Larry Wolfe
Gordon “Gordy” Hannaford is the son of a military man, so his family moved around a lot when he was a kid; however, he considers Bellevue, Nebraska, his hometown since that’s where he went to junior and senior high school. He was on the Chieftains’ wrestling team and later was on the wrestling team at Ripon (Wisconsin) College where he earned a BA in economics.
Upon graduating from Ripon in 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War, Gordy was drafted into the Army, but says he “lucked out” by being sent to Korea. He spent two years at Camp Howze, 10 miles from the DMZ, spending most of his time as an administrative aide since “I was one of the few draftees who could type!”
After his military service, he returned to the Denver area where he worked for Dun & Bradstreet as a business credit analyst for 13 years. He then invested in a small storm window manufacturing business in Ft. Collins, Colorado, and with two other partners, began building the company Point-Five Windows into a major custom window manufacturer. The company’s prime focus was in the ultra-luxury or “trophy homes” market, as well as commercial buildings and the historical restoration markets. Gordy’s focus was on the administrative side of the business, including HR functions and OSHA compliance.
Point-Five worked with major designers and architects throughout the country in the high-end residential markets. Most of the luxury homes were over 20,000 square feet and included literally hundreds of windows. Their largest residential project included 480 solid mahogany frames for a 50,000-square-foot mansion in Aspen owned by Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia. Over the years, the company grew to include nearly 60 employees and was considered the nation’s top custom window manufacturer when it was sold to Kolbe & Kolbe Millworks in 2008.
Gordy and Wanda, his wife of over 42 years, retired after the sale of the company and became Arizona snowbirds. They now spend the months of November through early May here and then return to their longtime home in Loveland, Colorado, for the rest of the year.
This is Gordy’s second full year in our Sun Lakes senior softball league, but he’s played senior softball for nearly 20 years back in Colorado and still plays there in the summers in an “over 70” league. Gordy and Wanda also enjoy golf, and he says Wanda is a “fanatic,” playing four times per week here and also in golf leagues in Colorado. They used to do a lot of water and snow skiing, but that has slowed down since they became snowbirds. Gordy’s also heavily involved in the Rotary Club in Colorado.
The Hannafords don’t do a lot of traveling now since they consider their time in Arizona a six-month vacation! But, like a lot of us, they get tons of visitors during our winter. Gordy says, “Why go on vacation when you’re already on vacation?!”