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The mayor of a city should
be a representative of its best worth and intelligence, should have an
inherent devotion to public interests, and the general good of the
community should be his first concern. In Charles Gordon the
municipality of Vegreville has such an executive head and he is also
numbered among its foremost business men. He was born in Ontario, on the
13th of April, 1877, a son of Peter and Catherine (McEwen) Gordon, also
natives of that province. For many years the father followed the
occupation of farming and he has now reached the venerable age of
ninety-four, and the mother is also living.
Charles Gordon is one of
a family of ten children and his education was acquired in the public
schools of his native province. In 1903 he came to the west, first
locating at Fort Saskatchewan, in the Victoria district of Alberta,
where he resided for two years, following the carpenter's trade. He
arrived in Vegreville on the 25th of November, 1905, the year in which
the line of the Canadian Northern Railroad was extended to this
locality, and embarked in business as a building contractor,
concentrating his attention upon that line of work until 1907. He then
decided to enlarge the scope of his activities and erected a factory for
the manufacture of builders' and plumbers' supplies. He employs a number
of men In its operation, while he continues in the contracting business,
and in addition is conducting lumberyards at Vegreville, Mundare, St.
Paul de Metis, Ranfurly and Chipman, Alberta. His initiative spirit and
powers of organization have enabled him to develop a business of
extensive proportions and he displays keen sagacity and marked executive
ability in directing his various interests.
Charles Gordon
Mr. Gordon is married and
has three children: Anita, Douglass and Lorne. His wife is a member of
the Baptist church. Mr. Gordon is connected with the local Community
Club and he is a stanch advocate of the liberal principles and is
assistant secretary of the Provincial Liberal Association. The
recognition of his worth and ability on the part of his fellow townsmen
has led to his selection for public office. For fifteen years he was a
member of the town council and he is now mayor of Vegrevi1le, having
filled that office for four years, and also served one term as president
of the Union of Alberta Municipalities. He discharges his official
duties in the same energetic and capable manner which characterizes the
conduct of his private interests and has been strongly commended for his
progressive administration of municipal affairs. He puts forth every
effort to serve faithfully the public at large, shunning every act
inimical to its best interests and working along lines which produce the
best results in the fields of civic virtue and advancement. He stands
high in the esteem of his fellow citizens and is a man of strict
integrity and substantial worth, whom to know is to esteem and admire. |
