Gordon Lewis Deegan

Woodland Hills Funeral Home 507-387-5504

Gordon Lewis Deegan was born on April 7, 1925 in Mankato, Minnesota and passed away peacefully on February 25, 2023 in Redwood City, California. Born to Arthur L. and Vera Kitch Deegan, Gordon spent his childhood on a farm just north of Mankato, where he received his early education in a one-room school house, Nicollet County District 35. In 1942, he graduated from Mankato High School and decided to attend his beloved Macalester College in St. Paul, where he received a BA degree in 1946 in political science, history and Spanish.

Shortly after receiving his BA, he was employed by the Veterans Administration in Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., but within a very short time was faced with the draft into the armed forces and so chose to enlist in the Navy. During his enlistment he served in several naval stations around the U.S., finally spending a year in Washington, D.C. at the Anacostia Naval Air Station from where he was discharged in 1948.

He spent two months in Mexico, the first of his many travels around the world including most of the nations of Western Europe, Brazil, Cuba, Canada, China and Japan. He returned from Mexico to enroll in the graduate school of the University of Minnesota, where he received a MA degree in late 1949. While waiting to take the last phase of the examination for the U.S. Foreign Service, he received a call from Senator Hubert Humphrey that a position with the U.S. Senate was available. After a few months at that position, he was commissioned in the Foreign Service and after a short training period was sent to the U.S. Consulate General in Bremen, Germany where he served two years. Mr. Deegan was then transferred to the embassy in Havana, Cuba where he served for a few months before being granted home leave. While on home leave he decided on a different career. He started teaching secondary school, first in Minnesota, three years in Williston, North Dakota, then a move to Gustine, California. When a position opened on the San Francisco peninsula in the Sequoia Union High School District, he jumped at the chance and taught Spanish and German at Carlmont High School for 27 years, retiring in 1985.

His life on the San Francisco Peninsula was full of activities of service, including serving on several commissions of the San Carlos government:  the Civil Service Commission, the Parks and Recreation Commission, the Planning Commission--including one year as Chairman--and the Housing Committee. His public service also included study committees of the transportation system, which eventually became the SamTrans System and the Bay Area Rapid Transit System.  However, his major public service was partisan politics, participating in many campaigns as a life-long Democrat and acting as Vice Chairman of the San Mateo County Central Committee and President of the San Mateo County Council of Democratic Clubs. Say “Campaign!” and Mr. Deegan was ready.

Mr. Deegan’s interests also included the arts, especially music and theater. He performed roles with the Hillbarn Theater and the Claypipers, the melodrama group centered on the Peninsula but performing old-time melodrama in their theater in the Mother Lode of the Sierra Nevada foothills. His theatrical career also included participation in the renowned bi-annual show, the San Carlos Chickens Ball. He was President of the Redwood City Concert Association and was also Deacon and Moderator of the First Baptist Church of San Carlos.

Gordon is survived by his daughter, Katie (Scott), his son, Sean (Charice), grandchildren Charlotte, Chris (Tasha), Elizabeth (Andy), and David, and four great grandchildren (Brooklynn Lou, Anna, and two “on the way!”).

The family would like to express gratitude and thanks to the team at Dolphin Park Rest Home who lovingly cared for him. Memorials may be directed to any of the following:  World Vision, Project Open Hand, St. Anthony’s Padua Dining Room (Menlo Park), Samaritan House, and the Point Foundation.

After a very full life of nearly 98 years, Mr. Deegan has departed this earth leaving it better than he found it, through his significant contributions civically as well as the many friends and students whose lives he enriched. Arrangements are being made by Sneider, Sullivan & O’Connell’s Funeral Home. A funeral service will take place on April 15th, 2023 at 1:00 PM at Many Journeys MCC Church, 1150 W. Hillsdale Blvd., San Mateo, California.

Graveside services will be on Friday, April 28, 2023 at 1 P.M. at Pilgrim’s Rest Cemetery (3000 3rd Ave, Mankato, MN 56001 in Mankato, Minnesota. Services will begin with military honors accorded by the Mankato Area Veterans Memorial Squad, followed by a graveside service by Pastor Dan Crandall and the Mankato Masonic Lodge #12. Woodland Hills Funeral Home of Mankato is assisting the family with arrangements. www.woodlandhillsfh.com