Gordon Charles Lakin
Longtime Guadalajara resident Gordon Charles Lakin died on October 22 after a short illness at the age of 89.
Born April 16, 1925 in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, Lakin was educated in his hometown before leaving school at 16 and taking an apprenticeship as a mechanical engineer.
Lakin did his National Service (mandatory military service) shortly after the end of World War II. His short stint in the armed forces took him as far afield as Borneo, India, Singapore and Sri Lanka.
Lakin began his working career with Ericsson telephones in Nottingham. He then joined William Hutton, a lace machine manufacturer, and began to travel extensively to erect machines in various part of the world. His work took him to France, Austria, Brazil and Mexico City, where in 1952 he met Leticia Inzunza, a bilingual secretary.
After two-year courtship, the couple married in 1954 in Mexico City and the returned to England the following year to start raising a family.
The Lakins lived first in Nottingham and later moved to Burton-on-Trent, where Gordon began working for the Clayton Equipment Company, a locomotive construction firm.
He continued to travel, spending a year in Cuba for Clayton, while Leticia stayed at home to tend to their three children.
After leaving Clayton, Lakin worked for a time as a freelance representative for a manufacturer of fire extinguishers and the Derby Gas Board, before joining Salem Steel in the early 1970s.
Lakin first visited Guadalajara as a representative for Salem when the company helped install blast furnaces at the large Siderúrgica de Guadalajara plant on Avenida Lazaro Cardenas. In 1978, during one of his trips here, Lakin went for an interview with a local firm, Industrias de Repuestas. When he was accepted for the position, Lakin and his wife decided to leave their life in England and resettle in Guadalajara, where they remained ever since.
Lakin retired in 1990, although he was retained as a part-time consultant to keep an eye on older blast furnaces still in operation in the region.
Lakin maintained a lifelong interest in railways and trains, and was a member of several model engineering societies. He also had a special love for the steam trains of yesteryear. The couple were regular attendees of the monthly British gatherings held at Guadalajara homes.
Lakin leaves his wife of 60 years, Leticia of Guadalajara; sons Edward John of the Czech Republic and Richard David of Birmingham, England; daughter
Barbara Ellen, a fashion designer in New York City; and three grandchildren, Francis Ellen, William Edward and Nicholas Kevin.
Anyone who would like to contact Leticia Lakin to offer condolences should call 3125-5936 or 3121-5849.