Gordon Francis Vadnais (part 2 of 3)
In the fall of 1943 Gordy began his high school career as a freshman at White Bear High School. The 3 block proximity of his home from the school allowed Gordy to walk to and from school and it also afforded him the luxury of going home for lunch each day. His older brother Jack was a junior when Gordy entered high school.
Gordy followed in his brother Jack’s footsteps participating in both football and track during his years in high school. When Gordy first started high school, political and monetary reasons caused the school to eliminate hockey, but when it came back Gordy added it to his list of extra-curricular activities. He was also involved in other club activities including Letterman’s Club, Drama Club, Chemistry Club, FFA (Future Farmers of America) and Play.
Gordy’s mother Ellen, as one of his biggest fans, attended all the games that she could. Buzz LeVasseur, goalie on the hockey team, said, “I remember Mrs. Howard Bloom (Ellen’s sister Vina) and Gordy’s mother yelling at every game. They were there to cheer Gordy and the whole team on to win.”14
In 1945, Gordy was a member of the hockey team when the first State Hockey Tournament was held. White Bear lost the title to Thief River Falls 4-3. However, White Bear did make its mark that year, when Gordy’s teammate, George Kieffer, scored the first goal in the history of the tournament. The team played again in the 1946 State Hockey Tournament losing to Roseau 3-2. Gordy later commented on the loss to Roseau saying that “We pouted and just didn’t care about anything else after that, we were all so depressed over the fact that we lost because we intended on winning that state championship that year.”15
(Courtesy of the White Bear Lake Area Historical Society)
For a few years after high school a number of the team members continued playing hockey under the team name “White Bear Flyers” as a part of the Twin Cities Suburban Hockey League (T.C.S.H.L.). During the 1948-49 season, the team were the play-off champions which allowed them to play in the Class B state tournament. It was the second straight year they were crowned the champions and they did so by winning 17 of the 20 games they played.
Gordy participated in football as a tackle all 4 years of high school. During a prior interview, he commented on the 1944-45 season saying that “We had some pretty active guys… We went undefeated for the entire season and had only two goals scored against us in the entire season… I think the most goals we scored in a game was two but nobody could get the ball down the field past us because we had a real strong defensive team, we could really hold them back.”16
#27 Gordy is in the front row, 2nd from the right.
Adlore is wearing his White Bear Oil Company work uniform; it was a job for which he was always on call. The horse belonged to Adlore’s brother Joe.
In 1947, at 18 years old, Gordy graduated from White Bear High School. He was offered a football scholarship which he talked about during an oral interview: “Well when I graduated, I had a couple of scholarships, I could have gone to school, I could have gone on. But my brothers were in the service, couple of them and one of them was trying to run this little oil business with my dad. They couldn’t get any help at that time so many guys had left (for the war). So I talked to my dad about it, my dad was a real quiet guy, never said much. And he said to me, “You know, I’ve had twelve children” and he said “You’re second to the youngest, and I haven’t had a one that’s gone to college.” And he said, ”If you got this offer to go to college, you should go.” But I knew when he was telling me that, I knew darn well that he was up in age (Adlore was 57 years old), he wasn’t going to be able to do much work wise with this. So I did go, finally I decided I was going to go. I decided that I was going to go to the university, I had a choice of a couple three places I coulda gone, but I decided I wanted to go to the University of Minnesota. So I went down and they had a person that took me, and they had lines, God they were two, three blocks long. You know, students signing up for different classes and everything you know. They took me to the front of the line and geez I got everything all put together and I was supposed to start school in I don’t know, ten days or something. So, anyway, at night I couldn’t sleep thinking about this and then the weather got a little colder and we got busier. My oldest brother (George), he was kinda trying to hold everything down by himself. So, ah the day came for me to go to school and I never went. I stayed home and I worked in the little business and then I guess probably that set where I went from there.”17
(Courtesy of the White Bear Lake Area Historical Society)
On August 8, 1949, Gordy joined the White Bear Lake Volunteer Fire Department. I’ll elaborate on Gordy’s involvement in the fire department later on. Around the same time he also joined the local National Guard where he would serve for 8 years. Gordy later commented that, “…when I finally left the guards, I should have gone in the service for a while because I liked what I was doing and I was a Master Sergeant so I started off as a PFC. And in that time I was up to a Master Sergeant and that would have been a pretty good rank to have in the service.”18
Based on the White Bear Oil Company ledgers, Gordy received his first paycheck, $60 for the month, in August 1947; his father and brothers: George, Charles, Dick and Jack were already on the payroll. The books don’t show him working consistently until 1948. By 1950, George, Charles, Dick, Jack and their father are equal partners in White Bear Oil Company, with each owning 19% of the company; Gordy, at 21 years old, owned 5% of the company.19
In 1952, Susan (Sue) Metzinger, Gordy’s future wife, graduated from Summit School; she was 18 years old.
I am unsure of exactly when Susan’s parents purchased their property on Manitou Island, but I do know that by the time Gordy and Sue married, the Metzingers had a home on Summit Avenue and a home at 42 Manitou Island. I would venture to guess that Gordy and Sue somehow met because of Sue residing, at least part time, on Manitou Island.
Gordy and Sue married on Wednesday, October 28, 1953.20 A rehearsal dinner party was held the night before at Gordy’s parents’ house, 411 (now 4787) Bald Eagle Avenue.
Standing (left to right): Adlore Vadnais, Judy Wolff, Howard (Bud) Bloom, John Drummond, Bev Vadnais and Anna Mae Vadnais. Seated (left to right): Mary Bancroft, John Rosenthal (maybe), unidentified, Gladys (Koyen) Murphy and Gwen Drummond.
John and Gwen Drummond were family friends. Bud Bloom was the son of Ellen’s sister Vina and he was the butcher at Berg’s Grocery. Judy and Mary were bridesmaids in Gordy & Sue’s wedding, as well as Sue’s classmates, and Gladys Murphy was Sue’s maternal aunt.
Seated (left to right): John (Jack) Vadnais, Mary Bancroft, George Metzinger, Ellen Vadnais, Susan Metzinger, Gordy Vadnais and Harriet (Koyen) Metzinger.
George and Harriet are Susan’s parents.
The record also shows that Susan was baptized on March 12, 1944 at House of Hope Presbyterian Church, St. Paul, Minnesota.
First cousin, Howard (Bud) Bloom on the left and best man, Gordy’s brother John (Jack), on the right. They are standing in St. Mary’s Church.
Those I could identify – on the far left is Jack Vadnais; the man with his hand on Gordy’s shoulder is his brother-in-law Bob Parker; to the right of Gordy is Chuck Kieffer and second from the right is Mark Peltier.
On the left are Susan’s grandmothers: Carrie (Ross) Metzinger and Agnes (Ernst) Koyen.
On the right are Gordy’s grandmothers: Celestine (Derosier) Peltier and Jennie (Baillargeon) Vadnais.
According to the newspaper article, when the couple returned from their honeymoon in Chicago, they went to live at 513 (now 4817) Division Avenue which is located on the west side of Division Avenue between Fifth and Sixth Streets. Interestingly, it’s the same house where Gordy’s uncle, Edmund Peltier, and his wife, Excellina lived for some 30 years. Edmund passed away in 1952, after which Excellina moved to Florida to be closer to her siblings. I don’t know whether or not Excellina still owned the house when Gordy and Sue moved in.
To be continued…
Thanks for visiting, come back soon,
Cynthia
© 2026 Copyright by Cynthia Vadnais, All Rights Reserved
Gordon Francis Vadnais (part 2 of 3) Read More »