Gordon

[Kevin Mienke]

It would be a shame to try and disconnect the two, as they are the same. I imagine he will be around for as long as we want him to be.

cd

Yes

[53Crusher]

Guess I knew this day would come, but didn't want to accept it. Gordon has mentored all of us in many ways and will be truly missed. I feel honored to have met him and corresponded back and forth over the last few years. His legacy will live on......... My thoughts and prayers are with his family.

[318cu.in.]

I will miss you Gordon Maney

I e-mailed you last year seeking advice, which I followed. Turns out you were right. Rest in peace.

[b4pw]

Its amazing how someone you hardly talked with can effect a person on the large scale that he did with everyone.

[Alxj64]

I never actually met Gordon but spoke with him many times. He was always positive and open minded and most of all encouraging! He will be greatly missed!

[Don Williams]

Gordon was a fine man and will be dearly missed.

[Charles Talbert]

Condolences to family and friends. Sad indeed, he will surely be missed.

Charles

[BobbyMike]

Charles just told me. I am saddened, even with the knowledge that this was coming. Most of you don't know what Gordon did for me. Suffice to say he reached out to me in a time when I needed it. I respected and, yes I will say it, loved the man.

Kevin, I can think of no one else who could carry Gordon's legacy forward. You two were simpatico in so many ways. You, like Gordon, have a way with words and a generous heart. My condolences for your loss. Losing a friend and a mentor is tough.

Gordon was a man who made a difference in the world. I am glad to have known him and only wish I could have known him better.

[Daryl in Oz]

The news about Gordon's passing hit here this morning. I knew he was unwell but like everyone else was somewhat shocked at the news. We never met in person, but had numerous enjoyable conversations by email, he will be sadly missed.

[Gary Weaklend]

I'm at a loss for words but will always be thankful that I had some "Tailgate Time" with Gordon when he visited me in Boone while the truck was in pieces. I felt it was only fitting that after his silent video presentation at the 2014 rally my truck’s horn was able to give him a PW salute from his driveway for all the work he has done for our hobby.
May God Bless you Gordon.

[Chewie]

****.

We will miss him, but I think his presence will always be felt..

[Kevin Mienke]

His Grand Task

Colt and I made the trip up from North Carolina to Iowa in late May. We wanted to see Gordon. We wanted to talk with him. We wanted to help him through this hard thing.

On the way there, I had been thinking of how disjointed the course of time is, sometimes passing in a blur, with only the most extraordinary images standing out; yet, sometimes moving so slowly that every second becomes significant and etched in our memories.

Many of the moments I’ve spent with Gordon have become memories that I will carry with me always.

As I drove toward Norway, Iowa, I feared that this might be the last time I see him…perhaps the last memory I have of him. My thoughts about disjointed time now had new meaning, and I drove on with a lump in my throat.

Knowing that speech had become difficult for him, I thought that Colt and I would do most of the talking. But when we arrived, he sat up as tall as he could and began to speak. Five hours passed in what seemed like 10 minutes. Of course we all know that he had a way with words. He had a way of making you laugh…or cry….or whatever he wanted. He had a certain grace and charm that could evoke emotions.

More than anything, he could make you happy to be alive. Happiness is a funny thing, and thinking about it causes my thoughts to bounce to the day when I first sat down to read “Sitting on the Tailgate.” I knew, straight away, that I’d come upon something good …something I could gather happiness from during a time in my life when every little bit of happiness counted…during my battle with cancer.

Of course, happiness is no small thing, ever, but when a guy has the walls of cancer closing in, well, he tends to see things differently…he tends to appreciate the happy things more. He tends to store up every little happy thing that he can, and take them all with him to the hospital…take them all with him to the treatment center…take them all with him when he’s erupting over a trash can.

Sitting on the Tailgate was a real blessing during that time. And it still is today. It’s a settling down place, so to speak, in a world that spins too fast. It’s a simple bit of happiness that a guy can take with him wherever he goes.

I spend a lot of time thinking about the people in my life. The laughter. Playing baseball with my son. Nights by the campfire. Silent nights and Holy nights. And I spend a lot of time thinking about the people who’ve taken the time to teach me the things I needed to know.

I spend time thinking about those people because those are the people that have made my life worth living. Most other people tend to fill me with a lot of good reasons to talk with my dogs.

That’s just the way it is.

A guy is fortunate to come across someone like Gordon in his lifetime; someone who knows something and is willing to share it. So we sat, Colt and I, in rural Iowa, by his bedside, and we listened to him speak. We listened while he shared.

It was indeed the last time we would hear Gordon speak, but I gained a new understanding of time on that day. I realized nothing in the world is permanent and it would be foolish to ask for the good things to last, yet more foolish not to enjoy them while we have them. At that moment, I let go of the lump in my throat and clung to what was going on in that room…I had my son and one of my greatest mentors together in the same place. What a blessing.

I had traveled 1100 miles to see him and to make him feel better, yet it was he who was healing me…again.

During that last day together he spoke of many things. He spoke of sickness and health. He spoke of trucks and trees and the beauty of country roads and caring friendships. He spoke of his beautiful Carol and his dogs and the love he gathered from them. He spoke of his magazine, which he referred to as his “grand task.” He spoke of how he wanted nothing more than for his grand task to be carried on.

I will do my best to contribute to that. I hope y’all will too.

I sit at my desk now, in North Carolina. Life is moving forward. My truck needs rebuilt. My yard needs mowed. My dogs want a bone. I will take care of those things. And, in the moments between, I’ll think of him.

[Greg Coffin]

Amen Kevin.

[Colt Mienke]

That afternoon my dad wrote about is one that I’ll always cherish. Gordon’s love for learning, for life’s mysteries, for the big picture as well as the smallest, simplest of things all resonated deeply with me. Gordon Maney lived life fully, with a keen sense of what is beautiful. In that last day together, he spent a good amount of time speaking of his determination to live. And let’s not be fooled by his passing: he certainly did live and will continue to live. His determination to live will be carried out by those who were touched by him. He will most certainly live a long time.

[Rich Szklany]

Thank you Kevin & Colt, well spoken.