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Gordon Herigstad Passed Away This Morning...


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Quite a sad day for the Thompson Community. Gordon was a special kind of researcher. Dave Lansky put it quite eloquently in his post, " Gordon happily and enthusiastically shared his knowledge about all-things Thompson with anyone who was curious, and his passion for researching and documenting the history of the gun was insatiable." I couldn't have said it better. I spent time with Gordon over the years when he would go on his road trips to search down Thompson information and look at guns. He would stop in the Chicago area during his cross-country travels and I always enjoyed his company and absorbed his Thompson knowledge.

 

His work on the Colt serial numbers is one-of-a-kind and will not be equaled. If not for Gordon, most of this valuable information for Thompson collectors would have been lost to history. I will miss him greatly and am glad to hear he received a copy of his work before he passed away.

 

Rest in peace, my friend.

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Its a sad day ,Gordon passing away. I would see him at the SAR shows , Tommy gun shoots , and we all have had dinner with

him after the events. He had so much knowledge to share with everybody and gave me a lot of information on my Tommy Guns. He was a wonderful person and will be missed by all.

His Books Will last forever .

-

RIP

Tino & Lana Morales

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I never had the privilege to meet Gordon in person.

 

I've spoken to him on the phone when purchasing things

from his website over the years, he always gave me a price break.

 

Is there anything we can do to help his family in their mourning?

 

I will look into buying his latest book set to pay homage to him

and his efforts and contributions to us Thomponites. Where can I

find the site to make the purchase? I always knew he was loving

life doing what he did, not all of us can make that statement in these

trying and somewhat horrific times.

 

Rest in peace Gordon,

Darryl

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I will look into buying his latest book set to pay homage to him

and his efforts and contributions to us Thomponites. Where can I

find the site to make the purchase?

Darryl

This is from an older post. Not aware of any website though.

 

 

Jeff Millet

Graphic Publishers

1905 East 17th Street, Suite 218

Santa Ana, CA 92705 USA

Tel 714.541.7604

800.496.8724

 

jmillet@sbcglobal.net

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I never had any dealing with Gordon, for that matter never spoke to him.

My only connection to him is the books that I received yesterday.

Because of his works he certainly made a tremendous contribution to the TSMG world.

If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion,------

We, the Thompson forum guys, might consider taking up a collection and send some flowers in the name of the forum. It wouldn't take much, just $5 or $10 each.

If there is someone reading this, that was a particularly good friend of Gordon, and would be willing to handle this , let us know where to send the check.

If Gordon had a wife or children I don't remember reading about it in his book. But if he did , I would send a little extra for them.

Jim C

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<p>Gordon was A Single man a Thompson researcher and collector, Hollywood Actor, He was a member of the screen actors guild. since 1977.  He gave his good friend Robert Stack a display Colt Thompson before he died at his Hollywood home. Gordon got to know him through their makeup man. Gordon lived in Los Angles from 1971 until his death. The Great Man will be Missed!!!  Ray Boehms</p> Edited by Ray Beams
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Very sad day in the world of firearms. I have known Gordon since the late 90's. I spoke to him on the phone several times an in person at a couple of the Thompson shows. His knowledge on the history of the Thompson was and is incredible. Rest easy now buddy. We all will miss your wisdom and wit.

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I am sorry to hear this news. I met Gordon twice in the UK when he was over there looking for Colt numbers. We both coincidentally happened to be in Leeds visiting the Royal Armories old Pattern Room collection. We had a meal together and a few pints and swapped stories.

 

He was a true researcher and his book will be a living testament to his diligence and passion.

 

AlanD

Sydney

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Thanks Sig,

Jeff contacted me and said that he had 10 tons worth of Gordon's new book sets available to ship.

Each volume has over a 1,000 pages.

I will be sending a check Monday morning for sure.

It would be a testament to Gordon for other Thompsonits to purchase a set as well.

It's $395.95 plus $39.95 shipping, a mere pittance for the information, sweat and efforts that is garnered in these books.

Darryl

Edited by darrylta
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How ironic that the thread announcing the arrival of his book would be on the same page as his obit. I never got to meet him and I'm sorry for that. He sure added a lot to the persuit of Thompsons. RIP, Gordon.

 

Bob D

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Very sad to hear the news of the passing of Gordon.....I will miss his constant emails and comments.

He visited Ireland in 2011 and spent several weeks travelling around Museums, Military Barracks, Police collections, auctions houses and we spent some days together swopping notes and information on the first guns which arrived into Ireland in 1921 in the luggage of two Irish-American servicemen James Dineen and Pat Cronin.

He tracked down several guns and used his famous 'contraption' to remove the barrels and find the serial numbers. He even left one of the devices at a Dublin auction house 'in case anyone needed it' in the future !

He made such an impression here

Bye Gordon.

 

Michael

[belfast]

 

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A Living Legend has passed on. What a superb gentleman he was. Humble and constantly sharing and advising.. . A rare example in this day and age.

Condolences to his family. Glad to have several of the things he had made including the violin case, repro cleaning rod and repro parts tin. He provided great knowledge for us all, and we will all continue to be blessed by him with his new 2 volume book in the mail.

Semper Fi Gordon.

Sandman1957

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Gordon will be missed. I have 3 thompsons, one is serial number 1313 Colt Thompson. On one of gordons visits we shot that Thompson had ball!! I have another Colt Thompson serial number 13656 both of then are 1928 overstamps. on another visit we shot a Savage Utah state police Thompson that I bought from J Curtis Earl out of Phoenix Arizona in 1982. Truly good memories!! Ray Boehms

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A true Thompson aficionado, Gordon will be greatly missed. Thank you for my violin case, among other items. From me and Ingrid, "Here's looking at you kid" Mike Hammer

 

Edited by Mike Hammer
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I was fortunate to meet Gordon 3 times, including one full day in 2008 when we shot Thompsons and 1911's together. He really liked one of my 1911's, and put at least 200 rounds through it himself. Somewhere, I have a bunch of pictures of him shooting, and I'll post them when I find them. I thought I had them on my hard drive, but apparently they are on another computer, and I'm away from home at the moment. Gordon will be missed.

 

Gordon was always receptive to information about Colt Thompsons, and I hope we can all continue in the quest. I'd like to volunteer this site as the repository for new information in his absence. Perhaps we could start a pinned post on the informational board (3rd board down) that documents any new Colts that are not included in his books, Tracie's book, and Roger Cox's book.

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

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I was fortunate to meet Gordon 3 times, including one full day in 2008 when we shot Thompsons and 1911's together. He really liked one of my 1911's, and put at least 200 rounds through it himself. Somewhere, I have a bunch of pictures of him shooting, and I'll post them when I find them. I thought I had them on my hard drive, but apparently they are on another computer, and I'm away from home at the moment. Gordon will be missed.

 

Gordon was always receptive to information about Colt Thompsons, and I hope we can all continue in the quest. I'd like to volunteer this site as the repository for new information in his absence. Perhaps we could start a pinned post on the informational board (3rd board down) that documents any new Colts that are not included in his books, Tracie's book, and Roger Cox's book.

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

Hi All,

 

I think this a great idea and I believe Gordon would approve :)

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