Gordy’s sloth featured in Seattle port video: A favorite Observer story receives a fresh audience

Published 7:57 am Thursday, October 17, 2024

Ilwaco High School graduate Gordon “Gordy” Simmons is pictured at far right, part of the construction crew at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport when the bones of the 12,000-year-old sloth were discovered in 1961. The pelvis of the creature measured 45 inches across.

One of the most fun stories published in the Chinook Observer in recent years is featured in a new documentary.

The Port of Seattle is celebrating its 75th anniversary by compiling an eight-part video series titled “Elevated: 75 Years of Service at SEA” marking milestones in the agency’s history.

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Port of Seattle

“Elevated: 75 Years of Service at SEA”

Episode 6: Gordy the Sea-Tac Sloth

You Tube documentary series

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcs5Fo8VFa4

The 6 ½-minute segment of the series is called “Elevated: 75 Years of Service at SEA. Episode 6: “Gordy the Sea-Tac Sloth.”

It is available for free viewing on You Tube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcs5Fo8VFa4.

The port has operated the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport since it opened to regular commercial flights in 1945.

The Observer story, published in spring 2022, looked back at the building of an extension to the original runways in 1961. It highlighted how 1954 Ilwaco High School graduate Gordy Simmons and his construction crew were preparing to anchor a lighting tower when they discovered a fossil of a prehistoric creature. “The guys were mad at me because we lost three days’ work!” the 87-year-old recalled.

Construction was paused to allow scientists to remove it.

Analysis revealed it was the bones of a giant ground sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) which roamed the Earth 12,000 years ago and is extinct.

It was identified, in part, because of its rare 45-inch wide pelvis.

The almost intact skeleton, which stands 9-foot tall, has been displayed at the Burke Museum at the University of Washington in Seattle since 1977, but only in recent years did officials decide to name it “Gordy.” A replica is on display at the Highline Heritage Museum in Burien.

Simmons’ daughter, Dianna Johnson, who lives in Kirkland, alerted the newspaper to the unusual honor.

The news team hustled to collect permissions to reprint historical photographs, editor Matt Winters published its story online and had printed editions Express-mailed to his home. It enabled Simmons, a Skamokawa resident in home hospice care for a heart condition, to read about it while he was still able. He died March 27, 2022, and is buried in the Ilwaco Cemetery.

“I can recall no feature story in my 48-year newspaper career where the logistics of quickly publishing were as important as the actual content of the story,” said Patrick Webb, Observer writer. “It was emotional, first interviewing Gordy and again when I learned he had been able to enjoy having his story told before he died.”

The article, which ran on the Observer’s front page, blended Webb’s interview with Simmons with prior descriptions of the find in the Seattle Times and a 2010 article on the Seattle-based history website www.historylink.org.

It earned first place for historical features in the 2022 Washington Newspaper Publishers Association’s annual awards.

Episodes of the Port of Seattle’s series available for free viewing on You Tube are:

Episode 1: To 1949;

Episode 2: The First Wildlife Biologist;

Episode 3: Reducing Waste, Increasing Impact;

Episode 4: The Third Runway.

Episode 5: Creating Opportunities

Episode 6: Gordy the Sea-Tac Sloth

Episodes 7, 8: To come.

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