Gordon Montgomery Taught Me a lot of Life Lessons in a Variety of Ways

Gordon Montgomery

Gordon Montgomery was my social studies teacher in middle school and also my basketball coach at the same time.

Gordon was a terrific basketball player who had played four years at Georgetown College for legendary coach Bob Davis after graduation from Danville High School. Montgomery was captain of the 1958 Georgia team that reached the NAIA Final Four.

Gordon was an avid golfer who was always looking for a chance to get better but probably never passed up a chance to play golf. He was also a high school basketball coach.

Gordon eventually became a Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance representative, a role he had for 47 years. That was the way he impacted my life even more than he did as a teacher and coach.

I bought my first life insurance policy at age 16 from him because I believed in the investment value. I continued to buy policies from him not only for myself but also for my wife, children and grandchildren. I now have policies that are over 50 years old, something many insurance agents tell me is a real rarity. However, just as Gordon told me, those policies turned out to be the best investments I ever made.

Montgomery passed away at age 87 this week. He had moved from Danville to Florida several years ago but recently had moved back to Bardstown.

Before he moved we often talked about sports either when I was supposed to be seeing him for updates on my policies or when he just called because he wanted to talk about UK sports. I always loved his insights and questions.

My last conversation with him was about his grandson, a high school football player in Virginia who has a scholarship to Division I Western Illinois. I am just sorry Gordon will not get to see him play in college.

“We were so blessed that his mind was as sharp as a tack until the end. He was talking about his Georgetown College basketball days and cheering on the Cats until the end,” Susan Montgomery McDowell, Montgomery’s daughter, said.

He spent two years in the U.S. Army and served one year overseas in South Korea with the Korean Military Advisory Group. 

He stayed involved in the community. He was a long-time member of the Gideons International and also served as a  deacon at the Lexington Avenue Baptist Church and an elder at the First Christian Church. Gordon was also a past president of the Danville Kiwanis Club.

Gordon’s wife, four children, eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild were blessed with an extraordinary man who touched so many lives in different ways.

The funeral service is Monday 1 p.m. at Lexington Avenue Baptist Church. Visitation will be from 11 to 1 p.m., Monday at the church with burial will follow in Bellevue Cemetery.