Downtown frequenters may be familiar with Gordon “Gordy” Andersen, the 62-year-old who enjoys frequenting the Berryland Cafe and chatting up other customers. Andersen would greet 120 Sumnerites a day when he was a United Parcel Service delivery man to the city. He grew to like the community enough to move here in 2003 following a divorce, becoming an ever-present friendly face around town.

Then, in 2006, he retired and caught up with an old friend at his 40th Franklin-Pierce high school class reunion: Mary Kendall.

“We were good friends,” Mary said. “And then we became a little more than friends.”

In March, they became even better friends, marrying after a bittersweet 44-year story of love, separation and reunification.

Early Days

Anderson and Mary had dated their senior year at Franklin-Pierce, meeting in study hall during the fall semester.

“Gordy was pretty much like he is now,” Mary said. “He was a fun-loving guy. Everybody knew him.”

After graduation, they stayed together during the summer before going their separate ways—Gordy’s decision.

“In the fall, I took a hike for 18 miles, thinking about things,” Gordy said. “I was thinking about our relationship and I said, ‘No, this is nuts,’ and I decided to break up with her. I came to find out she cried for three months afterward.”

Mary went on to a job with Boeing, then the Kent School District. She married and had two children: a daughter and son.

Gordy joined the military, and spent a few years partying, he said. He also married, and had a daughter.

As a UPS driver, he began delivering to Sumner in 1975, then was moved to a route outside town before coming back in 1990.

“It wasn’t easy work, but the people I was delivering to made it easy,” he said. “I always tried to leave a positive feeling when I left. People appreciate it.

“If you do things right in life, people just come out of the woodwork and eventually pay it back.”

Reunited

Shortly after the turn of the millennium, both Gordy and Mary moved into new stages of their lives. Mary divorced in 2001 and Gordy divorced in 2003.

Gordy used the event as an opportunity to move to the community he had worked in for more than a decade, and leased an apartment in Sumner.

Mary started working again, and took a job with Multicare in Auburn.

Gordy retired from UPS in 2006. Soon after was the 40th reunion for their graduating high school class. Both said they called ahead of time to ask who else would be there; Mary was particularly curious if her old flame would be attending.

“I thought to myself ‘I wonder if Gordy will be there,'” she said. “So I called (organizer) Mel Barell and I asked him, ‘Is Gordy coming?’ He told me he didn’t know, so I was left wondering as the reunion came closer.

“But that night, I did see him. I went up to him and I said, ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ We started talking, I told him about my divorce and he said ‘Well, you beat me by two years.’ I didn’t say it, but inside I thought, ‘Yes!'”

They traded numbers, and after Gordy took a vacation to Alaska to catch up with his daughter, he and Mary began dating in earnest.

They caught up on lost time, and Gordy showed off his new girlfriend around town.

“I was an Army brat, and we moved all over the U.S.,” Mary said. “Because we moved around so much, I never really put down roots. But Gordy was in Pierce County his whole life, which I think is nice. He took me down to the Berryland Cafe, where he likes to go, and I was a little bit nervous. But he said hello to people as they came in and everyone was so friendly.

“He’s always been outgoing. He was awesome in high school and he’s awesome now. He loves people.”

Likewise, Mary got Gordy to try new things.

“I was in a family that went to church every Sunday,” she said. “But Gordy didn’t go to church. So one Sunday we went to Sumner Presbyterian and the pastor said, ‘Hey Gordy, what are you doing here?’ They knew each other because Gordy knows everybody, but the pastor was surprised because he knew Gordy didn’t attend services.”

A wrench in the works

Unfortunately, they hit a speed bump last year when Gordy’s concentration took a dive and friends and family started noticing different behavior.

“Mary said, ‘Something’s wrong,’ but I said ‘Oh no, everything’s fine,'” Gordy said. “Then I was outside one day and my landlord says ‘You’re kind of loopy.’ She took me to the emergency room.”

Gordy was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a cancer of the brain. The prognosis only gave him a few years of survival.

He went forward with treatment. Mary had already had a bout with breast cancer earlier in the decade, something she said made her more prepared and patient for what was to come.

“With everything bad, some good comes out of it,” Gordy said. “In this case, the good was the community out here. After all this came down the pike, I found out the whole community was behind me. To attack cancer, you need support—and here I got such an emotional and spiritual support.”

Several prayer groups named Gordy during service, and a group of five to six women—dubbed “Gordy’s Angels”—drove him to radiation treatment when Mary’s work schedule prevented her from doing so.

After a round of treatment, the most recent check-ups showed that Gordy was in remission. But his doctor told him there was still work to do.

“My doctor came in to our appointment in November, revealing in charts what was left,” Gordy said. “He says, ‘Hey; this is where we are, but we got lots of bolts left in the holster.’

“That kind of jacked me up. I thought maybe I can quit sitting on the fence about this relationship.”

Proposal and marriage

“I thought, ‘We got to get married,'” Gordy said. “‘I don’t care if there’s a year left or 20 years left. We’ve got to get married.’ The doctor said he thought that was a good idea, and I left decided on it.”

Gordy set a plan in motion for the proposal. He decided it should be the day of Sumner’s Santa Parade.

“I asked her to come down a little bit early,” he said. “When she did, I gave her the box. She opened it up. Tears came down both our faces. She said yeah.

“I made 45 years right.”

They married March 12 at Sumner Presbyterian Church with Pastor Steve Starr—the same pastor who had asked Gordy what he was doing at services—officiating the ceremony.

“It’s always a good time when I get to marry a couple more mature, who know what they want,” Starr said. “What fun to see high school sweethearts coming together like that. Just to see the love they have for each other.”

About 150 people attended the ceremony, including both the Andersons’ children.

The couple is taking a positive outlook on the future.

“With the cancer, the whole thing has made us more determined,” Mary said. “They haven’t found any new cancer, so our view is, ‘So what?'”

The one bittersweet aspect of the marriage that Gordy noted was that he would be moving away from Sumner to live with Mary in Kent. But Gordy has taken up the habit of driving south to Sumner and the Berryland Cafe, while his wife is on shift. He called it “going back to work,” due to the commute.

Leaving Sumner was hard, he said, but married life is treating him well.

“Marriage is great,” he said. “I’m in such a great place in my life. Nothing can ruin it for me.”