Ada Byrd Gordon

A graveside service to commemorate the life of Ada Ellen Byrd Gordon will be held at11:00 A.M. on Tuesday, March 20, 2018,at the Haile Gold Mine Baptist Church Cemetery in Kershaw, SC. The Rev. Dale Walters will officiate. No public viewing or formal visitation will be held.

Mrs. Gordon, 90, died peacefully at Springdale Healthcare Center on Saturday, March 17, 2018. Born in Kershaw, she was the daughter of the late John Lee and Lillie Lou Elza Payne Byrd. Ada attended Haile Gold Mine Elementary School and Flat Creek High School. With encouragement from her music teacher at Flat Creek High, Ada began taking piano lessons in 1942 and soon began playing the piano at Haile Gold Mine Baptist Church. She was valedictorian of the Flat Creek High School class of 1945 and was awarded a scholarship to Erskine College in Due West, SC. Ada dreamed of becoming a missionary and teacher, but she chose to stay at home and help her parents. She worked as a secretary and timekeeper at the Kershaw Springs Mill Cloth Room until her retirement and lovingly cared for her parents until their deaths. She fulfilled her dream of being a missionary and teacher by teaching Sunday school, Training Union, and Vacation Bible School at White Bluff Baptist Church, where she also played the piano for many years. Her life was one of faithful servanthood. Her cousin Allen Robinson best describes her generous, loving spirit: “I didn’t know it until I was grown, but a lot of Christmases would have been empty except for Ada. So I am one of the few people to know what Santa Claus really looks like.”

Ada is survived by brothers John Lewis (Mozelle) Byrd and Bobby Lee (Shirley) Byrd; sister Mary Ann Townsend; former brother-in-law Gerald Townsend; nephew Mark (Jeraldine) Byrd; nieces Lynn (Charles) Welch, Gwen Byrd, Ellen Byrd and Ann Byrd; great-nephew Lee Welch; great-nieces Jessica (Jonathan) Payne and Caroline (Masai) Dalton; great-great-nephew Deuce Dalton; great-great niece Gloria Dalton; and a number of cousins and friends. Besides her parents, she was preceded in death by nephew Bob Byrd Jr. and great-nephew Chad Byrd.

Memorial contributions may be made to the charity of one’s choice.