{"id":323887,"date":"2023-05-05T07:16:10","date_gmt":"2023-05-05T14:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/?p=323887"},"modified":"2023-05-04T15:47:01","modified_gmt":"2023-05-04T22:47:01","slug":"honorary-mother-of-downtown-celebrates-60-years-of-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/honorary-mother-of-downtown-celebrates-60-years-of-marriage\/","title":{"rendered":"Madre honoraria de Downtown celebra 60 a\u00f1os de matrimonio"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gordon and Joyce Summer are celebrating their 60el<\/span> anniversary on May 11 \u2013 another major accomplishment for the couple who are a cornerstone of the Downtown community.<\/p>\n

Originally from New Jersey, halfway through their marriage, the pair moved to Downtown San Diego in 1993. The Summers had always wanted to live in a city but not one as crowded as the big apple. San Diego became the perfect opportunity to switch from suburban to urban while they swapped coasts.<\/p>\n

Thirty years later, the Summers still live in Downtown, where they have seen it undergo massive redevelopment and become a more lived-in city. Gordon remembers walking between two buildings in the \u201890s on Broadway for a meeting around 5 p.m. on a visit before their move.<\/p>\n

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Gordon Summer loves classic cars and makes Photoshop art with them in front of local landmarks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI was walking\u2026 and looked up at these beautiful buildings. I said, \u2018Gee it looks like a city.\u2019 And then I noticed on the sidewalk: no people. What is this? Didn\u2019t make sense at all,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

He later learned everyone commuted to the suburbs at the time. There was no nightlife at all in Downtown, the couple said. Still, Joyce quickly made friends and became involved in the politics and development of the neighborhood. She organized for Downtown to have its own planning group and chaired many committees. Today, she works with the Downtown Partnership to help HOAs and building managers know what services the Partnership offers<\/span><\/span><\/span>. Her long contact list helps people facing an issue get connected to someone who can help<\/span><\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get involved in everything and I’m very good at networking. Well, I don’t call it networking. I call it bringing people together for good,\u201d said Joyce. \u201cI love introducing people to other people where they can help each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

So key has she been in organizing Downtown neighbors that in Sept. 2004 the City of San Diego made a Joyce Summer Day. At the time, she told council members \u201cthe city of San Diego is like my third child.\u201d In 2020, a portion of Tweet Street Park on 10el<\/span> Avenue was named after her for her efforts in fixing it up.<\/p>\n

Joyce\u2019s local rise to prominence belies some of the dynamics of their first decades of their marriage. The pair met at a Sweet 16 party when Joyce was dazzled by an 18-year-old Gordon. Joyce was dating another boy at the time but did not let that stop her.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Gordon and Joyce on their wedding day. (Photo courtesy Summers family)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI dumped him that night. I remember standing in front of the garage\u2026 [Gordon and I] were chatting and that was it,\u201d Joyce said. Gordon assumed she was 16 like her friend, something Joyce let him believe for a while. \u201cI\u2019ve known [Gordon] since I was 14 going on 15.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her brother Alan Massarky said the family story goes that when Joyce returned from their first date, she told their mother \u201cIsn\u2019t he dreamy?\u201d While they broke up a few times in the ensuing years and saw other people, they eloped when Joyce was 17 and Gordon was 21 in 1963.<\/p>\n

The most challenging years of their relationship pre-date their marriage. When Gordon spent six months<\/span><\/span><\/span> with the National Guard, his friends saw this as their opportunity to court the enigmatic Joyce. One even proposed and on Gordon and Joyce\u2019s wedding day begged Joyce\u2019s mother to stop the ceremony. Despite this intervention, he remains a good friend of the magnanimous couple.<\/p>\n

S<\/span><\/span><\/span>ince marrying, the couple said the love has always been there. Their most recent challenges have arisen form Gordon\u2019s health crises and Joyce being placed in the lonely role of caregiver.<\/p>\n

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Gordon and Joyce laugh and smile while leaning in for a kiss. (Photos by Drew Sitton)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s had a tough time with me,\u201d Gordon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kinda dote on him. I treat him like a child,\u201d Joyce admitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother also told her that I was high maintenance,\u201d Gordon said amid laughter. When the pair finished teasing each other, Joyce added, \u201cWe still love each other very much.\u201d<\/p>\n

The relationship itself has never been in question.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have never wavered from their love for each other or for Glenn and I and the rest of the family or friends,\u201d said their son Todd Summer, who works in San Diego as an associate vice president at SDSU.<\/p>\n

The relationship has undergone change though, through new jobs, cities and raising kids. Joyce dropped out of college when they married. At different companies, she would become a top sales person in the region or nation only to move when Gordon\u2019s advertising job took them someplace else.<\/p>\n

Todd and Glenn, the pair’s sons, noted that their mother\u2019s work helped them view women as strong and taught them everyone has the same opportunity and can achieve whatever they want to achieve.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Gordon grew eager to leave New York and jumped at a job offer from a new friend that would bring them to San Diego.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said to Joyce, \u2018We’re going to San Diego.\u2019 She said, \u2018Well what’s the salary?\u2019 \u2018I don’t know. I didn’t ask him.\u2019 She said, \u2018What’s the title?\u2019 I said, \u2018I don’t know; I’m gonna help him run his company,\u2019\u201d Gordon recalled. \u201cWe were that ready to go out here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell \u00e9l<\/i> was,\u201d Joyce tempered his statement.<\/p>\n

Despite not being consulted ahead of the decision to move cross country, Joyce quickly became involved in the Meridian building where they lived in the Marina District while she did not have a job. She also made fast friends with the people of Downtown and was unable to walk a block without someone greeting her. Since then, she has taken on countless projects benefitting the region and is known for being organized<\/span><\/span><\/span> and bringing people together.<\/p>\n