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LIFE HISTORY OF HOWARD ARTHUR
GOODMAN
I am told I was born on a very windy day on the 26th
of March, 1899 in the little town of
St. David
in southern
Arizona
. My grandparents on both sides
settled that part of
Arizona
. They were among the
first. Grandfather McRae with the
Mormon Battalion crossed that
country years earlier and when President Brigham Young was recruiting people to
settle
Arizona
, he indicated that part of the territory.
I grew up as a boy and young man at St. David where we had
a farm. I learned to milk cows at a
very early age, so was given the responsibility of that work until my early
teens.
I look back down the road and see some very lovely times
with the children I grew up with. We
all had to work hard in our early years to help bring the elements under
control. Water for irrigation was a
problem. At the age of twelve, I had
to take a team and scraper and help build ditches.
We had artesian water for domestic purposes and also to help grow small
gardens and some fruit trees. That
was brought about by drilling wells about 300 feet into the earth.
I started school at the age of six and made the First and
Second Grades in the first year. Mathematics,
history, and geography came easy; but I lagged in English and grammar until
about the seventh grade when I got the drift.
Physiology and hygiene were a pain in the neck and still are, but
notwithstanding that I have had good health (with a few exceptions) most of my
life.
My mother had three girls and nine boys.
I, being the fourth in the family, had to devote a lot of time in the
kitchen along with the milking and feeding chores of the cows. My grandma
Goodman lived next door and owned a small general store.
After hers (children) were married and left home, it fell to my happy lot
to spend the nights at her place. Along with my parents, I loved her very dearly
and still have fondest memories of her. She
crossed the plains with a handcart company.
I never knew my grandfather Goodman.
He died when my father was barely fifteen.
I was baptized the day I was eight in a water tank.
The person performing the ceremony stood on the outside of the tank.
Both the one baptizing and the one being baptized need to go into the
water to make it valid. I have
received the Aaronic Priesthood and was ordained a Deacon prior to a valid
baptism. So I along with Joseph
Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the Priesthood before baptism!
I spent lots of time working ditches and roads and in my
later years it was on the freight road where I learned to drive as many horses
and mules as we could string out. We
drove with a jerk line, which is one line tied to the bridle of the near or left
leader. That way, you can string
three teams or four or five or as many as you want.
I have seen some drive as many as 12 teams or 24 horses with one line.
I’d like to try it again.
I saw some of the first cars and aeroplanes come into
existence. My memory takes me back
to 1906 when I saw about my first car. I
learned to drive when about 13 years of age.
Also my folks bought their first washing machine and, boy, was it a deal.
It operated by manual power. I
think that is one reason my arm aches now.
We moved to Casa Grande when I was 18.
There we farmed half a section of ground and pumped the water for
irrigation. After two years, I
received a call to fill a mission to the Central States.
I was given a Patriarchal Blessing and also ordained an Elder by
Patriarch Peter A. Lofgreen. I went
through the temple in
Salt Lake City
on November 19, 1919 and that evening boarded the train for
Independence
,
Missouri
. I labored in Kansa and
Northern Oklahoma
. I came home in March and stayed at
home for some time.
At a M.I.A. gathering I met a
lovely girl. She didn’t want to
have much to do with me, but I kept it in mind.
She lived in Binghampton, just out of
Tucson
. While working in a garage in
Tucson
, I pressed the issue with her and we finally married September 16, 1922. (Two
days after her 19th birthday) We
left
Tucson
where I worked on roads for a while and went back to St. David.
We went from there with my father, my brother, Ed and his wife to
St. George
,
Utah
where we (the two couples) had our marriage solemnized on January, 30, 1923.
I then worked at the St. David powder plant for about a year.
We then went to
Mesa
and worked at odd jobs, finally ending up hauling sand and gravel from the
Salt River
for building purposes. I assisted
in hauling most of the gravel for the
Arizona
Temple
. We were at the dedication.
We had one boy, Ervin, born in
St. David while there on June 13, 1923. While
living in
Mesa
we had two sons and one daughter born. Joseph
Clyde was born at
Virden
,
New Mexico
on June 10, 1925. Thomas Arthur was
born at Virden also on July 12, 1927. Grandpa
and Grandma Cardon lived at Virden, and Mama went to be with them both times.
Geneva
was born in
Mesa
on November 16, 1929. We moved from
Mesa
for a short spell and lived at Binghampton, just out of
Tucson
. We then, in 1931, left and went to
the San Juan River area in
New Mexico
, living the next few years, working on a farm and at other small jobs.
Erma Ruth was born on the 5th of February 1935, at
Kirtland
,
New Mexico
. I, there, served as superintendent
of the ward MIA and on the MIA Stake Board.
We then moved to
Farmington
,
New Mexico
in 1937 and rented a farm. There I
served as Stake MIA superintendent for about a year.
I was then called to the bishopric. I
was ordained a High Priest and set apart by Elder George F. Richards of the
council of the twelve apostles. After
two years, I worked around the country on various government projects--following
mainly cement work which I had picked up earlier in life.
I worked in Abilene, Texas; El Paso; Gallup, New Mexico; out of Flagstaff
in Arizona; Salt Lake City, Utah; Las Vegas and Hawthorne, Nevada.
All this time my family remained at home, with the exception of Ervin,
who worked both at
Flagstaff
and
Las Vegas
with me.
Ervin went into the service and
I came home and worked at construction at the Helium Plant in Shiprock.
Clyde
also worked there with me before he went into the service.
I then went to Rifle,
Colorado
, where I worked at the Oil Shale Demonstration Plant.
I then returned home to stay and got into construction contracting.
Just prior to coming home from Rifle, Alice Lynn was born on November 27,
1945; she being number six and the last of our children.
I then was set apart as a high
counselor by Marion G. Romney. I
served in that capacity for about a year and then was called as bishop of
Farmington First Ward where I served over four years.
Then I was called as First counselor in the Young Stake for about seven
years. I was released from that and
made president of the High Priest’s.
We later moved to
Mesa
and served on the
Temple
grounds as guides for about five years.
I am living out the remainder of
my years in much happiness with some sorrow because of the attitudes of some
concerning the Church. It is the
only thing we have to live for; and soon we’ll be gone from here; but life
never ends.
I love and appreciate very much
my good companion of 55 years. We
have had some ups and down, but always she has remained constant and devoted as
a wife and mother. We have shared
many happy experiences in our lives. I
truly love very much all my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.
I want them to know as I know that Jesus the Christ truly loves and that
he is our Saviour and it is His restored Church that was established through the
Prophet Joseph Smith. I have
received many manifestations of its divinity.
At some other place I hope to put down for your guidance and information
some of them.
Our three boys all served their
country and also filled honorable missions for the building up of the Lord’s
Kingdom.
I have done things that I am not
proud of and that calls for a lot of repentance. But I know repentance is always
in order.
I love you all.
Words cannot begin to express my feelings.
December 7, 1977
April 14, 1978, an airplane fell out of the sky on Howard Goodman's
house. He was working in the kitchen when the plane hit the attached
garage. He was severely burned and died shortly thereafter. His
loving spouse Ella, received major burns to her arms trying to drag him out of
the fire. He was buried in Mesa near his in-laws grave. Five years
later Ella joined him in death due to liver complications from hepatits caused
by blood transfusions received during the treatment of her burns.
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