Grounded in faith, driven by service: remembering Waits Gordon

Retired Superior Court Judge Claude Sitton perhaps put it most simply:

“We’re going to miss him.” Sitton said, “We’re going to miss everything about him.”

Former Morganton Mayor Mel Cohen framed it in a different way.

“Burke County has lost a soldier in the battle for humanity and for justice,” Cohen said. “The type of soldier you simply can’t replace.

Both men were speaking of a community leader who was both sincerely respected and surely loved: the late Waits Gordon, who died on Saturday, March 28, at the age of 84.

A native of Norfolk, Va., Waits fell in love with Morganton as a youth when he spent several summers here with family on his mother’s side. And later, when he had the opportunity to live wherever he chose, he chose Morganton.

A former national sales manager for the Oster Corporation, Waits became in 1988 a Food Lion manager in Burke County — a position he used for two decades to help feed the hungry, primarily through the donation of food to Burke United Christian Ministries.

After his retirement from Food Lion in 2008, he became the exemplar for what volunteer service can mean to a community, investing his time and energy in a host of efforts to improve life in Morganton.

“Waits was a man who did not want to say ‘No’ to anyone,” Cohen remembered. “His heart was as big as the moon and that heart told him to do everything he could to help grow this community and to help the underprivileged.”

One of the community organizations which will particularly miss Waits’ ongoing leadership is the History Museum of Burke County, for which Sitton serves as the executive director.

“Waits has served as our board chairman for probably 10 years,” Sitton said. “He was absolutely indispensable to everything we do here. He attended every meeting and he was always prepared.”

Noting that Waits was a proud member of the U.S. Marines as a youth, Sitton said he continued to carry that military bearing even in his senior years.

“He always carried himself with authority and with dignity,” said Sitton of his old friend. “Always dressed with the crease in the pants, the starch in the shirts. He was a man who simply wanted everything done right.”

In his work with Burke County Habitat for Humanity, Waits would roll up those starched sleeves and do whatever needed to be done, remembered Executive Director Marla Black.

“We used to refer to Waits as ‘The Energizer Bunny,’” Black said with a laugh. “Whenever he saw a need, he acted. He didn’t wait to be asked. He did things so graciously. He just made them happen.”

Noting that Waits not only served on Habitat’s board of directors but also knew how to swing a hammer or put up sheet rock, Black said, with a hitch in her voice, “We need more Waits Gordons in this world.”

Another organization that benefited from Waits’ energy and experience was the Morganton Rotary Club, which he joined after being named the club’s Man of the Year in 2008.

“Over the years, he was chairman of just about every committee we had, although he never served as president,” remembered Randall Brackett. “To sum it up, he was an outstanding person. Kind, gentle, always thinking of others.”

“Waits never cared about recognition,” Brackett said. “He never cared a bit about who got the credit. He just wanted to see the work get done.”

Asked what fueled Waits’ drive to help others and to improve his community, his old friend Jim Belote answered simply, “The close and very real relationship he had had with his God.”

Waits, Belote continued, “took very seriously Jesus’ command to ‘do unto others.’ If ever there was a man in Burke County who did good for his fellow man, it was Waits Gordon.”

Noting that Waits was very ill for the final three months of his life, Belote wondered how difficult it must have been for such a vital and active soul to be confined to a hospital bed.

“I have to wonder how Waits and God worked that out,” Belote said. “Even when he was at his healthiest, Waits would get so frustrated if he couldn’t be busy helping others. That man was the epitome of service.”

The role of God in Wait’s life was confirmed by his minister, the Rev. Dan Hester, senior pastor at Morganton’s First United Methodist Church.

“Waits,’ Hester said, “was indispensable to the life of this church.”

Two vital pieces of Waits’ legacy to First United Methodist stand out, Hester said.

“One is the respect that Waits garnered from so many people,” he said. “Respect for everything he had done and respect in the sense that if Waits said he was going to do something, you knew it would be done.”

Secondly, Hester said, at a time of confusion in the world, Waits remained absolutely grounded in the words of the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25, verses 34-40:

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was hungry, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

“Waits absolutely embodied those words,” Hester said. “He worked in food ministries to feed the hungry, in prison ministry to help those behind bars, and in Habitat for Humanity to help provide decent housing.

“He stayed centered,” Hester concluded. “And he showed us how to stay centered as well.”

One person who saw that centeredness over and over again was Waits’ nephew, Robert Carr.

Waits’ life, Carr said simply, “was a life of love.”

“He loved his God, he loved his family, he loved his community, and he loved helping people,” Carr said. “I’ve never seen a man work as hard as Uncle Waits did to make this community a better place to live.”

In the end, perhaps the truest measure of Waits Gordon’s life is not found in the many titles he held or the countless committees on which he served, but in the quiet, steady way he showed up — day after day — for anyone in need.

He lived the words of Jesus Christ not as an ideal, but as a daily practice, seeing in every neighbor an opportunity to serve.

Burke County is better, kinder, and more compassionate because he chose to make it his home.

And while, as Judge Sitton said, we will miss everything about him, we are left with something enduring: the example of a life so fully given to others that its influence will continue to be felt for generations to come.