La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

Elizabeth "Betty" Grace Gordon died on Monday, May 22, 2023 at the age of 97. She passed in the home where she had spent most of her life, looking out the windows, the rays of her final golden hour reflected in her eyes.

Betty was born to Samuel and Tiena (Drost) Mesman on May 19, 1926, in Rocky Point, Washington. Growing up in the 1930s and 40s, she would share stories of her life on the beaches of the island picking wild strawberries, looking for agates, and finding lady slipper orchids blooming in the nearby forests in the springtime. She often reminisced about the simpler times of her rural island life.

When her family moved to a farm outside of La Conner, Betty found herself happy in her new community; it was one full of engagement and involvement. She attended school in Oak Harbor and La Conner, where she graduated with the class of 1943 from La Conner High School.

Betty met her husband, Eddie George Gordon, while ice skating a frozen pond. No words or introductions were shared, but within six months they were married and had settled on a beautiful farm on McLean Road in Mount Vernon, Washington. Their wedding date was October 22, 1956.

Betty was a mother, a wife, a Girl Scout Troop Leader, a farm owner, and a bookkeeper. Her interests were widespread. She loved baseball, hockey games, crocheting, baking, reading murder mysteries, and solving puzzles. Betty volunteered her time serving shifts in WWII watchtowers, keeping an eye out for suspicious aircraft. Her children remember that she loved eating ice cream, taking long car rides with Eddie, her homemade lemon meringue pie, and her sweet voice as she sang to her grandchild. She loved bright colors and she loved to laugh; her children note how loving and open-minded she was. There was always food on the table, time to spend together on family vacations, and heart-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to help melt away the trials of a hard day.

Betty is survived by her sons, Todd (Christine) Gordon, Eddie Gordon, and special son, Arne Svendsen; grandson, Cole Gordon; and sister, Darlene of Idaho.

She is preceded in death by her parents; her dearest friend, Harriet; and her husband of 53 years, Eddie George Gordon.

Please consider a memorial donation to the McLean Fire Department, 15452 Beaver Marsh Rd., Mount Vernon, WA 98273.

Betty was laid to rest next to her husband Eddie George Gordon at Pleasant Ridge Cemetery.

Funeral arrangements are under the care of Kern Funeral Home. You may share memories and offer your condolences to Betty's family online at http://www.kernfuneralhome.com.