Sisters of the Burning Branch Goddess Gallery Presents...

A Goddess Among Us!

Honoring Wilma L. Gordon

By Onyx Moon

Wilma (Orndorff) Gordon was my paternal grandmother who was either your best friend or worst enemy. I know this from experience.  Whenever I brought my friends to her house, it was a 50/50 chance they would make a second visit. She was straight forward, painfully honest and had a wicked sense of humor that most did not understand. Deep down, though, she had a golden heart and a strong desire to help people. She had no problems making friends when people were in need of one. Grandma was born in Cavetown, Maryland on March 18, 1941 and passed into the Otherworld on March 13, 2002 of heart failure.

Being a healer runs in the family. She was a registered nurse working in the military hospitals. She was a Cherokee Indian and that her grandfather was a Shaman.  She definitely inherited something from that Shaman because when spoke with her, she looked past your eyes and into your soul. She knew a lot more about you then you would want to share. She did not make you feel bad about either. It was very eerie. Try to council you out of whatever bad you were in.  Ultimately, we have to make our own choices.  Another thing she enjoyed doing was writing poetry. Before she died, she was writing a book that now is in her daughters’ possession. Long before my last grandfather, she claimed to be a witch, but converted when she married gramps.  However, she did pass on her witchy ways to her two oldest granddaughters, my cousin Angela and I.

 Outside of that, we do not know much about her family and she did not really want to share. What we do know was that she was chose a life away from them because of a painful childhood. She believed in learning from past events, but not to let it rule your future life. That if you are in a unhealthy relationship, whatever it maybe, then leave it. Another door will open. Doors in the love department did open quite a lot for her as well. My cousin and I joke about it, but she was married six times and only half of them were happy. Her longest marriage was to my late grandfather, who at one point, her three kids thought of as their father.

Because of an accident at work one night, she was unable to work anymore and was legally disabled. Therefore, the majority of my memories of her were when we sat her dining room table. That was her favorite spot. Here anyone who would have stopped by for a visit would either receive her wisdom or receive one of her lectures that would usually include her fingernail taps on the table. (I got that one a lot as a kid.)

Some of her favorite things, other than talking, were watching Oprah and her soaps. She almost lived by that show. Even Oprah wasn’t immune from her fingernail tapping. She was also obsessed with the late Princess Dianna. Befriending complete strangers was another favorite pass time of hers. I was home on leave one time when she had me take her to Ft. Carson for something, while there at one of the little shops, she befriended the woman at the counter and what was to be a quick trip, lasted three hours. Some of her favorite songs were of the native American tradition, Amazing Grace, and one of my favorites, Bette Midlers, Wing Beneath My Wings.    

She had 3 children, my aunt Katherine, my dad Daryal, and my uncle Robert. Before her death, she was able to meet one of her great-grandchildren, after her death, two other of her great-grandchildren were born, my daughter and my cousins’ son.  Every holiday we would all meet up at her house. She always made someone’s favorite dish. Mine was her baby carrots. When I deployed, the holiday season before she passed, she did not make any carrots. She said, “Since Jeran can’t be here with us, I am not making her carrots.”  

Some of the things I inherited from her where also her favorite things too. My Grandma had this awesome collection Pfaltzgraf dinnerware, the Tea Rose collection. The two paintings (the one featured in this picture of her) that hung in their sitting room with matching figurines was something else I received. I plan to use these items in our dining room when we finish it. Grandma was at home in the dining room and that’s where I will always remember her.  The two things that remain with me after her passing are her laugh and the fingernail tapping. She is one of my guardians that no matter what goofy antic I come up with, highly opinionated comment is stated or standing up for what I believe in others say I should not, her laughter or fingernail tapping with her nod is their supporting whatever decision I make. 

Other then the materialistic things, I really believe that I inherited her wisdom. She could see into the future and she could see where the unhealthy relationships were. Most physics and Tarot readers would not allow her in their space. Not because she was bad, but because they knew they couldn’t tell her what she already knew. I think it was because she scared them. I also feel is responsible for one of my break ups with a boyfriend. She didn’t like him, I mean really didn’t like him. He wasn’t my boyfriend for much longer after meeting her.  I am grateful for that since I was then able to meet my husband.

This last picture of her is of her hosting her last Christmas dinner. Even though she didn’t have a lot to do with her siblings, she did believe in the family that she had in Colorado.  She felt that we are good people with the best intentions. She supported us when we needed a shoulder to cry on, a friend to talk to or just needed a place to crash when things were just crazy.    

        Whispers in the Night

By Wilma L. Gordon

I wanted to gently kiss you on your face

And to feel your breath against mine

I wonder how your hand would feel

Touching me and would it feel

Like an artists brush,

Just touching me in places where I have

Never been touched before

                I wonder if you know you have the

Most beautiful hands

I wanted to comfort you

And you comforting me

I feel myself drowning in the

Depth of your eyes

When you are looking at me

The gentle smile

The way you walk

My heart beating faster

When you whisper in the dark

My Name

We miss you Grandma!

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