Gayla Burnside Gordon writes: “After Brown, I taught migrant pickers’ children in California. Then I spent four years in Spain, returning to Virginia, where I taught Head Start for four years. I brought back a Rolls-Royce limousine and piled my Head Start kids in it for multiple excursions. I traded it for a 1955 Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn Shooting Brake. We raised three children, putting them through law school, medical school, and conservatory. Two moved to California. One became associate general counsel of Portland Cement, one was concertmaster of the Kennedy Center Opera but married a comedy writer and moved to Beverly Hills. My son, Chris Gordon, is a pediatric craniofacial surgeon. He made national news with interviews on Good Morning America and in People magazine for his groundbreaking separation of twins conjoined at the head. I opened two antique shops in Alexandria in the historic district and started restoring houses in Old Town, and pursued this for 30 years. After traveling back and forth from Virginia to California all these years, I have moved to Pasadena. After my husband died, I bought a 1906 cottage, completely gutted it and moved in two years later. At 85, I am not too old to have fun. I just returned from taking my son and four grandchildren to Africa on safari. I have six grandchildren in college: Amherst, Colby, Indiana and USC—love the visits. A fond hello to all of my classmates and friends from Class of ’59.”
See more notes:
Class of 1959