With a father who "shook mountains'' and a sister dubbed "the people's Premier'' when she was appointed to the position last year, it comes as no surprise to learn that UBP candidate Patricia Pamplin Gordon has also already left her mark as a political fighter.

As she continues intensive canvassing as a parliamentary hopeful for the constituency of Pembroke East Central, Mrs. Pamplin Gordon recalls that she found herself at the centre of a `hot' human rights issue back in 1993. This arose when she married Dennis Pamplin and discovered that her foreign husband had no right of abode in Bermuda.

"He was asked to leave the Island, yet Bermudian men with foreign wives had never been confronted with this problem. So this was a human rights issue -- but also, a women's issue! Although, in the end they offered my husband his `piece of paper' -- probably just to shut me up -- I had found there were other women in my position so I decided to go public and fight this antiquated law. I had to remind people we were living in the 1990's, not the 1890's. So, yes, if you have to `shake mountains' to get things done, so be it!'' She concedes that her `head on', no nonsense approach to problems can be disconcerting. "Pam probably wishes I'd calm down a bit. But she knows I have a completely different personality -- and that's fine with her! Oh yes, the whole family is so very proud of Pam and all that she's achieved.'' As the daughter of Bermuda's `father of trade unionism', the late Dr. E.F.

Gordon, Patricia Gordon knew from an early age what it was like to live in the public eye and under public scrutiny. "My father died when I was very young but it was always made clear to me that certain standards had to be upheld. My mother saw to that, always telling us `You are a Gordon so you have to excel -- nothing less than excellence is enough'. I think that had the effect of making me steer clear of the public for quite a long time.'' She admits it was her eldest sister Olympia Corrent, chairman of Pembroke East Central UBP who persuaded her to serve as deputy chairman in 1985-6. "She actually dragged me on board,'' she admits, "and as chairman, she was very instrumental in getting Bobbie Barritt and Lawson Mapp elected. Now, Wayne Scott and I are the new kids on the block.'' As for her opponents, she says she has "great respect'' for PLP candidates Stanley Morton and David Allen. "In fact, I'm working with Stan on the Organ Fund at St. Paul's AME where I also serve as senior usher board member. He just co-opted me to go on his committee. I honestly believe,'' she adds, "that all the candidates have Bermuda's best interests at heart, but we choose to reach the end by different means. I always have respect for the other person's position. All I ask is that my opinion is similarly respected.''.

It was as a result of her spirited fight for `husbands' rights that she decided, in spite of her position as a UBP branch deputy chairman, to content the October 1993 election as an independent in Warwick East. "I felt I needed a forum in which to fight this women's rights issue. Sometimes, you have to be bold and tenacious and stand up for what you believe is right.'' She may have made little impression on Warwick voters but she was successful in having the law amended.

Mrs. Pamplin Gordon, a chartered accountant by profession, attended Berkeley Institute and then married "straight out of school''. For five years, she worked at the John W. Swan Agency where, she said, as Dr. Gordon's daughter, she was upset at having the personal details of her life spread across Bermuda's newspapers. "But Sir John could see that I'm a tenacious person and I remember him saying `We need to have you on our side!'' After working for some years at the accounting firm of Moore, Stephens & Butterfield, the firm sponsored her to study in the UK at the London Polytechnic. "After qualifying as a C.A., I did part of my articles there.'' In Bermuda's private sector she worked for Skandia Insurance and then Belvedere Insurance Company. At the moment, she is a private consultant which, she says, fits in well with her "hectic'' schedule as an aspiring Member of Parliament.

With two sons, Trevor, who is 33 and Karriem, a teenager at Saltus, Mrs.

Pamplin Gordon says she relies a great deal on her mother, now 73. "I am blessed to have my own mother and I am blessed to be my sons' mother. I also have a wonderful, supportive husband and both he and my mother help take care of Karriem while I'm tied up in politics.'' Nowadays, she is glad that her mother was a strict disciplinarian. "When I was a kid and she called me `Patricia' I knew I was in trouble! Pam always calls me Trish and Trevor calls me Mouche.'' A keen softball player for 30 years, she was part of the Big Blue Machine and represented Bermuda in the Caribbean. Now, Mrs. Pamplin Gordon and her family are avid tennis players. "Last year, I ranked No. 2 in the Ladies B Singles,'' she says proudly. "I am also an umpire for both tennis and softball.'' Among the issues she considers most important in her constituency, she singles out drugs, crime, housing, trash disposal and seniors as among the greatest challenges. "I have a very firm belief that I would not anything for anyone else that I would not want for myself. I know that, at the end of the day, I will have made a good effort in helping all the people I am asking to put their trust in me.'' PATRICIA PAMPLIN GORDON -- As the daughter of Bermuda's `father of trade unionism', the late Dr. E.F. Gordon, she knew from an early age what it was like to live in the public eye and under public scrutiny.