With all the laughter at Trinity Lutheran Church in Hillsboro on Monday, you’d never know somebody had died.
A packed house of family, friends and former colleagues – many of them elected officials and other prominent Hillsboro citizens – gathered to celebrate the life of Gordon Faber, who served for eight years as mayor of the city during a time of immense growth. Faber died last month after a battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
The service featured many stories about Faber, whose wit and sense of humor lived on through his friends and had the crowd laughing again and again. The former mayor’s big physical frame matched his outsized personality, and the display of support for him Monday showed that he was clearly loved by many.
Gordon Faber “He lived big, he was big, and his heart was big, and we’re gonna miss him, big time,” said close friend Conrad Francis.
Francis, who vacationed often with Faber, remembered “a lot of dinners, a lot of card playing, a lot of scotch, and a lot of fun.” Family and friends wore Hawaiian shirts to the service in honor of Faber’s love for the island of Maui, where he had a vacation home.
During eight years at the city’s helm, Faber oversaw the arrival of the MAX Blue Line, the creation of the Ronler Acres urban improvement district – which is now home to Intel, Orenco Station and a recreation complex bearing his name – and the drafting of the city’s 2020 Vision Plan, now nearly complete. Hillsboro’s population swelled from about 40,000 to over 70,000 people, making it the fifth largest city in Oregon.
But Faber managed to do all that while having a lot of fun. Current Mayor Jerry Willey told of Faber arriving at a job performance review for then-City Manager Eldon Mills in a black executioner’s hood and carrying a homemade ax. David Lawrence, a former deputy city manager under Faber, recalled asking the mayor whether a bottle of scotch he was carrying was any good.
“There is no bad scotch,” Faber answered, according to Lawrence.
Cheryl Dowling, a former city councilor, remembered Faber teaching her how to parallel ski and play cribbage. She also remembered what he would say to her if they had a disagreement.
“He would turn to me and say, ‘I have sweaters older than you,'” Dowling said, as the crowd laughed.
Lawrence described Faber as seeming like he knew everybody in Hillsboro.
 “And not just, ‘Hi, how you doing?'” Lawrence said. “He would know what was going on with their family, what was going on with their health.”
When Faber’s sons came up to speak, elder brother Mark showed that a sense of humor – and a loud, deep voice – runs in the family. He began by saying, “Like my father, I love the sound of my own voice.”
Mark Faber told of his father’s decision to close Ben Faber Electric, the business he inherited from his own dad, in the 1980s. Though he worked hard at it, Mark said, Gordon heart was never in the company. A dark time followed: younger brother Rod Faber said Gordon had a “really rough go of it” during the subsequent years.
Rod credited Gordon’s surviving wife B.J. for pulling him out of the rut.
“You saved my dad,” Rod said to B.J., as he fought back tears. “I love you.”
It wasn’t long before Gordon got involved in the Hillsboro political scene, joining the Rotary Club and the City Council.
“Dad found the role he was always meant to play as a councilman,” Mark Faber said.
Many attendees were members of Faber’s coffee crew, a group of friends that still meets at the Hillsboro Pharmacy and Fountain every day.
“What we’re going to miss is having Gordon downtown,” Willey said.
— Luke Hammill