by Gwen Goff Hobbs
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I remember mornings at my Goff grandparents' house: the stillness of the early morning time...the clink of the spoon as my Granddaddy (Willard) Goff stirred his coffee which was still boiling in the cup...the glow from the light on the stove and his deep, rumbling voice as he would tell me stories of his family.
He knew that his family came from Missouri and moved to Texas before he was born. He was born 7 May 1914 in Wichita Falls, Texas weighing 13 pounds. His father worked for the Katy Railroad for many years as a car man. Maud often traveled to whatever railroad year Dennis was working out of and Willard was often left in the care of his Grandma McVeigh (Frances Mary Strawhun Paulsell McVeigh) who lived in Denison. When the railroad went on strike in the late 1920s, Dennis moved his family to the Yakima area of Washington where several of his brothers and sisters had moved. Dennis and Maud were planning to move back to Texas in the fall of 1931 when Dennis heart started to fail and they had to postpone the move. Unfortunately, Dennis died in January of 1931. Willard's older brothers, Harold, Paul and Marvin, had already left home by this time looking for jobs and sending as much money home as they could afford. He told of how alone he felt even though his mother was still there. He would tell me that education was one of the most important things in life and would tell me how he had to quit school when he was about 15 years old so that he could help the family finances. He picked apples in the Yakima Valley. He went back to school at age 17 and earned his diploma when his his mother married her former brother-in-law, Louis Harrison "Harry" Slaughter of Wichita Falls, Texas.
He worked at a number of different jobs over the years. He worked in the federal government with the Federal Power Commission, living in Washington, D. C., Lexington, KY, and Ft Worth, TX in performance of this job. He also was a sheet metal worker and worked in that profession for about 30 years and followed jobs in Texas and California. He was also a member of the Home Guard after he was qualified as 4F because of damage done to his ears during a bout of typhoid fever. He also learned how to box and would earn a little extra money as a young man as an amateur boxer.
He was a large man, standing 6'4" in his stocking feet and weighed about 230+ most of his life. I remember him dropping a quarter through his wedding ring to show my sisters and me how big his fingers were. His pleasures were simple for such a complex man. He loved gardening, raising chickens, reading agricultural magazines, square dancing, listening to old-time country-western music and reading his bible. He was raised a Nazarene but later joined the Baptist church as an adult and he tried to live the life of a good Christian man even though, at times, he felt that he fell short of God's will. He and my grandmother, Frances, had been married 56 years when he died in 1992. He said that the first time he saw her at a tent revival in Electra, Texas, he knew that she was the one. He said that she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen with her petite (5'1") frame, lively black eyes, and long straight black hair that touched the back of her knees. Of course, the minute she got married and left home, she cut it off. He loved her to the end of his life and she still mourns his loss as does the entire family.