Alexander Dorward Gordon

1904 - 1996  (92 years)

• Name	Alexander Dorward Gordon
  Born	19 Feb 1904	Hazardville, Hartford Co., CT
  Gender	Male
  Died	28 Dec 1996	Tucson, Pima Co., AZ
  Notes	(b. 19 Feb 1904, Hazardville, Connecticut), (d. 28 Dec 1996, Tucson, Arizona), MAG has a copy of his birth certificate and his death certificate. Alexander Gordon grew up in Hazardville (CT).  Because his father regretted not being accepted at Yale, Alec was sent to the Fessenden School in ? Newton (MA) and then to Phillips Academy (Andover, MA).  He went to Yale where he majored in history.  He had a difficult time with school, never obtaining a high school diploma.  He toured Europe in 1928 with the Yale Glee Club and was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity -- which his father inaugurated at Yale. Upon graduation in 1928, he worked in the securities business along with 70% of his college class.  Losing his job in the 1929 stockmarket crash, he worked for his father in Hazardville as a chauffer for a while.  On the death of his father in 1938, he and his brother John Gordon took over the "pilot" wool carbonizing business devised and patented by his father.  This technique for removing vegetable material from wool by exposing the wool to HCl acid was superceded by a better technique of giant crush rollers developed by American Woolen Co. in Shawsheen Village (MA), thereby obviating the carbonizing technique.  John and Alec dissolved the business in the early 1950s, when Alex re-entered the securities business at Tifft Brothers (Springfield MA) and later with Henry G. Robinson in Hartford (CT). In 1956, he moved from Hazardville (CT) to Somers (CT).  After the death of his wife in 1984, he moved to Tucson (AZ) in 1985.  He suffered a mild stroke in 1985 that left him aphasic. As his son, MAG was impressed by his tenacity.  To pay Andover's tuition bills, he worked as a stockbroker by day and a janitor by night.  When the family fortunes improved, he paid Yale back for my 4-year scholarship. He died in his sleep in Tucson at 10 PM on 28 December, 1996, at Tucson Mountain Home, 3730 E. Calle Barcelona, Tucson.  Burial was in lot 157, grave 7, section A in the New Cemetery, Hazardville, CT, on 2 January 1997.
  Person ID	I56485	Stedman/Steadman/Steedman Families of the New World
  Last Modified	7 Jan 2006

  
  

  Father	Howard David Gordon,   b. 28 Sep 1870, Hazardville, Hartford Co., CT ,   d. 20 Mar 1938, Hazardville, Hartford Co., CT  (Age 67 years)
  Mother	Hattie Gertrude Kelsey,   b. 10 Nov 1869, Castana - Turin, Monona Co., IA ,   d. 13 Dec 1955, Hazardville, Hartford Co., CT  (Age 86 years)
  Married	2 Oct 1895	Congregational Church - West Roxbury, Suffolk Co., MA
  Family ID	F20842	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Josephine Pease Aitken,   b. 24 Jan 1902, Springfield, Hampden Co., MA ,   d. 12 Jul 1984, Manchester, Hartford Co., CT  (Age 82 years)
  Married	13 Jun 1936	Springfield, Hampden Co., MA
  Children	1. Mark Aitken Gordon   2. Howard Dorward Gordon
  Last Modified	7 Jan 2006
  Family ID	F20844	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map

  Married - 13 Jun 1936 - Springfield, Hampden Co., MA Died - 28 Dec 1996 - Tucson, Pima Co., AZ  = Link to Google Earth