Salem’s Citizens of Honor will be inducted at dinner

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Gordon

Photo

Smith

SALEM

During the Salem Founders’ Day Dinner on April 24, two men will be officially inducted as 2012 Citizens of Honor: the late Bruce P. Gordon, who died in 2010, and Daniel E. Smith.

The 42nd Annual Founders’ Day Dinner will take place at the Salem Community Center, 1098 N. Ellsworth Ave. Dinner reservations can be made with the Salem Historical Society, 330-337-8514 by April 20.

Other activities planned for the event are a basket auction and a presentation by Dr. Larry Nelson, adjunct professor of history at Bowling Green State University, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the War of 1812.

Gordon was owner and chairman of the board of Gordon Bros. Water Inc. until his death. His parents, Marion and Lloyd Gordon, founded the business in 1945. Bruce joined the business in 1960, after graduating from Salem High School and Denison University and serving in the Air Force.

He went on to become president and a certified water specialist of the Ohio Water Quality Association.

Some of the organizations Gordon was associated with, all of which he became president or board member, were Butler Institute of American Art, Mahoning Valley Better Business Bureau, Copeland Oaks, Crandall Medical Center, Grandview Cemetery, advisory committee at the Salem campus of Kent State University, Salem Board of Education, Rotary Club, KeyBank, Youngstown Symphony and Salem Community Foundation. He also was a 62-year member of First United Methodist Church.

Gordon received many honors over the years, including Outstanding Citizen of Salem and Small Business Person of the Year.

He married Eileen Johnston in 1957. She died in 2009. Their children are Douglas, Geoffrey and Diane, and they have six grandchildren.

Smith is the son of T. Emerson and Dorothy Chappell Smith and was born in 1928. He attended Ohio University and Denison, then entered the Army in 1948.

Smith attended Bradley University’s School of Horology in Peoria, Ill., where he met and married Jeanine Rians, a Delta Airlines stewardess.

A certified gemologist, Smith owned a successful jewelry business for 38 years. The Smiths have three sons, Greg, Tim and Thad, and six grandchildren.

He is a member of the Salem Elks Lodge, Salem Historical Society and Rotary, among other organizations. He also is past president of the Salem Library Board.

Smith, an avid sailor, wrote a book about his sailing life and the Seawind 30, the type of boat he owned from 1981 until it was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

Special awards he earned include Outstanding Alumnus in 1985 and Outstanding Citizen in 1991.