SPEAKER

 

 

Born in Aberdeen, his mother’s birthplace, Gordon moved to Glasgow where he grew up and achieved his lovely accent, even though he still can’t tell an American from a Canadian accent.  He started working in the Savings Bank of Glasgow (which no longer exists, not Gordon’s fault).  Wanting a change, he became a teacher of music and piano.  He was the substitute teacher for a lovely blond lady named Sylvia, he sat down beside her at the piano and, as she played better than he did, he immediately invited her for a drink and their story began.  Sylvia was also a teacher when they married, so he applied for a job in London, got it, and doubled his salary.  They lived in a caravan in London for a year, where he had a job with the English Electric Leo Marconi company, subsequently taken over by ICL, (International Computers Ltd.), in a new world of computers, in the late 1960s, and Gordon became a lecturer in computer programming.  He always wanted to go back to Scotland so they moved to Edinburgh for a marketing and trading job, lived in a nice house where his son, Ian, was born, (he’s a Scot as well, but the grandkids were born in Canada).  Gordon was so successful that he was offered a nice package for Copenhagen and looked after the north of Europe for ICL. After 3 years he was so successful, that he came back to London to train the European people, but there was a quantum shift in computing, and personal computers appeared on the scene.  He began training in personal computers, after self-teaching himself about them, and went to exhibitions in Europe and the UK, clueless but confident.  Exciting times, as computers were in full colour, not just green on black.  During Expo 86 in Vancouver visited Sylvia’s sister in Calgary and drove over the Rockies to Vancouver.  It was so fabulous and on a hike to Grouse Mountain, they came down to see an ‘open house’ in North Vancouver, found it gorgeous and learned they could buy two houses for the price of the house in London, so they bought one and came to Canada.  They applied for visas, and both filled in forms, but Sylvia discovered they weren’t interested in her and was duly insulted.  Gordon had been in the Round Table of Britain and Ireland, so looked for a similar club in Vancouver and found the Rotary Club of North Vancouver.  It was the anniversary of the first Capilano River Duck Race, and Gordon was involved in the PR for that, and amazingly one of the prizes was a flight from New York to London on the Concord, an Orient Express trip to Venice and first class back from Venice to Vancouver, so it was easily marketable, and Gordon became famous on the North Shore because of that. 

This was his first taste of Rotary, but it took another 12 years to understand what Rotary is really all about. 

Then he tried to get a job, but ICL was in Europe, a big corporation, and was famous there but that didn’t cut it in Vancouver.  So, he got a job with Motorola in Richmond, as European marketing manager.  It was taken over and he was going to be moved to Chicago, so he said goodbye to Motorola.  One of the North Van Rotarians was a manager for IBM and they needed a token Scotsman so he got that job and stayed with them for 19 years.  In the meantime, he got divorced, which was bittersweet, as they stayed good friends, sold the house in North Van and Gordon went to Steveston, and transferred to The Rotary Club of Richmond AM.  He loves realtors who told him the big field between his condo and the river would never be built up.  In 2002, when the incoming president’s husband died, Gordon was next in line for president of our Rotary.  He suddenly realized how much he already knew about Rotary once he sat in the president’s chair and became our oracle.  In 2009 it was suggested he become District Governor, and, even though he still had a full-time job, he put in an application, was interviewed and found out that they, too, wanted a token Scotsman.  It was a fantastic experience, visiting other clubs, talking to 100s of Rotarians, understanding what Rotary International is all about, going to conventions and meetings, connecting with people all over the world.  As DG he appreciated what Rotary can really do.  Then he joined the finance and governance committees and now knows everything about how Rotary works in this district.  He retired from both committees this year, as he has been doing them for 8 years.  In the last few years there were lots of district conferences, he attended international conventions, in Montreal and Lisbon and suggests we go to Calgary next year as there are incredible people and speakers.  He spent lots of time in Mexico, when Sylvia retired and moved to Lake Chapala, but about 4 years after she moved there, she sadly passed away.  He did some projects with the local people in Ajijic.  They sold the house in Mexico and Gordon thankfully came back to Steveston. 

 

1. What kind of race is never run?
   A swimming race.
2. Where do ghosts like to go swimming?
   Lake Eerie.
3. What did Cinderella wear on her feet while swimming?
   Glass flippers.
4. How do pirates measure the distance they swim?
   In Yarrrrrrrrrds.
5. Where do zombies like to go swimming?
   The Dead Sea.
6. Did you hear about the slow swimmer?
   He could only do the crawl.