Tryon Rotary president and Mill Spring resident Gorden Threlfall, 59, passed away Sunday afternoon from extensive bee stings, according to his wife, Julie.

“This is such a great community. So many people have told me how much they thought of Gorden… you can never hear that enough,” Julie said Monday afternoon.
Threlfall, who raised bees, was doing yard work around 5 p.m. when he was attacked by one of two hives the Threlfalls were raising.
Julie Threlfall said one hive has always been gentle and never acted erratically, while the other has attacked Gorden before, causing him to be stung, but never to this extent.
Specific arrangements had not been made as of Monday afternoon for Threlfall’s funeral service. More information is expected in the next day or so.
“This is a sad day for all of us and our Rotary that Gorden loved,” Rotarian Carol Jackson said in an email to Rotary members Sunday evening.
In addition to his years of Rotary service, Threlfall also served in many other volunteer and governmental organizations, including the Polk County Planning board and land use committee.
Threlfall worked with fellow Rotarian Bob Lair as his stockbroker, but the two also became good friends through community work.
“I had known him probably six or eight years and we had become close friends,” Lair said.
Lair said he and Threlfall were friends through Rotary and he had learned a lot about Threlfall’s love for the military. Threlfall served as an Army captain until a parachute jump injury ended his career, Lair said.
Threlfall also had three children – a daughter who was a veteran, and two sons with military experience, including one who currently serves as an Air Force captain.
The Threlfalls this past week were enjoying the company of their son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren, who had just traveled to the area from Hawaii where the son was stationed. The family had planned to stay with the Threlfalls while the son was deployed to Afghanistan.
On Saturday the family celebrated their 2-year-old grandson’s birthday and on Sunday morning the Threlfall’s infant granddaughter was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church.
Rev. Thomas Olson said Threlfall  had been a member at Trinity for many years.
“Gorden was a pillar of Trinity Lutheran,” Olson said. “He was our head elder and we all counted on him. He was very much a caring, and not only compassionate person, but a person directly involved in caring for the members and in particular the elderly of our church.”
Jackson said Rotary has canceled its regularly scheduled speaker for this Thursday’s meeting so that Lair might offer a eulogy for Threlfall.