Adlynn Hartley Gordon

Adlynn Gordon, Children's Theatre Producer, Hudson River Conservationist


Adlynn Hartley Gordon, passed away on November 14, 2009, in Ulster Park, New York. She was 84 years old. Adlynn is survived and will be deeply missed by a large devoted family: her beloved husband of 61 years, Donald Lloyd Gordon, a general surgeon who practiced in New York City; five children and their spouses: Don Jr and his wife, Lisa Cantrell; Lynn and her husband, Fred Lepore; Doug and his wife, Kim Weller; Wendy and her husband, Larry Rockefeller, and Derek and his wife, Julie Helm; eleven grandchildren: Donnie, David, Addie, Meredith, Wyatt, Ryan, Andrew, Brian, Richard, Derek and Luke; and three great-grandchildren: Dominic, Kyley and Lilyana. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Vassar College with a passion for the theatre arts, Adlynn was a successful children's theatre producer. She founded her own company, Creative Theatre for Children, in the 70s, serving as executive producer and chair for its full fifteen years. Her productions of such children's classics as Peter Pan, Hansel and Gretel, Oliver and Annie, were some of the more popular events on the calendar for the John Harms Theatre in Englewood, New Jersey, drawing school children from all over the region. In prior years, she produced shows for a number of volunteer organizations on whose boards she served as president, including the Auxiliaries of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and Roosevelt Hospital in New York City and the Junior League of Northern New Jersey. Adlynn also taught children drama, believing strongly in the role that the imagination and creative expression play in a child's development. Her own creative talents were legend, from the paper mache masks and hand puppets she made for the theatre, to the exquisite stained glass windows she created to mark the holiday season at her children's school. In later years, when she wasn't painting landscapes, she would write, everything from short stories to grant proposals. Born in Nutley, New Jersey, Adlynn grew up in Englewood, New Jersey, graduating from Dwight Morrow High School, and returning with her husband and three children in the 1950s. She served on both the city's Board of Education and the board of the Dwight-Englewood School. After retiring in the early '90s to their home on the Hudson, Adlynn and her husband pursued a shared commitment to conservation. She served as Treasurer for Save the Esopus Meadowlands Lighthouse, near Port Ewen, New York; as Trustee for Friends of Mills Mansion, now a museum in Staatsburg, NY, and Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer for the Garden Club of Kingston, New York.

She always will be remembered with much love, affection and admiration.

A Memorial Service will be held 1PM on Friday, November 27, 2009, at the Ascension Church, Route 9W, West Park, New York. Burial will follow in the Ascension Cemetery, Route 9W, West Park, New York.

Arrangements entrusted to the Keyser Funeral Service, Inc., 216 Broadway, Port Ewen, NY.