Gordon

Yesterday, 100+ people gathered at the Chinook School Gym to celebrate Gordon Schoewe’s last picnic ever.  He would have hated it – the comments and speeches about his life, the concluding “Amazing Grace” song, the fact that he couldn’t choose not to be there.

On the other hand, he would have loved it – the picnic theme, the unending flow of martinis-with-a-twist, a cake featuring his signature alter-ego-Ambrose and another showing a picnic-ready beach scene, and all the friends and family who were there to remember.  Most of all, he would have been delighted with yet another social event all about him!

All Set for the Last Picnic

It was the perfect way to celebrate Gordon!  He loved picnics and martinis and people.  He was the consummate story-teller and rememberer, although we all know that he remembered things his way.  And, it was always a successful get-together when, as he left, Gordon said, “It was all about me again, wasn’t it?” and laughed in delight, never chagrinned that he had dominated the conversation and the subject-matter!  He was definitely one-of-a-kind and much loved by a whole host of people from every imaginable time and place!

Picnics had been a big part of Gordon’s life ever since he and Roy had moved to the beach in 1972.  He was the unspoken leader of a loosely organized ‘Picnic Group’ who would grab picnic baskets and sunblock (or maybe umbrellas) at the drop of a hat and have a picnic – on the beach, at a local park, in one of our gardens or, if the weather was ‘not so much,’ in someone’s house.  The times it had to be indoors at Gordon and Roy’s, there were checkered cloths on picnic tables and little plastic ants everywhere.

Ladybug Picnic Guest — Perfect!

Yesterday someone asked the Picnic Group to pose for a picture.  There were only five of us – five of the original fifteen or sixteen.  Just five of us old ducks in attendance – Noel Thomas, Kaye Mulvey Cowan, Kay Buesing, Nyel and I smiled and posed and felt diminished.  Granted, Patty Thomas should have been there but was ill; Dorothy Huggins, now in her nineties and living near her children far away was missing, too; and maybe Gordon’s Cousin Jeannie was raising a glass out in the wilderness where she has lived for the last twenty years or so.

But the rest of the gang was missing (as in permanently) – Jim Buesing, Charles Mulvey, “Aunt Betty” Newell, Marjorie Horner, Dottie and Lee McHugh, Chuck Huggins, and of course Gordon’s beloved Roy.  Undoubtedly they were picnicking right along with us but just out of sight, sharing our Gordon memories (well, Gordon probably was regaling the group with the way those memories really were), enjoying the martinis and the wonderful food… and the sunshine!  Did I mention that the day was absolutely gorgeous?  A perfect day for Gordon’s Last Picnic!