Wallace Reid Gordon -- Piano Tuner and Grocery Operator

 

Wallace Reid Gordon

Wallace Reid Gordon was born on March 12, 1923 in Golden Pond, Kentucky. He was the son of William Thomas Gordon and Sophia Smith Gordon.  William was a native of Trigg County, Kentucky and had worked as a mail carrier and school teacher. Sophia was born in Canton, Kentucky and was a homemaker and a substitute mail carrier.  Wallace had one sibling, a sister, Mary Helen Gordon, who was born in 1925.

Wallace was raised and went to grade school in Golden Pond.  For high school, Wallace went to Murray, Kentucky where was a student at the Murray College Training School.

It was at the Murray College Training School on February 8, 1940 that Wallace who was 18 years old and a junior at the school was involved in a tragic accident.  He was in the school’s chemistry lab preparing to conduct an assigned experiment with the chemicals red phosphorous and potassium chlorate.  He was alone in the lab at the time and it is assumed that he accidentally jarred the containers of the chemicals or dropped something in them causing an explosion. The explosion severely damaged his right eye and injured his left eye.  In addition, flying glass severed an artery in his head causing severe bleeding.  Fortunately, a Murray Boy Scout, Maurice Evans, found Wallace and administered first aid to stop the bleeding.  Evans was subsequently credited with saving Wallace’s life. The accident resulted in Wallace being permanently blinded In both eyes.

Even though he was blind, Wallace graduated from the Training School and went on the complete one year of college at Murray State.  In 1947 he attended a special school for the blind in Louisville.

On March 7, 1948, Wallace married Sally Isabelle Finley of Trigg County.  Sally, born December 19, 1928, was the daughter of Burnett Finley and Myrtle Mable Cunningham Finley and was the granddaughter of Rosa Lee Bridges.  Her parents were farmers and she had grown up on the farm in Trigg County.  Wallace and Sally were the parents of two children, Karen Renee, born in 1949 and John Anthony, born in 1950.

Wallace and Sally made their home in Golden Pond where Wallace operated a grocery store and service station from 1948 to 1959 while Sally worked at the Trigg Knit Hosiery factory in Cadiz. She temporarily left Trigg Knit to operate a beauty salon in Cadiz, but later returned to Trigg Knit where she worked until she retired in 1979.

Wallace obtained an amateur radio, or “ham radio” license in 1956.  He talked with persons in many foreign counties for over thirty years. He made numerous amateur radio friends throughout the United States.  Wallace was known in the county for his expertise as a ham operator.

In 1959 Wallace attended the Piano Tuning School in Louisville. He completed their program in the spring of 1961.  He then began working as a piano tuner and repairman, a position he held for more than 25 years.

Wallace and Sally moved from Golden Pond to Cadiz in 1967.  Sally died on March 14, 1985 at the age of 56 in Nashville.  She was buried in the East End Cemetery in Cadiz. Wallace died on February 19, 1995 in Hopkinsville at the age of 71.  He was buried next to his wife in the East End Cemetery.

 Sally Finley Gordon

Tombstone of Wallace and Sally Gordon

LINEAGE: (Wallace Reid Gordon was the husband of Sally Isabelle Finley.  Sally was the daughter of Burnett and Myrtle Mable Cunningham Finley and the granddaughter of Elmer “Ell” and Rosa Lee Bridges Cunningham. Rosa was the seventh child of Cullen T. and Martha Virginia Thomas Bridges.  Cullen was the twelfth child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges. William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)