Orangewood is special to Gordon for another reason. That

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1 1 Gordon Day was born in Takoma Park, Maryland on July 1, 1949 to Clyde and Joan Day. He spent the first 26 years of his life in and around Washington, D.C. and always counted it a privilege to have attended Seventh-day Adventist schools from the first grade through graduate school. After attending Spencerville Junior Academy through the 10th grade, he transitioned to Blue Mountain Academy in Hamburg, Pennsylvania for his junior and senior years. Both years he was voted the class pastor. He attended Southern Missionary College (now Southern Adventist University) and Columbia Union College (now Washington Adventist University). He received his BA from Columbia Union College in 1976 with a major in Biology and minors in Chemistry and Secondary Education. He was soon to begin his career as an educator but it must be told that he was well acquainted with hard work by the time he graduated from college. His first job at the age of nine was delivering papers in his home town. In

2 2 high school he learned to drive bull dozers and did much of the work, as a student, in building three new athletic fields at Blue Mountain Academy. For four years he was a Volunteer Fireman at Southern Missionary College, ultimately becoming a Lieutenant in charge of his own fire truck. This no doubt planted the seed of his interest in safety and CERT training which he has championed at LLA and in the community. In short, throughout his schooling, Gordon worked as a roofer, carpenter, electrician, and plumber. He worked in building maintenance, yard maintenance, as well as general construction. He delivered newspapers, milk, orange juice and more. He used to say that when he retired he wanted a bucket of tools and a list of tasks that needed to be done at the academy. This concept of hard work was evident in everything he did. When the conversation came around to something needing to be done, Gordon was likely to say, I can do that. I served for five years as associate superintendent

3 3 of schools and had the opportunity of attending many board meetings. More than once I imagined Gordon in that position, sitting in Board Meetings hearing about a task or project to help the school. I just know he would have come away from most meetings with a commitment to return to the school and build something, or haul something, or fix something, or organize something. He was hired right out of college by Dr. Gayle Rhoads who offered him a position at Lodi Academy teaching Biology, Chemistry, and Junior Bible. He also served as the school guidance counselor. He only spent one year there though he would always appreciate the experience of working under Dr. Rhoads. He heard the call of missions and traveled to Guam Adventist Academy and spent three years teaching all of the math and sciences to grades He finished there in That summer he completed a Masters in Educational Administration and Leadership from Loma

4 4 Linda University. Gordon was heading to Arkansas to teach but did not feel quite right about the move. His heart was in California. He stopped by the Southeastern California Conference Office of Education and walked into Associate Superintendent Jon Mills office and asked if there were any openings. It just so happens that the day before a teaching-principal position had opened up and Dr. Mills had been thinking how difficult it would be, that late in the summer, to find a qualified teacher. After a short interview, Dr. Mills was convinced Gordon was both the man for the job and that he was over qualified and would not be interested. But he told him of the position and Gordon s immediate response was, I ll take it. Thus began a 34 year relationship with this conference. He loved working for Southeastern California Conference. The position he took that day was at Indio-Palms Adventist School where he taught all subjects for grades 6 8 as the teaching principal. Not surprisingly, while he was there,

5 5 they added a ninth grade which he also taught. After three years he received a call from the principal at Orangewood Academy who was looking for a science teacher. Gordon accepted the invitation to teach Biology, Physics, Algebra and Pre-Algebra. The Orangewood yearbook for his first year also lists that he was the backpacking club sponsor. Hiking, backpacking and camping have been a big part of his life. Beginning with his student teaching experience at Takoma Academy, in Takoma Park, Maryland, he has organized camping clubs. For Gordon, nothing was more refreshing than to jump in his four-wheeler and head up to the mountains and hike. He has taken students backpacking throughout Southern California and Arizona. A favorite camping spot is the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. He enjoyed the classroom at OA for two years and then was asked to serve as the elementary principal. After five years in that position he was invited to be the K-12 principal. Orangewood is special to Gordon for another reason. That

6 6 is where he met his wife Patty. They married in I have always been thankful to have known a couple who were so in love and were willing to model a strong Christian marriage. Let me give you a little insight into Gordon s love for students and how it played out in a unique way. Patty had two daughters who were students at Orangewood and, as things would have it, they had the opportunity of experiencing some, shall we say, special moments of guidance in Principal Day s office. Despite this, when they became one family, the girls, Gina and Robyn, both took quickly to Gordon and saw him as a father. Gordon loved his two daughters. And later, he especially loved being Papa to his three grandchildren, Brooke, Gavin and Izzy. In 1995, he accepted the offer to come to Loma Linda Academy as the Junior High Principal. He remained in that post for five years and then moved to Mesa Grande Academy in Calimesa, California. Keeping to the pattern of five year stints, he served as MGA s K-12 principal until

7 That year he transferred back to Loma Linda Academy, and once again became the Junior High Principal where he served until his passing last week. He always spoke so highly of his time at both Orangewood and Mesa Grande. Some of his closest friends and fondest memories came from those schools. That being said, he would often comment that he was thankful every day that he had the opportunity of working at Loma Linda Academy. He loved the school and especially his Junior High. There are many things I could say about working with Gordon. Most will be said by others. I will say that working with him and Doug Mace on Junior Senior Bible Conferences through the years is a high point in my life. But quite simply, Gordon was a good friend and a spiritual mentor. By his initiative, this year I have had a standing appointment with Gordon for every Tuesday morning at 7 to have prayer for the school. Unfortunately, we have not been able to keep that date much in the past weeks and months, but it is still there. That is how he thought. That is how he lived.

8 8 In 2003, Gordon had triple-bypass surgery. His recovery was faster than expected, partly due to his determination and hard work. Since that time Gordon struggled with other challenges to his health, though most of us were not aware due to his positive attitude and his determination to work hard as he has always done. Since Thanksgiving he has been, for the most part, off campus. He had cancer surgery on January 22. His recovery was going slowly, much to his frustration. Due to complications, he took a turn for the worse on Wednesday, January 29 and passed away that evening. Gordon s personal philosophy was driven by his favorite Bible text found in Matthew 6:33, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. In essence, he wanted his students and staff to seek God first and not to worry about the small things. Gordon desired first of all to provide a model of what Christ would do if he were in his place. Second, he sought to model

9 9 how Christ would treat the students if Jesus were sitting in the principal s chair, and third, he wanted to create an atmosphere of mutual respect, friendliness, and acceptance among and between both students and teachers such as Christ wants to have with his believers and church. Gordon Day led his life after the following statement in the book Education by Ellen G. White found on page 57. This was a favorite quotation of his. "The greatest want of the world is the want of men and women who will not be bought or sold, who in their inmost souls are true and honest, who do not fear to call sin by its right name, whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, and who will stand for the right though the heavens fall." Thank you, Gordon, for illustrating this for us.