Back on Nov. 25, 1941, a 19-year-old by the name of George Walker Gordon died about 7 miles southwest of Monett. 

The cause listed on the death certificate by Dr. Elburn A. Smith was pellagra due to lack of food. The newspapers and radio stations around the country reported the young man had died from starvation. 

The tale told by the media was one of selflessness, as George stoically deprived himself of food so that his younger siblings could eat. A Kansas City newspaper evoked images of the “Grapes of Wrath” in the Ozarks, citing government red tape as the true culprit in the tragic case. 

However, the real story tends to be more complicated than presented in the “first rough draft of history.” Like many families during the Great Depression, the Gordon family, sometimes spelled Gorden, became transient, moving from job to job. 

According to accounts, the father, June Gordon, had brought his wife and 8 of his children to the area during the strawberry harvest, with one older daughter staying at their previous location of Fayette, Missouri. The Gordons camped out in the yard of an abandoned burnt-out house near Pulaskifield and then were granted permission by the property owner, Alex Kenski, to occupy the only habitable room remaining in the structure. 

June began working at a local sawmill, and the younger children attended Chapman school, located a couple miles east of Jolly. The school was consolidated in 1951 with Pierce City, and in 1985 the Chapman school building was relocated to the Jolly Mill Park. 

The schoolteacher at Chapman in 1941 was Mary J. West, a self-proclaimed “old maid” who never married, and spent her last dozen years teaching fourth grade at Purdy before her retiring in 1963. 

When the accounts of the Gordon situations came out, Miss West felt the need to set the record straight and went to the newspapers in Cassville, which lead to a headline of “George Gordon Starvation Hoax” in the Dec. 4 issue. 

According to Miss West, “There is not one word of truth in the reports and everyone should know they are not true.” 

June claimed he had lost his job at the sawmill, but Miss West says he quit, and when ask why replied, “Why should I cut wood with a house full of groceries?” 

Additionally, the children had received school lunches at Chapman starting in October, a program Miss West advocated for in the entire county. Being aware of the children’s plight, the school district also provided clothing so they may attend school and treatments of kerosene and sulphur. 

Miss West also referred the family to the local social security office in Cassville for relief but was informed that June would have to come himself to relay the particulars, which he never did. The local Red Cross at Monett also provided food assistance, as did the Pulaskifield parish. 

June also claimed he was unable to receive work from the Camp Crowder construction near Neosho because he could not afford the union dues, but he was given $6 from W. Vance Davis, Monett Banker and Treasurer of the local Red Cross, for that purpose. Also, George Gordon had apparently suffered a stroke two years previous and was considered in poor health before moving into the area. 

Dr. E.A. Smith stuck by his assessment that starvation was the cause of death, but the community was adamant that adequate food was provided to the family, and a pre-existing condition was more likely the cause of death. 

After George’s death, a flood of aid poured in from the surrounding area. More than 100 residents raised over $200 cash, along with food and clothing. A.L. Hadley of Purdy provided new place for the family to occupy. V.B. Hall trucks transported the family to their new home. 

Wormington Monument donated a gravestone for George Gordon, who was buried in the I.O.O.F. cemetery in Monett by Blankinship Funeral Home. A few days later, on Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor was attacked and the Gordon family saga largely forgotten. The family eventually moved out west to California, where June died in 1984. 

Rather than being stingy, as portrayed by the media, the record shows that the depression era Ozarker was very charitable, and I hope present day Ozarkers are still as charitable with everything we have, including the truth.

Jeremiah Buntin is a historian at the Barry County Museum. He may be reached at [email protected].