and he will come down no matter when" - keeping in mind I was at a University that was 5 hours away.

It wasn't all stern lessons - the 2 of us had no common sense (so Mom kept telling us), and would diddle-bug around until we got what was needed done (2 hours to go to the store to pick up milk).  I helped him with home projects growing up, and there are so many things with his Kilroy doodle and my name on them hidden under paint jobs, where they can't be seen for the most part - who knew that windex on the station wagon roof would permanently burn the finish?  Dad encouraged our adventures and we had a lot of them.  I got my appreciation of nice drinks from my Dad and we have many shared discussions over "two fingers" - index and pinky finger sized drinks.  From sharing my first JW Blue shots at Walt Disney World, to my Crown Royal XR you gave me for my 50th birthday - we always have a comfort bottle at each other's homes.  

We shared an "AHA" moment when I was introducing my Dad at a Global PMI function and he fit right in with my colleagues. Somehow I ended up following in my father's footsteps (although they called him a proposal manager back then) - but he was indeed a Project Manager.

Sharing bad diet choices like mini fruity marshmallows and chicharrons with pepper jack cheese and beer during the last 4 Commanders (Redskins) winning games, and the explicit daily instructions you gave to me for mom's birthday when you came home into hospice are my most recent partner-in-crime memories.  Daddy-O I will miss you forever.
Love - Scoobs.