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A Tribute to Terry Jordan (1955 - 2001)
Posted
02-22-2001
In life, and the world of politics, if a person can count their truly
good friends on one hand, they are lucky. I lost one of my best friends
Terry Jordan this week. Terry had a heart of gold and gave so much to the
people that he came in contact with, both politically and in his profession
as an attorney. He was the kind of person that never asked for anything in
return; he simply got satisfaction from helping people.
I met Terry back in 1991 when
my wife Debra Pezze was running for judge. She had known Terry from Law
School and from being an attorney. When Debbie was running, we were such
novices that we really didn’t know all the details about organizing a
campaign. A month before the primary election, a very contentious ten-person
race, Terry was asking us who we had lined up to work polls throughout the
western part of the county. We thought everyone decided whom they were
voting for long before Election Day and that there was no need for poll
workers. Terry advised us that in a race like the judicial election, many
people might be undecided when coming to vote and that poll workers were a
tradition in Westmoreland County. He went out and organized workers in North
Huntingdon, Jeannette, Penn Township, and Irwin, and it really paid off. We
won countywide by 1,100 votes, and, in those municipalities, we won big.
They were the areas of the county that made the difference, and it was the
political experience and wisdom of Terry Jordan that pulled us through.
In the years between 1991 and
1995 when I ran for commissioner, Terry and I became close friends. We
worked on Ron Klink's congressional races and a number of other elections.
He would show up at our house or my sister-in-law’s house in Penn Township
and tell story after story about past elections. I heard more about Pete
Flaherty's statewide races and Emil Mrkonic's state house elections than I
can even remember now. I just know Terry worked for them like he did for
everyone, giving 110% of himself. His true hero was the late Herman
Mihalich. Terry and Herman were very close and both loved to tell tales of
past elections.
When I ran in 1995, Terry was
chairman of my campaign committee, and, to this day, he's still my chairman.
Terry helped with so much of the groundwork in that first campaign, and he
took care of much of the sign work and Election Day poll worker coverage. He
helped open doors for help from people like Herman who really didn't know
what to make of my candidacy. Terry helped orchestrate our Democratic
convention strategy where I separated myself from the other contenders but
wasn't saddled with being endorsed with one of the two incumbents. That
would have prevented me from running my campaign as an outsider. The rest
was history as we knocked out long-time commissioner Ted Simon in the
primary and led the ticket in the general election.
As the years have gone by,
Terry and I would still talk politics or sports. But Terry, who liked to
take long walks, seemed to be experiencing some health problems. Like so
many of us, he didn't want to share his problems or see doctors. His health
got worse, and, eventually, he received a kidney from his sister. After
that, Terry seemed to be eating better and taking better care of himself. He
still worked long hours but was off the Diet Pepsi. I had just visited his
office a week or so ago, and we talked a little politics, and he seemed
okay. That is why his passing has shocked everyone so much.
My favorite Terry story is
when Debbie was running, and there was a 6-kilometer race at Seton Hill
College. We had runners in the race with Pezze for Judge shirts. Terry
decided to run in his dress shirt, navy blue dress pants, and dress shoes.
He put on a Pezze for Judge shirt and off he went. I think he won the race,
but we laughed and laughed when he came back to our house and showed us the
bottoms of his shoes. He had worn holes completely through the soles. Now
that was commitment to the cause.
I never thought I'd be
writing an article about my good friend Terry. He seemed to just keep
plugging along. He helped so many people and never asked for anything in
return. Nobody, officeholder, candidate, or committee person, did as much
for the Democratic Party in Westmoreland County. With the kindness that he
displayed to so many people, I know Terry L. Jordan has moved on to a better
place. He may be gone, but he will never be forgotten. |
