Orillia's Gordon Taylor, a Second World War veteran, will be turning 100 years old next week.
On May 17, 1923, Taylor was born in Toronto where he spent his childhood during the Great Depression.
When Taylor was just 14 years old, his father suddenly and tragically died in an accident, forcing him to quit school and support his mother and two sisters in the workforce.
As a teenager, Taylor first joined the cadets and then joined the army as soon as his country called for his service. While he didn’t finish his education, he was recognized by the army for his intelligence and was assigned to the Canadian Radar Division where he trained for several months before being shipped overseas in 1940.
Taylor spent the remainder of the war fighting in Belgium, France, Holland, and England, where he met his wife Alma, a British Army member. The couple would be married in London, England on Nov. 15, 1945.
After the war, Taylor and his bride moved to the Richmond Hill area where their two oldest children, first Anne and then Susan, were born. Taylor found a job as a foreman for Rogers Radio but aspired to be his own boss.
The Taylors moved to Orillia and bought Gordie’s General Store near Sundial Drive in 1952. Their third daughter, Janice (Harrison), was born that summer and Taylor worked seven days a week to support his growing family.
“It had gas pumps, cabins, a snack bar, and a general store,” Harrison recalls. “He was very determined to make it work.”
The Taylors had another daughter, Lynn, in 1954, and they had their first son, Barry, in 1960. Shortly after, they sold the general store and moved to Cumberland Beach where they lived for several years.
In 1962, Taylor bought Uptergrove General Store, but sold the business in 1966 to move back to Orillia.
“There were a lot of hurdles over the years trying to support five kids,” Harrison said. “But he just kept going, it seemed to be in his blood.”
After working some odd jobs for a few years, Taylor purchased his third and final general store in Washago, where he expanded to include a larger deli and grocer. In the early 1970s, Taylor leased his larger store to the LCBO, and the general store to several owners before finally selling them both and calling it a career as a store owner.
In what was originally supposed to be his retirement days, Taylor worked at various hardware stores part-time — including McNab’s Hardware, Craw's Hardware, Ayers Plumbing and Heating, and then Cairn’s IGA. He then settled into buying trailers — fixing them up and then selling them. It was a business he was able to make into a success.
“He came from a family that ran from place to place with absolutely no money during the Depression,” Harrison explained. “That gave him the gift of always making things work somehow.”
in 1995, Taylor’s wife Alma passed away; they had been married for 50 years.
“He was devastated,” Harrison recalls. “He started to realize that he needed to make the most of the time he had left.”
While Taylor mightily struggled with the loss of his wife, he kept himself busy with his children and his 11 grandchildren. He also spent a lot of his time at the Orillia Legion Branch 34, where he was a member for over 60 years.
“The Army and Navy (club) would have dances on Saturday nights,” Harrison explained. “He would go every Saturday night, even in his 90s, to dance.”
Harrison says music and dancing were a huge outlet for Taylor; they were a source of joy. Taylor would go on to marry again, to fellow Legion member Rita Bailey (Clarke), who later passed away in 2001.
Taylor lived at the Legion complex on Fittons Road for quite a while before eventually moving into the Leacock Care Centre, where he lives today. At this point in life, Taylor’s joy comes through visits from family, who he has always been very devoted to.
“Family has always been very important to him,” Harrison said. “He was always the one to bring everyone together to go camping and do those sorts of things.”
Taylor’s age has claimed his mobility, a lot of his memory, and sometimes his ability to keep his spirits up. Harrison admits that living in a retirement home can be sometimes depressing for her father. He also suffers from PTSD from his war days.
“If somebody from the family comes every day to see him, he seems pretty happy,” Harrison said. “Some days are happier than others.”
Harrison suspects the secret to her dad’s long life is perseverance.
“He’s a force to be reckoned with,” she said. “He was unwilling to ever stop at any hurdles thrown his way.”
