North Woodstock, n.h. — Ask a friend, family member or coworker regarding Upper Valley native Melissa Gordon, and a certain adjective keeps popping up.
“She was rather caring,” her longtime friend Linda Bartlett said. That was especially evident from her occupation choice — working along with people along with special needs, “however she was that means along with everything, always placing everyone else prior to her.”
Born to Mary and Arthur Quimby, Melissa Quimby was the fourth of 5 children.
“Missy,” as she was known to family and friends, grew up in Enfield. A 1979 Mascoma Valley Regional Higher School graduate, she studied for a year at Keene State College. however she found her calling as quickly as she joined United Developmental Services in Lebanon, which in 2006 merged along with an additional agency to form PathWays of the River Valley, where Gordon would certainly job until her death from a rare cancer at age 53.
Over the years, her jobs ranged from direct service to case management to a supervisory role. as quickly as she became sick, PathWays teamed up along with her to make a new, a lot more flexible role along with duties she could attend to on her good days. however one aspect of her job never changed.
Her clients “were her family,” her mother, now Mary O’Day, said, tearing up. “She was rather dedicated. She loved them.”
By all accounts, the feeling was mutual.
Gordon met David Brown long prior to she became his case manager. Brown’s family owned a store in Enfield, and Gordon often stopped in after school to buy a snack. There, she’d bump in to David, that liked to talk along with customers.
“David was the type of kid that would certainly hit, however he always got along along with her,” said Sylvia Tinkham, Brown’s mother and guardian. “He used to call her his ‘honey.’ ”
Later, as quickly as Gordon was working along with Brown, she’d drive to his group estate and take him or her out to do his favorite points — consume at McDonald’s, visit the airport or watch trucks at various job sites.
“It was all attempting to please him, because if you didn’t please him, he’d get hold of upset,” said Tinkham, that would certainly often ride along along with Gordon to visit him.
Easygoing and soft-spoken, Gordon was a calming influence on Brown, that enjoyed her company, all of which meant a wonderful deal to Tinkham. “I felt a lot more secure that David was along with a person that cared.”
In 2015, Gordon was PathWays’ employee of the year. In their nominations, coworkers described her as a fierce advocate for people along with disabilities and their families.
“It was clear along with her exactly what came first, and it was the people we serve,” said Mark Mills, Pathways CEO. “She would certainly advocate as hard as anybody I’d ever seen to guarantee they get hold of exactly what they need.”
That could be anything from a particular meal, to medical care to a adjustment in services so a person could move forward along with their dreams and goals, he said. And somehow, she managed to be persistent and persuasive, fierce and forceful, all in a rather polite way.
“She was great,” he said. “You couldn’t tips however love her.”
Charylene Hoage, a family services coordinator, worked closely along with Gordon for 26 years, including at a estate in Lyme for people requiring round-the-clock care for their medical issues.
“She was the most compassionate and considerate person,” Hoage said. The folks were “very, rather vital to her.”
Gordon was a good listener and problem solver, and as quickly as challenges arose, they tackled them together, Hoage said. “She always knew as quickly as to send you that little note that says, ‘Continue going.’ ”
Not lots of people remain in their field as long as the two women, however to Hoage, there’s no mystery.
“as quickly as you are helping somebody, you can’t simply leave them. It’s not like placing points together, and as quickly as the bell goes off you go home,” she said. “The points that we tips people to do, it’s their whole life, and for some of them their lives depend on us, very literally, so those little successes of people reaching their goals, they are exactly what keeps us here.”
Gordon worked hard, giving much more compared to was required, her family said.
“Her whole life was based about it,” and she enjoyed it greatly, said her son, Noel Eastman IV. She “put a lot of heart in to it.”
And she brought that same love, compassion and dedication to her personal relationships.
“Melissa was kind of like the core of our family. She planned all the events … She never forgot a birthday,” her sister Mary Jane Dobbs said. “It’s a huge void.”
When Gordon wasn’t working, she was doing something for her family, said Eastman, 22. “every little thing she did about here was simply for us. She rubbed off on us the right means as a parent.”
Growing up, her daughter, Portia Eastman, played soccer, and Noel snowboarded. Ever encouraging, Gordon was a fixture at their sporting events.
“I was the most effective in her mind, whether I sucked or not,” Noel said. And over and over, her support helped him or her through sturdy times.
“She’s always been my phone call as quickly as something’s going on,” he said. “She basically always kept me in a good mindset. A lot of sturdy points happened, and she’d always tell me I could get hold of through it, and that’s how I kept going.”
Gordon and her mother kept in close contact, talking on the phone or visiting a few times a week, and she “always made sure I had birthday cake, flowers and (such),” O’Day said. “She’d do anything for most anybody. … If family or friends required something, she was always there to do it.”
After moving to North Woodstock a few years ago, she spent weeknights at O’Day’s residence so she could be closer to work, and to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, where she was receiving cancer treatments for gall bladder cancer.
Portia, 20, is studying global health at the University of Rhode Island.
“I believe the points she has actually done have actually made me want to tips people,” she said.
The two women helped out every year at the Lake Sunapee Turkey Trot, and after Portia started college, Gordon encouraged her to volunteer along with Habitat for Humanity over spring break. The trip to Denver was life-changing, said Portia, that liked it so much she considered leaving college to volunteer full-time. Gordon was unfazed.
If you want to take a year off, take a year off, she told her.
Set on being the very first in her family to graduate from college, Portia stayed in school. however Gordon’s willingness to let her chart her own course has actually been vital.
Some parents overstep and try to control things, however “she gave us the space to mature and be responsible at an early age,” Portia said. “She was a rather good mom.”
Gordon’s own path led her to travel the country, usually to visit family, and often via motorcycle.
She and Bartlett, that both owned Harley Davidsons, liked to venture out together.
“We’d ride along the coast very a bit and stop for lunch,” said Bartlett, who’d known Gordon since middle school. “She was a lot of enjoyable to be with.”
Not long ago they did an organized ride in Vermont. Gordon was sick, however she’d wanted to take portion in the fundraiser, which supported cancer research.
“It was wonderful to do,” said Bartlett, that recalled Gordon’s caring spirit. Even as quickly as she wasn’t well, “she was always thinking regarding us, asking how we were feeling.”
In 2012, her love for riding led her to Mike Gordon, whom she would certainly later marry. The two hit it off at a biker breakfast in Manchester, N.H., and talked every day after that.
“It was simply one of those points that worked. It was a special relationship, and neither one of us had to job at it,” Mike Gordon said. “We both kind of liked the same things.”
That included riding, which they did a lot of in the few years they had together.
Gordon had a white Sportser, however they wound up selling it. That’s because she preferred to ride on the spine of Mike’s Harley, a blue and black Ultra Classic Limited.
“It was comfortable,” he said. “She would certainly almost fall asleep sometimes.”
Usually along with friends, they did fundraiser rides, took day trips to the coast and made longer treks, which brought them to Niagara Falls and the Blue Ridge Mountains.
“as quickly as she was well, it was nothing to do 200 or 300 miles” in a day, Mike said. “There’s a sense of freedom there. … We both loved it.”
But for him, the point was simply being together.
“It really didn’t matter exactly what we did,” he said. “We got along so well, every day was enjoyable. It was always nice to come home. She always had a smile on her face.”
Gordon was “simply plain special,” he said. “I Miss out on her tremendously, as everyone else does.”
In April, they were married at estate by a justice of the peace. They had planned to have actually a reception in the summer, however Gordon, that had been dealing along with cancer off and on for three years, simply wasn’t well enough, her husband said.
Mike Gordon has actually never really believed in angels or that sort of thing, however there have actually been times since Gordon’s death as quickly as he wonders whether she is still around.
Last year, as quickly as he and some friends rode to Arizona, he’d tied one of her bandannas onto the spine of his bike. In Columbus, Ohio, as quickly as he looked at the white cloth printed along with pink ribbons, it seemed to be tied on securely, simply as it had been for last 2,000 miles. Yet minutes after they reached Indiana, where Dobbs and several others family members live, it came off, drifting slowly up in to the air.
“I don’t know how it came off or why it came off there,” Mike Gordon said. “Was she there along with us? Did she want a piece of her along with her family in Indiana?”
Aimee Caruso can easily be reached at acaruso@vnews.com or 603-727-3210.
from Golden Land Travel http://ift.tt/1WWhHwG
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