Gordon Himes

News Obituary Article

WOODSTOCK: Gordon Himes, 51, self-taught inventor

By KAY POWELL

Gordon Himes was a natural born engineer who could take any idea and turn it into a machine.

"He always exhibited brilliance in his design," said his partner, Lance Reed of Marietta, president of G&L Technologies.

Mr. Himes, who dropped out of college after one year, had the eccentricities of brilliance. Though he had several patents for designs for former employers, he would not patent designs he created for his own company, said his wife, Teresa Himes of Woodstock.

Some days the company's vice president showed up at work looking like a homeless person; the next day he would be dressed up, said Mr. Reed. He might work three days nonstop or just take a month off.

"I described him as a complex personality," said his partner. "Gordon and I were very different in all aspects, and that's one thing that made us so strong together."

The memorial service for James Gordon Himes Jr., 51, who died Friday at his Woodstock residence, is 2 p.m. Wednesday at Ebenezer United Methodist Church. The results of an autopsy are pending, and no foul play is suspected, according to the Cherokee County medical examiner's office. The body was cremated. Northside Chapel Funeral Directors is in charge of arrangements.

The partners worked for Welding Services Inc. when, in 1995, they started their Alpharetta-based company on Mr. Reed's credit cards. Today, the company does $2 million in revenue, said Mr. Reed.

"We both had similar goals, to build automated equipment," he said. They tried several products until Mr. Reed saw a need in the shutter market. "Gordon with his brilliant mind took my ideas and turned them into a machine," he said.

G&L Technologies makes the machines that make shutters. Mr. Reed estimates 75 percent of the shutters produced in the United States are made with G&L equipment.

Other skills Mr. Himes did not study but excelled at were sculpting, drawing and music, said his wife. He was self-taught on the guitar, mandolin and blues harmonica.

Survivors include a son, Aireon Himes of Alpharetta; two daughters, Savannah Himes and Alexandra Himes, both of Woodstock; his mother, Lee Carroll of Waynesville, N.C.; two sisters, Deborah Cook of Chicago and Mary Beth Campbell of Gulf Breeze, Fla.; and two brothers, Ronald Himes of Knoxville and Tom Himes of Columbus, Ohio.

© 2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution