Remembering Waits Gordon: A life rich with service

I first met Waits Gordon 20 years or so ago. We were having a big food distribution at First Baptist Church of Morganton in cooperation with Burke United Christian Ministries and Second Harvest Food Bank.

At some point during that event, a gentleman showed up in a grocery store van or similar vehicle. He was wearing a tie underneath his grocery store apron and was smiling and incredibly friendly.

He had come over from the Food Lion at Quaker Meadows that he managed for so long to pick up shopping carts he had loaned to us earlier that morning for our guests to use as they walked through the food line, picking up the items they wanted.

We exchanged greetings and introductions, but he did not linger. He had to get back to his store.

But that was Waits — always on the move, doing incredible good wherever he could. I got to know Waits much better over time, especially after he retired from Food Lion.

He told me several times over the years that he and his wife Laura had moved around several times during his first career in corporate sales. But when that Food Lion managerial position presented itself to him, he decided to settle down in a community that he and Laura came quickly to love.

He did what he could to support local charitable endeavors during those years. Waits was especially instrumental in linking hunger ministries locally and regionally with Food Lion’s give-away program that made available certain slightly out-of-date foods.

He did many other good things for the community during his years as a grocery store manager. But when Waits retired, his volunteer efforts really multiplied.

He had an endless passion for helping impoverished people locally who were struggling with food insufficiency, housing issues, and other challenges. Whatever area of service Waits involved himself with, he put his whole being into it.

He was especially committed for a long time as a board member and active volunteer at BUCM and Habitat for Humanity of Burke County. He was also a stalwart Board member and volunteer for the History Museum of Burke County.

Many nonprofits sought out Waits for membership on their governing boards. But he could not do everything!

After his richly deserved recognition as Morganton’s Man of the Year for 2008, Waits also became a dedicated member of the Rotary Club of Morganton and did even more good from that platform.

I will always appreciate Waits also for his yearly involvement in Mission Morganton, a one-day missions and practical ministries blitz of our community and area that occurs each September and involves multiple churches and numerous volunteers.

For many years, Waits represented his church, First United Methodist Church of Morganton, in helping to plan upcoming projects for Mission Morganton and in taking a leadership role in our overall efforts.

Having retired myself now, I had not seen Waits in a while as he had dealt with multiple health challenges. The last time that I recall being with him was some months ago when I led a Bible study for an older men’s Sunday School class at First Methodist.

What many may not know about Waits is that he was a very serious student of the Bible and intentionally sought to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, especially His admonition to serve “the least of these,” Christ’s brothers and sisters.

Waits truly sought and found how to live out the challenge that the great English preacher and founder of Methodism, John Wesley, set forth several centuries ago:

“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”

Waits did just that — and more!