Inez L Gordon

Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday August 29, 2006 in Howe & Yockey Funeral Home, Shelbyville, Illinois, with the Rev. Kevin Ray officiating. Visitation will be from 5:00-8:00 p.m. Monday August 28, 2006 in the funeral home. Burial will be in Glenwood Cemetery, Shelbyville. Memorials may be given to First Christian Church, 202 S. Broadway, Shelbyville, Illinois 62565.

Mrs. Gordon was born in Shelby County, near Stewardson, Illinois on February 11, 1905, the daughter and eldest child of Orpha Almeda Friesner and Thomas Leslie Tate. Mrs. Gordon was a life member of the First Christian Church, 202 S. Broadway, Shelbyville. She served as both a committee chairperson as well as being on different committees. Her love was working in the church kitchen. She was a charter member of the World War I Barracks when it was active, a seventy-four (74) year member of the American Legion Auxiliary Unit number 81 and was past president of the auxiliary. She was also a fifty-nine (59) year member of the VFW Ladies Auxiliary Post #4829.

She was a volunteer in many areas. In her neighborhood she baked home made cinnamon rolls each week and gave them to families with children. She also took a neighbor lady to church each Sunday. She was a volunteer for the Red Cross Blood Bank for years and was also a volunteer at the Shelbyville Manor each Wednesday. She was named Volunteer of the Year in 1997.

In her earlier days she worked for Edith and Ross Wellbaum in their broom corn factory in Mattoon, Illinois. Her job was to sort the broom corn so that the best product was used to make brooms. She also spent many years as a domestic in the homes of a number of prominent Shelbyville families. She was united in marriage to Lawrence Benjamin Gordon on November 7, 1931. He passed away on January 27, 1978.

Surviving are her daughter, Janet Strohl and son-in-law, Arnold Strohl of Shelbyville; two sisters, Lois Marie Gordon of Shelbyville and Vera Corley of Pana; brother-in-law, Charles F. Martin, Sr. of Shelbyville; sister-in-law, Vivian Helen Tate of Shelbyville; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; three brothers, Harley Thomas Tate, Clarence Lester” Jack” Tate, and Clifford Eugene “Priff” Tate; and one sister, Ruth Aileen Martin.