Henry Gordon, UDP Stalwart and Pastor, Passes Away

Former UDP Secretary General and Senator Henry Gordon has passed away. Gordon was a towering figure in both politics and the church. Back in the early to mid-90s, he served as Secretary General during a crucial transition period for the United Democratic Party, years that paved the way for their historic 2008 landslide victory. After that win, Gordon was chosen by the Council of Churches and the Evangelical Association as their Church Senator, continuing his lifelong commitment to faith and public service. He also wore many hats, UDP Secretary General in the mid-2000s, Chief Meteorologist before politics, and a respected pastor who touched countless lives. UDP Leader Tracy Panton took to social media today, calling Gordon a man of integrity, commitment, and deep sense of duty to nation-building. And those words ring true for many who knew him. One of them is Church Senator Louis Wade, who Gordon mentored for years. We spoke with Wade earlier, and here’s what he had to say.

 

Louis Wade, Church Senator

“It is a very big loss because he was one of my mentors. I knew him first through his writing in Amandala. He had a weekly column called “In Search of Truth”, weekly and I would read that. I was still a youth in Dangriga. When I moved up to Belize City, I would listen to him on Tuesday night on Krem as he shared with other great minds like Evan X Hyde, Dr Taeger, Bill Lindo and many others. They discussed national issues and he would always have Judeo-Christian perspective on national issues and that is something that always caught my attention, that he was like a son of Issachar, he understood the times, like Daniel who walked both the halls of power, yet had a relationship with God. That is how I saw Henry Gordon and so he was always someone I looked up to. Senator Gordon as we affectionately called him would  bring his bible and constitution and he would constantly say that both of them worked together to build a democratic nation where individual freedom, religious freedom, freedom of conscience and expression could be realized. I have walked in his footsteps as it relates to knowing the word of and being fully aware of what is taking place nationally and internationally. So when I speak on political issues, national and international, from a Christian perspective, I am trying my best to walk in the giant footsteps of my mentor, Henry Gordon.”