Gordon A. Maze's Obituary
Gordon A. Maze was a fixture on North Water Street as the long-time proprietor of the Belvedere Inn tavern.
He came to Decatur in the 1950s, served in the Army and took over the Belvedere in the mid-1960s. It had been the site of a coal yard and grainery, a soup kitchen and then a tavern. During Prohibition in the 1920s it was an ice cream parlor. When Prohibition ended in 1933 it reopened. Maze remodeled and installed a 40-foot bar in 2007.
Born in Marion July 16, 1936, Gordon grew up in Mount Vernon, graduated from Decatur High School and attended Millikin University. He died Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012, at the age of 76.
Services will be at 1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7, in Moran & Goebel Funeral Home with Masonic rites following. Burial will be in Greenwood Cemetery with the Macon County Honor Guard in attendance.
A sponsor of softball teams and pool teams, Gordon twice advanced to the American Poolplayers Association national tournament in Las Vegas as a member of teams in 1993 and 2009. He was golfer and golf fan, too, and a race car fan.
While in high school, he made a bet he could jump over a parking meter. He did ' and fell and broke his knee. In the 1980s Gordon and the Belvedere Inn patrons were frequent winners in fund-raising contests for the March of Dimes.
Gordon was also a fancier of antique cars. He had an award-winning 1932 Ford coupe, a 1951 Mercury and a 1951 Chevrolet among other vehicles. He gave disabled organizations a room full of trophies he received at car shows.
In addition to operating the Belvedere Inn, he worked 41 years in the engineering department of Illinois Power Co. In Masonic activities he was worshipful master of Stephen Decatur Lodge 979 AF & AM and was a Shrine Club member. He belonged to the Moose Club and the Elks Club.
Survivors include a sister, MaryLou Vaughn of Colorado Springs, Colo., and nieces and nephews, including Greg and Kathy Smith, Brian and Karen Dotson, Walter Dotson, Elizabeth Dotson, Earl F. Vaughn, Robert Joe Vaughn, Angela Kay Vaughn, and Brenda Louann Anderson.
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