Gordon LeRoy Taber

Gordon was the fourth of five children born to the late Marion “Bud” Taber and Leda Viola (Tanner) on July 28, 1934 in Fresno CA. Growing up in the time of the Great Depression, Gordon attended Jane Adams School and later Central High School in 1948 where he played basketball and baseball and formed life lasting brotherhood friendships with buddies LeRoy Lombardi, Junior Fanucci, Ronald Mehling, and Wayne Misner. After graduating from Central HS, he joined the United States Air Force in July of 1952, and was stationed with the 71st Air Force Base in Maine and also spent time in Greenland during the Korean War, where he developed a distaste for green peas.

After serving his country, Gordon worked with his father Bud at Allied Equipment in Fresno. He then met his sweetheart, Joyce Arlene Pinnecker, at a wedding and immediately fell in love. He married his sweetheart on September 19, 1959. He continued working with his dad until he became a Fresno County Deputy Sheriff in 1962. While working at the Sheriff’s department, he attended Fresno State and received a BS degree in Criminology. Gordon retired as a Detective from the Sheriff’s department after 28 years in 1990. Gordon was also a member of the Central Valley Cyber Kiwanis and a prostate cancer survivor.

Gordon loved the outdoors, hunting and fishing. He went with his dad, Bud, every October on deer hunting trips to Utah and throughout California. In fact Bud had told his new wife to be, Joyce, that she could have him all year except for 2 weeks every October, where he is already spoken for. After Bud’s passing and when his two sons, Jeff and Mike were old enough, he continued hunting every October in Wyoming and spending this time with his two sons passing down a family tradition. In addition to hunting and fishing Gordon especially enjoyed working on his “O” scale model train layout, yelling at the television when the Raiders and A’s games are on and taking long weekend trips to Morro Bay, where he would often link up with his four high school buddies and their families. Laughter could be heard for long distances and usually incurred a visit from the park managers that usually ended up staying and joined in on the fun and good times.

Upon his retirement, Gordon followed his passion by fulfilling a life long dream and moved from the Fresno/Clovis area to Banner, Wyoming in 1990, where he could hunt, fish and take daily walks and trips to the Banner post office with his dogs Clyde and Cinder, whom almost everyone in the area knew by name. Then in 2007, Gordon and Joyce moved to Hanford to be closer to his grandson Cole, where he absolutely loved and enjoyed watching him play football, basketball and baseball. He never missed a game and always had flavored Tootsie Pops ready for Cole and his friends after every game. As his grandson grew older, he attended football and basketball games at Hanford High, and later at Reedley College and enjoyed watching his grandson compete. Gordon loved the California coast and the Wyoming countryside and was very generous and would give anyone in need the shirt off his back along with a great story. He had a way with telling a story with a twinkle in his eye. His stories are what the family will miss the most.

He is survived by his wife, Joyce of Hanford, son, Jeff and daughter-in-law Ruthie Taber, and grandson Cole Taber of Hanford, sister Rosemary Baldwin of Mesa, AZ and many nephews, nieces and good friends, and special “grandsons” Juwuane and Jupri Hughes whom he cared about dearly.

Gordon was pre-deceased by his father Marion “Bud” Taber, mother Leda Viola Taber, his sister Viola Hallam, brothers Freeman Taber, Marion Taber, his infant daughter, his son Michael Scott Taber, his four buddies, LeRoy, Junior, Ronald, and Wayne, his dogs Clyde and Cinder and a pet fish, Captain Jack, a trout last seen in Jobutt Pond, Banner, WY.

A memorial to celebrate Gordon's life will be held at a later date.

The family would like to thank the Adventist Health Hospital ICU and the Adventist Health Hospice Group and all the wonderful doctors, nurses and staff that cared for Gordon.