What I know or think I know about Edith Thoms Gordon

Here is what I knew about Edith until this morning.

She was the daughter of James and Lydia Thoms. She was born on June 22, 1881. She was an only child. She graduated from the University of Chicago with PhB degree. She was the mother of ten children. She died on August 6, 1975.

Then I put Edith Thoms Gordon in Google and the following came up on the website “Find a Grave.”

Edith Thoms Gordon, 94, died August 6, in Milwaukee. She was the widow of Rev. Robert Gordon who preceded her in death in 1951. Her parents were Dr. and Mrs. James P. Thoms. Dr. Thoms was the principal of Wayland Academy, Beaver Dam, from 1890-1892, and was the pastor of the Pilgrim Temple Baptist church in Chicago for many years.

Edith Gordon was born June 22, 1881, in Cazenovia, New York. Mrs. Gordon graduated from Kalamazoo college in 1903 and did post-graduate work at the University of Chicago. She subsequently became Dean of Women at Kalamazoo college.

In 1907 she married Rev. Robert Gordon, a Baptist minister. Rev. Gordon held pastorates in Milwaukee; Topeka, Kan., Fond du Lac, Stevens Point and Kenosha. Their ten children, all living, are: Deane Margaret, Frank, Robert, Edith, Mary, Charles, George, Helen and Ruth. There are also 28 grand children and 16 great-grandchildren.

Memorial services will be held on Saturday, Aug. 9, 1:30 pm. at Trinity Lutheran church, Washington Island, where Mrs. Gordon made her summer home for 80 years. An additional service will be held at Cambridge Apartments, Milwaukee, on Friday, Aug. 8, at 10 am, conducted by Rev. Carl Kingsley.

Contributions may be made to the Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board, American Baptist Churches, 475 Riverside drive, New York, New York 10027.

What I find interesting is how little I knew about my grandmother! I know so much more about Grandfather Gordon. Here is a woman that had ten children and all of the work, pain and joy that is associated with such a feat and I knew hardly anything about her. She was a remarkable woman. She had a university education at a time when most woman were not educated. She was an accomplished educator and yet I know very little about her, her life, or her thoughts. I think it is a reflection of times past when a woman was part of the necessary background of family life but very seldom in the forefront. This is too bad because I’m sure the generations that followed would have benefited from hearing her thoughts!