By Maren Hendrickson

“I Saved You for a Reason”

Jessie Simone Gordon (1929-) was born in Port Arthur, Texas to Cornelius Wilson and Alvin James Paul.  Her grandchildren affectionately call her ‘Gramma’ or ‘Granny’. She was raised by her own grandparents. Her Caribbean father taught her how to live cautiously in the South, “when to be in town, when not to be in town, how to build a house, what to use for insulation…that kind of thing”. When asked for the first word that comes to mind when he thinks of his grandmother, Sahara Anthony Jr. says simply, “school.” Jessie has always dreamed of becoming a nurse. She got an associate degree in nursing but wasn’t able to continue school because she was the eldest child in her family, and she was needed at home to raise her sisters. When Sahara stopped going to school after he graduated from the Central District’s Garfield High he had already heard it from his grandma a hundred times and he’d hear it a hundred times more from her.. “Boy, don’t be stupid!”… well, she wouldn’t have said it like that, she would have said: “Boy, don’t be uneducated!” To this day, Sahara says, Gramma is on his head about finishing school and remains steadfast in her belief in the importance of education. She wants Sahara to get a business degree because she sees it as the closest thing to security and success in the future. She saw a business degree as not only necessary but practical, because according to her, “to keeps you from working harder than you have to.”

The most lasting impact Jessie has had on her grandson are from their frequent conversations over the years about purpose. Jessie loved to get down to the core of an issue, to illuminate her grandson’s personal reflections, and to push Sahara to question the nature and reason of things. Sahara remembers multiple conversations about what he’s “actually here to do in the world.” Purpose is a guiding force in Jessie’s long and powerful life and she has ingrained in Sahara a strong sense of purpose. Ever since he can remember, she has told him, “I saved you for a reason.” The story behind this phrase is one that highlights Jessie’s wisdom, maternal values, and purpose-driven grit. For the first few years of his life, Sahara was what he described as a “really sick kid.”  He was constantly in and out of the hospital with Hirschsprung disease, a disease caused by a birth defect that affects the large intestine of babies. When his mother took him into the hospital, his doctor would not treat Sahara or acknowledge the validity of his symptoms. It was Jessie who pulled the doctor aside and insisted that this wasn’t a case of helicopter-parenting or overreacting to a tummy ache, that there was something medically wrong with the boy despite him not believing the mother. She urged the doctor to perform the appropriate diagnostic tests on her grandson, telling him in so many words that she was a certified nurse so he better “listen the hell up.”  It was only with her persistence that Sahara’s potentially life-threatening condition was identified.

She did, in fact, save Sahara—the third of four grandchildren—for a reason. Sahara has four children of his own and has touched the lives of countless others and their families through his years working at the Ballard Boys and Girls Club (BBGC). While he hasn’t worked as an after-school program counselor for years, Sahara is still a mentor to several young adults that have grown up with him at the BBGC. Sahara’s charisma, charm, open-mindedness, and heart are magnetic. He currently runs two companies that are beloved by the community, a deep-fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich booth and a cafe called Alison’s, which he owns with one of his best friends and fellow BBGC alumna. Sahara and his cafe co-owner, Alison, also employ their “Club Kids”; who they make a special effort to take under their wings. Sahara is one of the most popular people you will meet. He is well-loved by all and has a warmth that radiates from his infectious and omnipresent laughter. He thanks his grandmother for his humble attitude and thoughtful approach to life.

Sahara was raised by his mom and two grandmothers and in his words, “my mom didn’t teach me anything.” So, he looked up to his Gramma Jessie in many ways, but especially appreciated her dedication to making him into a humble, thoughtful, good-listener. “Her big thing was, you don’t have to like what your mama says, you don’t have to agree with her, but you do have to listen to her.” Jessie was revered and well respected by her grandchildren. Jessie has offered her grandson her own time-tested knowledge of “where to step, and where not to step”. Their conversations about religion, her upbringing, her children, and all the “other crazy sh*t” really stuck with Sahara. He says, “she will tell me a story like the ones we see in movies and I’ll go look it up in a book or something and think, damn, she’s really for real like she really lived that!”. To Sahara, and to anyone who takes the time to know Jessie, she is “an absolute f****** rockstar! There isn’t a concept or something new that she isn’t able to speak on or impart her own knowledge onto.” What she knows of history itself is moving to everyone that gets a chance to talk to her. Jessie is 89 and has lived through a couple generations.  She has seen the ups and the downs, and she has “stayed positive through all the bull***t.” She never looked at herself or her situation as being misfortunate. She played the best hand she could with the hand she was dealt, and she continues to live her life with purpose, grace, and strength.

Memories of his grandmother conjure the smell of mothballs and old books, as well as the feeling of wool blankets, which were always laying around her house, always very warm, and always “breaking [Sahara] the f*** out.” When asked what sounds come to mind when he thinks of his grandmother, Sahara replies with “her voice… she talks hella loud because she’s deaf in one ear”. When he thinks about what taste comes to mind, it’s her lemon tea “voodoo potion cure-all.”  She would make Sahara her concoction every time he was sick, lemon tea mixed with a myriad of other ingredients. He described her recipe as “honey, ginger—s*** you not, onions and a bunch of other crazy s*** she boils down.” He makes the tea for himself and his kids any time he is sick

Jessie currently resides in Federal Way, Washington.