Anne Yordon

It was 5pm on the 8th day of a COVID quarantine for our 96-year-old Mother Anne Yordon, and she was getting stir-crazy. Her apartment was on the 2nd floor of her assisted living facility in Tallahassee, Florida. Mom launched herself from her recliner, grabbed her trusty walker and headed out her apartment door. Knocking on one door after another, urging quarantined elderly neighbors to join her revolt. The nurses managed to quell the uprising, but not before Mom had a pack of seniors filling the hallways with canes thrusting in the air and walkers clanging into each other. At least that’s how she told it. The protest as well as the story, were perfectly Mom. Mom enjoyed pushing boundaries and questioning rules. She thought questioning authority-built character. We could only laugh as we cleaned out her purse after she passed and found a pile of pills she was supposed to be taking, but always protested. Good for you Mom, questioning authority until the end. As late as her 93rd year Mom would fly to Washington, D.C., hop on her scooter and cruise the halls of congress lobbying lawmakers to spend more on cancer research. Starting at the age of 83, Mom led the entire country in fundraising for the American Cancer Society’s Luminary Campaign for the next eight years. Mom passed away quietly in her sleep last month after telling a friend that she had just seen Lenny, her husband of 66 years who had passed four years earlier. Anne and Lenny Yordon were married on April Fool’s Day in 1952. They had a few family members waiting for them on the courthouse steps in Chicago and drove right by them, laughing and yelling “April fools”! They drove around the block two more times, each time yelling the same thing, until they finally went in and got married. That was the first time they were married. They enjoyed it so much they got married four more times. That’s not a misprint. Over the years they convinced a judge, a ship’s captain and two Rabbis to perform additional ceremonies for whatever excuse they could muster. They laughed and loved each other with a symbiotic entwining of their souls each day they were together. Mom would finish Dad’s sentences and Dad knew better than to return the skill. Mom’s inhale was Dad’s exhale. Mom was crowned Miss Chicago in 1946, but if you ask her to share her favorite moment, it was in 1961. Our washing machine broke and two different repairmen failed to fix it. Mom took it apart, piece by piece, laying each piece down in the order she removed them. Found the leak, somehow fixed it and put the machine back together. It was one of her favorite stories to tell and she did so bolt by bolt in delightfully excruciating detail. Mom raised four boys, was a pretty good bowler, a Realtor Emeritus, served on various housing committees for the local government in Daytona Beach, loved to cook and believed that if you laugh enough, you’ll live enough. Dad viewed life optimistically and Mom thought life was full of funny things. That’s a pretty good recipe for rich and balanced life. If you were lucky enough to meet Mom, you would have liked her. All were welcomed into her home. Food was Mom’s way of saying hello and no one ever left her home hungry. If Mom were here, she would extend her hand to say hello and then extend her other hand for a donation to the Cancer Society. If you are moved to honor a life well-lived, Mom would think that a donation would be a very good thing for you to consider (cancer.org). Mom is preceded in death by Dad; her mother and father Irving and Clara Fishbein; her brother Sam Ford and his son Robert; our brother Steve Yordon and his wife Maryanne Yordon; and grandsons Christopher and Zachary. Left to cherish her memory of 96 years are Sam’s son Marc Ford; three sons and their wives, Michael (Linda) of Duluth, Georgia, Gary (Berneice) of Tallahassee and Gregory (Sharon) of Panama City; her grandchildren Kimberly, (Jowad) of San Diego, Ryan (Graham) of Gainesville, FL, Corey (Richard passed) of Orlando, Dustin (Ashley) of St, Louis, Jackson (Alison) of Kennebunkport, Faun of Atlanta, Cameron (Rachel) of Crestview; and her great-grandchildren Rachel, Luke, Leo, Noah, James, Cassidy, Zachary, Stephen, Hailee, Seth and Gavin. A joint committal service for both mom and dad are being planned for Tallahassee National Cemetery, and will be announced when scheduled. Rocky Bevis of Bevis Funeral Home of Tallahassee (850/385-2193 or www.bevisfh.com) is assisting the Yordon family with their arrangements.

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Anne Yordon

February 3, 1926 - May 26, 2022