Funeral services for Mother Essie Mae Gordon will be held Saturday, February 3, 2018 at at 11 am with burial in the St. John Ebenezer Holiness Church Holiness Cemetery. There will be no wake on Friday, February 2, 2018. Public viewing will be held at the Garvin and Garvin Funeral from 1 to 3 pm . Then the body will be moved to Miller's Temple where public viewing will be held from 5 to 7 pm. Mother Essie Mae Gordon was born on April 15, 1930 to the late Louis and Rosia Early McKay in Luray, South Carolina. At an early age she joined Union Baptist Church of Luray, SC. In her young adult years, she began attending Mt. Olive Pentecostal Holiness Church where she accepted Christ as her personal Savior. She later moved her membership to Independent Pentecostal Church of Christ, Shirley, South Carolina. She loved her church and church family dearly. She served as the Church Secretary, Choir Director and Choir President until her health began to fail. Mother Essie loved to sing and two of her favorite songs were: "My Heart is Fixed, My Mind is Made Up" and "That's the Kind of God that I Serve". On July 15, 1955 she was joined in Holy Matrimony to the late Albert Gordon. To this union three sons were born; A. Eugene, Wilbur and Carl. Over the years her family has multiplied. She was proud of this and the love she had for her family was well-known. Mother Essie slipped away to be with the Lord on Sunday, January 28, 2018, at her home. She was surrounded by her family, whom she loved dearly. She was preceded in death by her husband, Albert Gordon, one brother, Thomas McKay, and one daughter-in-law, Cynthia Gordon.
She leaves to cherish her loving memories, three sons: A. Eugene (Linda) Gordon, Estill, SC, Wilbur (Alice) Gordon and Carl (Eugenia) Gordon, Nixville, SC; grandchildren: Altresia (Timothy) Orr, Aleshia Gordon and Kyle Gordon of Nixville, SC, Kareem (Trina) Gordon of Orangeburg, SC, Fallon Gordon of Estill, SC, Alexandria (Brandon) White of Columbia, SC and India Singleton of Charlotte, NC; great-grandchildren: Timonika, Timothy Jr., Amber, Amaayah, Kole, Jacen, Kruz and Amari; great-great grandchild: Karson; four brothers, Henry (Theo) McKay, Willie (Catherene) McKay of NJ, Louis McKay, Jr. of NY, Frankie (Sonya) O'Banner of FL; three sisters, Josie McKay and Lucille Perdue of NY and Rosemary Wright of GA; two brother-in-laws, Herbert Gordon and Roosevelt (Diane) Gordon of NJ; four sister-in-laws, Annie Jane Cylear of SC, Alice (Joe) Kelly and Pauline (Lacey) Brunson of NJ, and Debra McKay of NJ; special nephew and niece, Orin and Justine Gordon. Special thanks to her in-home caregivers, Aleshia and Altresia. Garvin and Garvin is in charge of services,