The Old Man at the Y by Torgny Lilja During my stay at the YW/YMHA residence this year, I met an old forward bent man, who seemed not to be one of the students and interns living there. "I'm part of the building," he said with a hoarse voice, when I one day met him in the corridor. We shook hands, and he presented himself as Henry. When I later asked for his last name, he said it was Gordon. I also learned that he had lived at the Y for over 50 years. Gordon was born in 1932 in New Jersey, where he grew up as the youngest of three siblings. His father was a medical doctor and his mother a housekeeper. After Henry had finished high school, he became an usher at a cinema. His job was to check people's tickets and to show them to their seats. Later, he worked in a closet store, which included duties as a salesman and in the stockroom. (More...)