February 9, 2006

OBITUARIES

Gordon Epling

Gordon Epling died on Wednesday, Feb. 1, following a courageous fight with complications due to cancer treatment. He was 63.

He was born second to the oldest of six children and raised in a humble home across from the Goodyear tire factory in Akron. He was very athletic and excelled in sports, particularly basketball. Being six foot five didn’t hurt either. At 17 he married his high school sweetheart. They had two daughters, Heidi and Heather. They divorced when the girls were toddlers, and he gained full custody of them before moving to Southern California by 1970.

There he quickly became successful in both real estate and competitive water skiing. In 1972, he broke the world’s record in barefoot speed water skiing at Long Beach Marine Stadium, clocking 98.9 miles per hour. One friend who was there recalled witnessing when he had earlier done the same course at 125 miles per hour, but somehow the timer got botched. Nevertheless, he was in the Guinness Book of World Records for more than two decades. During his years in Southern California, he succeeded with many entrepreneurial experiments, including four restaurants. He had a knack for ideas and businesses.

He met and married his second wife, Leanne, who is the daughter of legendary late Major League Baseball manager Gene Mauch. She promptly adopted his two daughters. Leanne gave him two more daughters, Halee and Hilary.

During this period, his passion for water skiing intensified. He became the owner of the largest western Mastercraft boat dealership in the country, keeping him close to the sport. He broke many more records around the country at tournaments in the slalom version. He founded a training retreat for water skiers at a remote location near Acapulco, which is still named (and advertised as) “Water-ski-paradise.” The operation is thriving today and is still operated by one of his closest friends. In the ’80s, he moved his family to Sacramento to enjoy the after effects of designing and building a cutting-edge man-made water ski lake, which has served as a model for others since. He continued to commute to the boat business in Southern California with dual roles for a number of years.

Near Sacramento (Roseville) he built what became an extremely successful Montessori school for his wife to operate. She is still running it today. When they divorced around 1988, Gordon sold his family home on the property of the water ski-lake but moved nearby so he could continue to practice there. He then founded his own mortgage company, Laguna Creek Mortgage, which experienced a great boom. That year, while on a business project in Wilmington N.C., he was introduced to a native of Yellow Springs, Wini Ray.

In a whirlwind they joined and moved to Sacramento. In 1992, they had a daughter, Nancy. The same year he won the National Water Ski championship in slalom water skiing. They had wonderful times enjoying baby Nancy around the fun world of water skiing. When they broke up in 1995, Gordon returned to Akron. Nancy and Wini stayed in Sacramento, mainly to keep Nancy where she was, thriving at Leanne’s Montessori school.

In November 1999, Nancy Epling and her mom, Wini, came “home to Yellow Springs.”

Gordon Epling spent this past summer in the Cleveland Clinic. He was transported to Sacramento a few months ago to spend his remaining days in the home of his daughter Halee Daily and grandson, Jay. When he passed away, he was surrounded by his five daughters.