Gordo Stonington taught at Colorado Rocky Mountain School from 1979 to 2008. He earned a PhD in science and taught at Colorado Academy before coming to CRMS, where over nearly three decades he taught physics, chemistry, geology, and math. He also led an unusually wide range of the school’s hands-on programs: blacksmithing and electrical service crews, theater lighting, and backcountry ski, mountain bike, and supporting kayak trips, and he coached soccer along the way. He liked to say the best part of CRMS was getting to do so many different things, though he’ll admit dorm duty was the hard part. In the forge, Gordo was Francis Whitaker’s understudy. Because Francis would not teach beginners, he taught Gordo, and Gordo carried the craft to students. When Francis died in 1999, Gordo took over the blacksmithing program and ran it until he retired.