Beloved congregation member and athlete dies
Jordis “Jordie” Hamilton had no interest in growing older, said her friend of 36 years John Reddick.
The Butler resident always disagreed with the sign across the street from her home, which read “elderly pedestrian crossing,” because she never saw herself as an elder, Reddick said.
“She just did not want to get old,” he said of Hamilton, who died Tuesday, Jan. 17. “She really struggled with how good she was back in the day to where the good Lord led her to just the last couple weeks.”
Reddick was referring to Hamilton’s athleticism as a runner and a Judo champion, a sport whose women’s division she helped legitimize through her achievements and work as a Butler YMCA instructor from the 1970s to the early 1990s. The Butler Sports Hall of Fame inducted Hamilton, a fourth degree black belt, for her work in Judo in 1979, a testament to her hard work and excellence.
