CHANGING OF THE GUARD: PRINCIPAL DAVID GORDON RETIRES
... a remembrance by Stevie S. Stevens

Dateline; May 10th, 1976 - the final day in which David Gordon would actively partake as day-to-day administrator of Far Rockaway High School. The graduating class (seniors) of 1976 would be the very last group to graduate under the Gordon Administration.

Although in fact, Mr. Gordon would continue on (in a non-official capacity) as principal of the school for at least another academic year, the former top administrator would use up a series of available "sick days" and then extend his leave with a one-year paid vacation (sabbatical) for the purpose of "restoration of health" issues. His retirement would become official as of the end of August of 1977.

I received a surprise telephone call from Martin Nislick, webmaster of www.Rockawaymemories.com the evening of Monday, August 17th in which Marty asked me to write some sort of tribute to former Far Rockaway High School Principal David Gordon. It seems that Mr. Nislick is presenting a complete series of school yearbooks on his web site and the next book to be posted is the 1976 edition, the last year in which David Gordon was Principal of the school. Marty asked me if I knew the man; I admitted I had known him right up to his death in 1981. However, my relationship with David Gordon was primarily on a professional level - even though we did consider ourselves as friends and I had been "over to his house" on many occasions - including a few suppers at the dinner table with his family. However, thinking back now after all these many years, it is surprising to me that even though I knew the man, I really knew very little about the man! Shocking to me that even though we spent so much time together, I really never asked much in the way of his background. Actually, not so shocking when you stop to consider the type of man that he was. Mr. Gordon was very formal and for the most part, very private and I only knew what he wanted me to know about him. He would present a topic of conversation and then I would go along with whatever he was saying and I did not delve any further into the matter of what he was relating to me at any given time.

Mr. Gordon had told me he had been a teacher of mathematics at Jamaica High School (Queens) where he eventually was promoted to the position of Chairman of that department. He was trained under an extremely strict disciplinarian (Louis Schuker - Principal of Jamaica HS) who had a definite and strong (unmovable) formula as to how to run a New York City High School and indeed, many successful high school principals adopted these methods and those procedures and those strategies had served them very well in their own careers.

David Gordon had secured a job as principal of a school in Tottenville and after only a few years on Staten Island, he was offered the job as Principal of Far Rockaway High School — a position he accepted and he entered his new post in August of 1964.

This would be his final assignment within the New York City Board of Education and he would complete his own personal career at this educational institution.

Whether you liked him or disliked him, you certainly had to admit that he was in "full charge" as FRHS Principal and he definitely was "a force to be reckoned with" especially in his day-to-day dealings with the faculty and students of the high school. Agreed with him or not, you knew who was "boss" in that school building!

I had lunch with Mr. Gordon on his final day as principal of the school. We went over to a small out-of-the-way restaurant (Max Steiner's) in Nassau County early that afternoon and he told me he was planning to tell the staff that very afternoon at a teacher's conference that "today would be his last day." He had already told a few of his closer friends who were working at the school and within the next few hours, it would be common knowledge. I had known for a few weeks that his "hand-picked" assistant (Lillian Weidenbaum - Assistant Administrator) was going to announce she was retiring as of that day (another fact not widely known) but it came as quite a surprise to me that Gordon was also leaving that same afternoon.

Mr. Gordon told me that a few months before, his older brother had died suddenly of a heart attack (right on out on an open street!) and that he himself had a possible heart condition and did not know how much time he had left on earth and he wanted to take advantage of that time remaining and had decided to "take it easy" for awhile and spend more time with his wife Miriam. So, obviously I was not in any position to tell him he was wrong, that at age 66 he had a long way to go. I am certain he gave his situation a lot of serious thought and I was sure he was making the best decision, especially considering all of the circumstances.

Returning to the school that afternoon, I remember going with him to his office - I remember the window air conditioner was running so it must have been a warm afternoon. I excused myself and wished him luck -1 said that I would try to get back for the 3pm faculty meeting to be held in the school auditorium but I could not guarantee my attendance. In those days, I had an office in a beach club located in Atlantic Beach so my place was directly across the Atlantic Beach Bridge.

What I know about the events that occurred later on that day come to me "second hand" from a teacher who was actually at the school that "fateful" afternoon.