GORDON KEITH MERCIER Jr.

Gordon was born on December 28, 1923 to Gordon and Helen Mercier in Pendleton, Oregon. He spent his early years in Pendleton until his family moved from there to Pasco, Washington in 1933. He spent the rest of his youth there and graduated from Pasco High in 1942. Gordon loved music and enjoyed playing his trumpet in the Pasco Drum and Bugle Corp and a local dance band with group of his friends during his school years.

Gordon attended college at Washington State College and the University of Kansas. He graduated from WSC with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1946. He was awarded Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Tau Engineering Honors for his college academic work. He obtained a commission as an Ensign in the United States Navy Reserve in 1945 and spent his active duty time in the Philippines.

Gordon went to work for the US Bureau of Reclamation, after his discharge from the Navy, in 1946 and worked for the Bureau until 1957. He was a construction engineer on irrigation projects in the Columbia Basin. Gordon lived in Moses Lake and Eltopia, Washington before moving his family to Pasco in 1954. He went to work for the General Electric Company in Richland, Washington from 1957 to 1962 as a design engineer on the Atomic Energy Commission project at Hanford. Gordon moved his family to Bellevue, Washington from Pasco in 1962, when he went to work for The Boeing Company in Seattle, Washington. While he was at Boeing he was a construction engineer and manager on national defense projects until his retirement in 1988.

Gordon married Doris Ann Daugherty in September 1950 in Hermiston, Oregon and they had two children together. They were married for 16 years until Doris went to be with the Lord on April 3, 1968. He married Sylvia LaPlante in September 1975 in Bellevue and they had a combined family of seven children. Gordon and Sylvia were married for 28 years until she was called home by the Lord on May 18, 2004.

Gordon was active in the Seattle Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers and was the ASCE representative to the Washington State Licensing Board for Engineers after his retirement. He was a Licensed Civil Engineer in the State of Washington. He was also active in the St. Madeleine Sophie Church during his retirement years serving on the building committee.

Gordon passed away on August 7, 2013 in Bellevue and is now in heaven. He is survived by four sons; Gregory Mercier of Bellevue, Craig LaPlante of Carlsbad, California, Thomas LaPlante of Bellingham, Washington, and Patrick LaPlante of Washington, DC. He is survived by three daughters; Barbara Mercier of Bellevue, Carol Wuorenma of Kirkland, Washington, and Jane Kirk of Suquamish, Washington. Gordon has eleven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

His funeral mass will be celebrated at St. Madeleine Sophie Church in Bellevue on Saturday September 7, 2013 at 10:00 AM.

The family requests that memorial gifts for Gordon be made to the Society of St. Vincent De Paul.