Stephen Howard Gordie

I first met Steve in about 5th grade at Pinecrest Elementary School. I think he was in my twin sister Susan’s class. He and I were in a class play together and 5 or 6 of us guys did a dance to the song “In the Hall of the Mountain King”. That is my first memory of our friendship.

We had math class in 7th or 8th grade and Mr. (Howard) Gordie, Steve’s dad, was our math teacher. If we talked during class, Mr. Gordie would throw a piece of chalk at us to get our attention. I remember going to Steve’s home when his parents had a pizza party for one of his birthdays.

Steve told me that as he was growing up, he spent a lot of time with his dad and brother Russell playing sports, especially baseball and boxing.

In high school, we were in band together and there was a group of us who hung out together. We went to parties, proms, school dances, the beach, band trips, and graduation teas. The group included

Steve

Cheryl Jones

Betty Kellett

Rob Jones

Bo Spear

Ronnie Fredicks

Glenn Ansley,

My twin sister, Susan and

Me.

Who am I missing?

Many of us graduated from Seminole High School on 6/6/66.

Steve had plans to go to college at FL State and I at U of F. We both ended up going to Seminole Community College and later Florida Technological University (now UCF) where we were roommates. We were in the inaugural graduating classes at both colleges. Steve later earned a Master’s Degree in Education – I think from UCF. After graduation, Steve taught math for some 35 years. I believe he started at Oviedo High School, but soon transferred to Lake Howell High, from which he eventually retired. My kids had him for math, and it was fun to hear their stories. They all admired him.

For about 30 years while Steve was teaching, he also owned a well-known record shop called Retro Records on Bumby Drive.. During that time, he traveled to National Beatles Conventions to buy and sell Beatles records and memorabilia. On weekends, we would go to flea markets to purchase records and memorabilia for the store. During the time he owned the store, he witnessed a transition from music recorded on vinyl, 8 track, CD, and then back to vinyl.

Steve was married 2 times, once when he was about 21 to Kathy and then to Patty when he was about 25.

Although not planned, Steve and I never lived more than 2 or 3 miles apart. In our late 50s and 60s we played tennis every Monday evening. During one of those evenings, Steve told me that he was having a hard time moving. As it turned out, he was eventually diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and we had to discontinue playing tennis. We were both interested in watching football, however, and I would pick him up on many Monday nights to watch the game at our house. He loved miniature hershey bars and I would have them handy to munch on while we enjoyed the game.

Steve lived on his own for many years and fought a great fight. He and I went to lunch together every Saturday during the last several years and after lunch always shared a milkshake from the Dairy Queen. During lunch when music was playing, he would usually know the artist and which band sang the song first. We tried milkshakes at Arby’s, Burger King, McDonalds and Sonic. None were as good as Dairy Queen. The workers at Dairy Queen would have our milkshake ready when they saw the car drive into the parking lot.

I will miss our Saturdays together.