‘Smokestack Willie’ was lawyer, community champion
A portable, plastic radio with a homemade headphone jack changed Walter Gordon’s life. Growing up, Gordon would lay in his bed at night in Hartwell listening to the DJ John R. on WLAC radio out of Nashville.
The native son, fondly known as “Smokestack Willie” for his second life as a blues man, died July 27.
A lawyer with his own firm, The Gordon Law Firm, Gordon always found time to get back to music through his harmonicas. The love affair blossomed in 2014, but was rooted in those headphones and radio.
After battling lymphoma and recovering from blood cancer, Gordon took advantage of a blues harp, or harmonica, camp in Clarksdale, Mississipii, the home of the Delta Blues. The camp was taught by John Gindick, a man B.B. King called the best harmonica teacher in America. Then 64 years old, Gordon was a late comer to learning an instrument, but was eager.
When Gordon was 15 years old, he landed a radio show on WKLY on which he featured the rock and roll of the mid 1960s.
His radio name was Willie G and his show was The Willie G Show that aired on Sunday afternoons.
He would invite people to the station for dance parties while he was on air. It was a job he enjoyed as a teenager, but real life was calling and Gordon left for Emory University where he would begin his journey to becoming a lawyer.
Legal life
After graduating with honors from Hart County High School in 1968 as the STAR student, Gordon attended Emory University. While there, he won the Barkley Forum Debate Scholarship, becoming a part of the school’s elite debate program.
Following his graduation, with honors, from Emory, Gordon became very active in politics, serving as the press secretary for former Gov. Zell Miller’s campaign for Lieutenant Governor.
During his time as Governor, Miller bestowed Gordon the title of Admiral of the Georgia Navy, a title Gordon’s father had previously held.
Gordon graduated from Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C. with his law degree in 1976 and returned home to Hartwell to open his own practice, where he remained for 47 years in the same location until the time of his death.
He served as the county attorney for the Hart County Board of Commissioners for more than 30 years and was recognized as one of the longest serving attorneys with the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia.
Frankie Gray had close family ties to Gordon. As Clerk of Superior Court for Hart County, Gray worked in close proximity with Gordon during his time as county attorney.
“I told him when I became clerk, ‘My goal is not to embarrass or hurt Hart County, so I’m going to need your help.’ And I can tell you, he stood by me, he walked with me,” Gray said. “I think every office can tell you that he was there for us. It was a great working relationship. I could call anytime day or night. And anytime I’d call, if he didn’t answer––in less than five minutes he would call me back. And first thing he’d say is, ‘Frankie G!’ and the conversation would start. It was always good to have him a phone call away.”
Gordon was also a member of the Georgia Trials Lawyers since 1977; a member of the State Bar for more than 40 years; a member of the Georgia Supreme Court and the Georgia Court of Appeals for more than 40 years; a member of the U.S. District Court for the Northern, District, Southern District and Middle District for more than 30 years; and a member of the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court since 2002.
Kim Higginbothan, who joined The Gordon Law Firm in 1995, said Gordon “broke the mold.”
“How do you describe a Walter Gordon to someone who didn’t know Walter Gordon? He broke the mold, he had his own mold. I’m thinking he walked to the beat of his own drum because he was the only one who could hear it. It’s great to glimpse into his life, he was a really different character who had a different spin on everything,” Higginbotham said. “He was my sounding board. We did not think exactly the same so it was great to have two perspectives. We never really disagreed. Our only real disagreement was comma usage. He would make a twelve line sentence full of commas. I’d say, ‘you can’t do this!’ He’d say, ‘My momma was an English teacher.’”
A community champion
During his 47-year career, Gordon wore a multitude of hats in his dedication to give back to the community, both in his career and interests outside of work.
A devoted member of the Hartwell Rotary Club, lifelong member of Hartwell First Baptist Church – where he served as a Sunday School teacher, adult leader, deacon and Endowment Committee chair – and Jaycee, Gordon was named Five Outstanding Men in Georgia in 1980. A decade later, the Athens Daily News named him Prominent Leader of the 90’s.
In 2008, Gordon was the recipient of the Justice Robert Benham award for Community Service.
Additionally, he helped create the first public defender program in the Northern Judicial Circuit and served non-profits such as Relay for Life and the March of Dimes in various roles.
He was known for providing pro bono legal services to religious organizations, specifically to Harmony House, Habitat for Humanity, Hart County Clothes Closet, Friends of the Hart Library and the Hart County Humane Society.
Since 1992 until his death, Gordon served as the legal counsel for Habitat for Humanity, and performed the closing for every Habitat for Humanity house built in Hart County.
Darlene Nixon, Executive Director at Hart County Habitat for Humanity, worked alongside Walter, who helped establish the program and subsequently provided ongoing legal services and tangible support for the local chapter.
“Walter was instrumental in the very beginning of Hart County Habitat for Humanity, helping with his time and his extensive knowledge to bring about our affiliate as we know it today. He donated his time and the time of his firm to work on all of the mortgage documentation. Anytime we had legal issues, he was here,” Nixon said. “I think about all of the closings over the years where he was just as excited and congratulatory to every family who purchased a home as they were. He came to all of the functions to be with the families and to let them know that this community was on their side always.
“Walter’s light and his enthusiasm was not just for Habitat and our program, but for this community. You could always see his talent with music, and his vibrance, and everybody knew where they stood with Walter. He has a great legacy here in this community that will last for years and years,” Nixon said.
Family and his first love
Gordon carried his love of music with him at all times, as he was known to always have at least one harmonica on his person and was delighted whenever he was asked to play.
After a blues camp experience, Gordon gathered a few other local musicians, including a then 17-year-old Ethan Crump, a slide guitar player who is the son of Gordon’s friends Stephanie and Steven Crump. Along with Ethan and himself, Gordon had his own son, Daniel, playing drums, Bobby Bond on the keyboard, Marshall Walker on the bass and his daughter-in-law Paige Gordon singing. They were The Hot Dam Band and got to open for Randall Bramblett at the second Lake Hartwell Music Festival. From that another venture was born.
Gordon and the Crumps opened High Cotton Music Hall in May 2015 and since have attracted national and international acts to the intimate space on Depot Street. It served as another outlet for Gordon to scratch the musical itch that was nearly a career for him.
Stephanie Crump said Gordon’s death brings about a great “tragedy and loss” due to the “influence and guidance he could have provided,” especially to his grandchildren and Crump’s granddaughter who called Gordon “Pop Pop.”
“Like his other four grandchildren, Stevie adored her Pop Pop and never spoke of him without smiling, until she struggled with the knowledge that he was ‘so very sick’. Today I most[ly] mourn the stories he would have shared and the advice he would have given her. Yes, my heart is broken for the loss of a dear friend. My heart is broken for Pam and her sons, for his family, friends and colleagues. I mourn the loss of our friend, of course, but the loss of Pop Pop and his unconditional love and support is the greatest loss to our future,” Crump said. “May those five children see the positive changes he created in their family, their community, and their world as they grow and learn of his legacy. Walter, we miss you so much already.”
Higginbotham echoed the feeling of having Gordon as a part of her family.
“[Walter] was a great father. Always great with his boys, and involved with his boys, he thought they could do no wrong. And an even greater grandfather. I have two little girls. My oldest, who’s now a junior at UGA, when she was little would come in here and sit in his lap. She’d take his pen away, she’d take his work away and would staple his papers together and he would just let her sit in his lap and staple all of his work together! He had such a great heart,” Higginbotham said. “He was my safety net. I grew up without a father. I came here not expecting to form that relationship at all, I really didn’t know what I expected. I thought I’d stay here a couple of years and go. I never left.”
After celebrating 40 years of practicing law in 2016, Gordon and his office staff at The Gordon Law Firm, said the future was anyone’s guess.
“There’s a statement out there that says old lawyers never die. They just lose their appeal,” Higginbotham said. “Most of us small-town lawyers stay at our desks into our 70s and 80s. I think we will do this until it is time for us to go.”
Gordon gave his closing argument that day.
“We will die with our boots on,” he said.