Gordon as a eleven year old

Here is a picture of Gordon taken in 1926 when he was 11 years old. While he loved sports and likely dreamed of being the boxing champion of the world, he was also a quiet studious person who loved books. A good assortment of his books have survived, a testament, very likely, of their importance in his life. Books appear to have been a standard gift at Christmas. The year that he turned 12 his cousins Bill, June and Charlotte Simpson who lived on a farm almost immediately behind the McEwan farm, gave him Ralph Conner's The Sky Pilot In NoMan's Land. He also owned Conner's The Prospector. Robinson Crusoe had been a gift when he was seven. Horatio Alger appears to have been a favourite author with several of Alger's books being part of his collection.