Consistently kind/helpful year in and year out

A long time ago when the Island population was about 300 and most of us who live here now had never heard of Gabriola or didn’t even live in Canada, something extraordinary happened. Tom and Francis McDonald had a son called Gordon (Gordie to the rest of us). It was widely reported at the time that the newborn’s first word was EX-CA-VA-TOR.

Gordie has had a varied background. He worked at Harmac in 1964, was a beach comber, a tree faller and for a year or so when things were rough he played poker to earn a living. He has lived on Gabriola all his life except for two years in New Zealand and Australia where he worked for a carnival and was mentored by the owner’s twins in the art of running a business.

Thirty-seven years ago at the grand opening of the Silva Bay Pub he met his future wife Laurie. Laurie is well known to us all as the highly organized and helpful manager of the Gabriola Post Office, and yes, she does know the postal code for every address on Gabriola.

In 1975 Gordie and a friend, Terry Hill, bought a backhoe and started Degnen Excavators. Since then Gordie has become something of an island legend and has been involved with the construction of many of the buildings on Gabriola. Gordie is also a repository of some of the great Gabriola stories and is famed for recounting the goings on over the years. The stories are always hilarious and have a ring of absolute truth about them.

Gordie and Laurie are fascinated with nature. Ask him about the screech owl that always sat on his head while he watched TV or perhaps Rocky, a wild raccoon that was a friend of theirs for 17 years and searched for raisins that Gordie hid between his toes.

What most people do not know is that for nearly four decades Gordie and Laurie have been giving back to the community they love so much. They do it willingly and without telling people what they do.

Laurie has been involved in many island organizations and can often be found canvassing for a variety of great charitable organizations, most recently the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

Over time Gordie has given thousands of hours of machine time to the community. He was instrumental in construction of the Community Hall, the Rod and Gun Club and many of the Island churches. He has ploughed snow from driveways of people who need help and spent years clearing the lots at GIRO and the post office. As well, he has cut hundreds of cords of wood and donated them to community members. He has financially supported dozens of causes on the island, and has helped out Gabriola students, by doing things such as helping with tuition costs. Gordie and Laurie do all of this, always refusing payment and insisting on being anonymous.

Gordie and Laurie have supported a foster child in Haiti for five years. At the time of writing this article they have no news of how their foster child is doing.

Without Gordie and Laurie McDonald and people like them our Island could not be the place it is. They are heros.

Mike Phillips

Ed note: Mr. ‘I’m too shy’ McDonald insisted that he didn’t want his picture published. However we know that most Gabriolans already know what he looks like anyway.