Читать книгу History of Fresno County, Vol. 5 - Paul E. Vandor - Страница 23

It is not often that a man is able to test his popularity with safety and success by absenting himself awhile from the scene of his former activities, but this has been done by W. R. Gordon who, to the great satisfaction of his numerous friends and his even more numerous acquaintances, returned to Selma with his family on April 1, 1919, and two weeks later took possession of the Economy Grocery, which occupies the south side of the store-room at 1940 East Front Street, Selma. His many years of experience both as clerk and proprietor have made him thoroughly conversant with the best brands and qualities of staple and fancy groceries, and he not only gives his personal attention to the wants of his patrons, but directs the neat and sanitary disposition of his stock. He is indeed a live wire, and it is not surprising that he is building up a good trade at Selma.

W. R. Gordon was born at Warrensburg, Johnson County, Mo., on September 2, 1883, the son of W. B. Gordon who married Miss Ada Reed, a native of Little Rock, Ark., who still lives in Fresno, with her four daughters. When the lad was sixteen years of age, his parents came with him to Selma, and here his father served the city for four years as Councilman, dying in January, 1918, when he was fifty-nine years old. During his tenure of office especially, he was one of the strongest temperance advocates at a time when Prohibition was decidedly unpopular, and when the anti-saloon fight was up-hill work, and he stood firmly for a dry Selma. When he first went into the bitter fight, he ran a busy blacksmith shop and employed six men in a smithy that was among the best patronized in or near Selma; but as a result of his uncompromising attitude toward the liquor traffic, he saw his business dwindle to a point where, with only one helper, he could take care of all the work that came to his shop. Nevertheless, he persisted in his work of reform, and Selma became the first dry town in the San Joaquin Valley.

W. R. Gordon is largely self-taught and self-made, having been rather a precocious boy when he was in the grammar schools in Missouri and at Selma. At thirteen he entered a newspaper office in Missouri, first as "devil," and later as typesetter on the Johnson County Star, and soon after arriving in Selma he resumed his work as a compositor, working after school and on Saturdays for John W. Aikin, editor and proprietor of the Enterprise at Selma. Later on he was made clerk in Unger's Stationery Store, and later still became a clerk for the Walter Scott Company, in Selma, remaining with the latter firm steadily for eight years. He next went to Coalinga and clerked for A. P. May for a year, and then he bought a store at San Joaquin, in Fresno County, where he also became postmaster, while conducting a successful general merchandise store.

In the spring of 1919 he returned to Selma and bought out W. O. Staley, the former owner of the Economy Market, and took possession of the grocery department. Mr. Staley had owned and operated both the meat market and the grocery, but the former he sold to Jess L. Williams, who took possession the same day that Mr. Gordon did.

On the second day of July, 1905, at Selma, Cal., Mr. Gordon was married to Miss Bertha Neer, a native daughter, whose parents, William and Mary (Bozeman) Neer, ranchers a quarter of a mile east of Selma, reared her in that favoring town. Mr. and Mrs. Gordon have two children. Louise and Marada. The family attends the Christian Church at Selma, and Mr. Gordon is a popular member of the Woodmen of the World.