BRAMPTON, Ont. – On Feb. 20, at approximately 5:00 a.m., Gordon William Varcoe – or Gordie as he was known to his friends – was involved in a fatal accident in the township of Byron in New York’s Genesee County.

A 26-year-old owner/operator with Gemelli Transportation, Gordie was well-liked and enjoyed numerous friendships throughout the industry.

“I still remember every detail of that morning,” says Gordie’s brother-in-law, Mark Terenzi, vice-president of Gemelli Transportation.

“Peel Regional Police had come to our office to inform us of what was told to them by the Genesee County Sheriff’s office.”

An early morning accident claimed the life of the young Brampton, Ont. man when Gordie had lost control of his tractor-trailer heading east on Route 262.

The area of the accident is filled with deer-crossing signs, explains Terenzi.

“Gordie was a big lover of animals, and if he saw a deer, he would have probably swerved to avoid killing the defenceless animal,” he explains.

It had been just the night prior to the fatal accident that Gordie, for the first time, had heard the sounds of his expected child’s heartbeat.

The only reason Gordie left home at 1 a.m. on that tragic day was to repay a loan, as the O/O had just had a $12,000 engine rebuild done three weeks earlier.

“He did whatever was asked of him without question,” remembers Terenzi.

“He was a hard worker and earned every cent of his ever-decreasing pay.”

Not once did Gordie gripe about problems, says his brother-in-law. His philosophy was always, “Things have a way of working out in the end, and there’s not much you can do about it anyway.”

Gordie is survived by his wife Anna Terenzi-Varcoe, his parents Gary and Linda Varcoe, his sister Cindy Dodd, his Nana Tucker and Claudio and Tanya Terenzi. n