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| For Immediate Release | Contact: Frances Squire |
| May 23, 2008 | Phone: (559) 934-2134 |
West Hills College Confers Vernon Gordon with Honorary Degree
Vernon Gordon’s formal education ended when he was 15 years old when he says he became homeless but not helpless. That has never stood in his way during his years as a successful farmer, elected official and community activist. It has also never stood in his way as a popular speaker at community events.
Friday night, West Hills College Coalinga honored the Tranquillity farmer with an honorary degree. He also served as commencement speaker.
He shared with graduates his belief that during the creation of our nation, one of the “brightest threads in that new societal fabric was, and still is, our great system of public education.”
He called on the graduates to “establish yourselves in today’s world...to share your ideas and goals with an eye singled toward creating an even better society than that with which you have been so richly blessed.”
Gordon has lived in Fresno County for 65 years. He will celebrate his 80th birthday on June 10th.
He and the former Flora Mae Reece have been married for 58 years and he has owned and operated a family farm corporation for 50 years.
A veteran of the U.S. Army military police, he served in the Korean conflict.
The Tranquillity Citizen of the Year in 2005 served on the Tranquillity High School Board of Trustees for eight years and served on the West Hills Community College District Board of Trustees for 13 years.
Gordon Hall, the men’s residence hall at WHCC is named in his honor in 1995 and he and Mrs. Gordon recently pledged $50,000 to the college to be used to help refurbish that hall. The gift was the largest cash gift in college history.
A Mason for 52 years, Gordon served as Grand Master of 220,000 Masons in California and Hawaii in 1980. He was honored by the California legislature that year when they adopted his Masons’ public schools theme, “Our public schools; America’s first choice—democracy’s only choice,” as the slogan for the year.
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West Hills Community College District serves the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and is part of the California Community College System. Its two colleges, West Hills College Coalinga, which includes North District Center, Firebaugh, and West Hills College Lemoore, serve more than 6,000 students on campus and online each semester.