Book outlines businessman’s near death in China

provided by Paul Logsdon

Gordon Elliott's book is available from the author for purchase and can be checked out from the Springfield-Greene County Library District.

Roy Blunt: Gordon Elliott thrives on opportunities to serve the public.

Bob Helm: After his heart attack, Elliott was determined to live better.

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Springfield hotelier Gordon Elliott had a specific audience in mind when he penned his autobiography: his grandchildren.

“It was mainly to pass it down to generations of grandkids,” he said. “I always wanted lots of grandkids. I figure you’re rich when you have a lot of grandkids.”

That’s how his book, “Dead on Arrival in China,” was born – but Elliott, 80, said as he got into it, he realized the ideas inside could be used by other grandkids, and other people, as lessons for living.

The book released this month chronicles his experience having a severe heart attack while on vacation in China in September 2004 and then starting the long process of wresting back his health and returning home.

At the outset, things looked bleak. The first chapter of the book recounts the moments when Elliott’s wife, Glenda, awaited word on her husband’s condition:

As Glenda watched them proceed to inject needles and give my heart electric shock treatment, she was, of course, confused and just trying to take it all in. While she was in that dazed condition, she talked to an American lady who had just lost her husband. That woman was still at the hospital, presumably still working with the staff to sort things out. She told Glenda, “I hope they can save your husband; they just lost mine.”

Shortly thereafter, Glenda overheard a phone call from the hospital to the American Embassy. They said that they had a United States national, aged 61, who was DOA – Dead On Arrival.

She realized they were talking about me.

Two decades later, Elliott is signing copies of his book, a 128-page paperback with his photograph on the cover – a photograph taken by a Springfield Business Journal photographer when he was a member of the inaugural Men of the Year class in 2011.

Life is full of surprises, according to Elliott.

“There were so many miracles that happened for me to live,” he said. “I couldn’t figure out why I made it.”

He noted the speed at which the news of his DOA status arrived in Washington, D.C., seems almost impossible – but during those initial hours after his heart attack were like lifetimes.

“You might say I died again, again, again,” he said. “The first six hours, several times, they lost me and then they reshocked me. For some reason they spent more time on me than they would a normal citizen.”

But Elliott had at least one friend in high places: Missouri congressman – and later a U.S. senator – Roy Blunt. And that connection seemed to be the difference-maker in the care he received, both immediately and in the days after.

“They decided I was brain dead, and they wanted Glenda to sign some papers,” he said. “She said, ‘I’m not going to do it. You’ve got to let me see him.’ They let her come up. She whispered in my ear, and I responded, and they all clapped.”

Powerful friend
On the other side of the globe, Blunt was working on his friend’s behalf. It’s a time the former senator said he remembers vividly.

“He’s a great friend of mine, and he has been for about 50 years now,” Blunt said in a Jan. 24 interview. “We had breakfast this morning.”

Blunt said he called the U.S. Embassy in China and wanted to be kept up to date on how his good friend Gordon was doing.

“For at least a week, I got a call every day, which meant the embassy was obviously checking on him,” Blunt said.

Blunt is well aware that his influence was a factor in Elliott’s high level of care.

“Somebody from a foreign government checking on a person with some real focus on wanting to know exactly what was going on with that person? That has to make a difference,” Blunt said. “I know Gordon believes it made a difference.”

Elliott was with Blunt at the outset of the former senator’s political career, before Washington, D.C., beckoned – back when Blunt was the Greene County Clerk of Courts. Elliott, a certified public accountant who founded accounting firm Elliott, Robinson & Co. LLP, served as treasurer for a number of political campaigns of Sen. Blunt and Blunt’s son, Matt, the 54th governor of Missouri.

“He’s been a close friend who has been very helpful to me in so many ways,” Blunt said.

He added Elliott has also been helpful to Springfield and to the state of Missouri, with service on the Springfield City Council, the City Utilities Citizens’ Advisory Council and the Missouri State University Board of Governors.

“He continues to have opportunities to serve and grow his company,” Blunt said. “He thrives on activity, and he also thrives on helping other people. I would say that every opportunity of public service that Gordon has ever had, he has made the most of it.”

Changed man
Making the most of life has been Elliott’s mission since he almost lost it. These days he does that by going to work every day at Elliott Lodging Ltd., where he stays active in new hotel projects, like last year’s renovation of Arbor Suites Medical Mile.

Immediately after his recovery, Elliott said he built three hotels in three years – which he admitted sounds like a rather fast clip.

“The first one’s tough, but the second and third one aren’t very bad at all,” he said.

Elliott also brought The Vib to Springfield for a new, ultra-contemporary concept from Best Western.

“We’d been looking ahead,” he said. “Who do you think is going to be out there in the marketplace in 10 years? You don’t want to have something that’s dated. I’m looking at modern time – I’m looking at what the new generation works and lives with.

“I don’t have to like it, but I have to understand it.”

He also makes sure to exercise by walking at least three miles every day.

“I’m just mentally determined to be OK,” he said.

Bob Helm, hired by Elliott as an accountant 42 years ago and still a partner with Elliott, Robinson & Co., is not surprised by Elliott’s desire to stay current in his thinking. He said he remembers Elliott’s transformation following his hospitalization in China and later in Missouri.

“I can specifically remember the day he walked back into the office after he got out of the hospital here,” Helm said. “He said, ‘My life is going to be totally different now. I’ve had a second chance, and I’m going to do things differently.’”

Elliott was a different man, Helm said.

“He was grateful for life and for a second chance to do things differently and better,” Helm said.

Helm said he learned a lot from Elliott, who was a generous mentor.

“He’s very intuitive,” Helm said. “He comes at things from a different angle. He did not like going with the flow – he liked looking at things differently, challenging whatever your angle was to make sure it was well thought. I learned a ton from him.”

The husband-and-wife team of Paul and Kay Logsdon assisted Elliott in writing the book over a course of two years, and Paul agreed Elliott had a lot of wisdom to share, as he continually offered new ideas and insights to add to the narrative.

“He was an absolute delight to work with,” Logsdon said.

Logsdon said Elliott’s voice comes through loud and clear in the book.

“These are his words. He wrote it. We made it cohesive,” he said. “Anybody who knows him will say that sounds like Gordon. There’s a lot of wisdom there.”

The newly minted author said the book is an opportunity to share some of what he has learned.

One important lesson, Elliott said, is the literal truth that every day may be our last day on Earth. In the 20 years since his near-death experience, he thinks about that fact every day.

“Glenda still wakes up at 3 o’clock in the morning to check to see if I’m alive,” he said.

That means it’s important to make the most of life, he said.

“Never give up,” he said. “That’s the message. You can take a crisis and come back, but you cannot give up. You gotta keep moving. You gotta look to the future, because when you give up, you’re never going to come back.”