Rev. John Gordon was born in Houtzdale January 9, 1897, the son of George and Johanna Gordon. He graduated from Pennsylvania State College in the field of science in 1919, and entered the business world as a chemist before entering Mount St. Mary's Seminary at Emmitsburg, Maryland in 1922.
Father Gordon was ordained to the priesthood in 1928, and remained at Mount St. Mary's as a member of the faculty in the science department, of which he eventually became the head. He received his doctorate at the Catholic University, Washington, D. C. Father taught at Mount St. Mary's for 41 years from 1924-1965. He died at the Mount, suddenly, on November 21, 1965.
In the Winter Issue of the Mount Alumnus Rev. James T. Delaney in a tribute to Father Gordon had the following to say:
“Father Gordon was a philosopher. He spent many years of his life here at Mount St. Mary's. He spent his time here because he preferred it to any other. He loved the mountains and the school, the chapel and the seminary. To him they were not cold blocks and silent heaps of earth and stone. To him they represented a part of a way of life, and this way of life he loved. And loving it he exemplified it as few have ever done.
If we must choose how to remember Father Gordon, is not the greatest tribute to say of him: He was a dedicated priest. He walked in greatness every day of his life although he was unknown to the world.
In 1964, a vision of Father Gordon was born in stone with the construction of the Science Hall, which at his suggestion was dedicated to his beloved friend, Father Coad. The magnificent auditorium of the Science Hall bears his name, so that generation upon generation of students will learn in the very hall sanctified by his presence.”
~ A Glance Back, A Look Ahead, Christ The King Church, Houtzdale, Pennsylvania, 1977, Page 50
You can visit the memorial page for Rev John C. Gordon.
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