MELVIN GOELDNER'S CHILDREN

Written by Fern Underwood

Not only the people’s life stories but their continuing influence are interesting.  Melvin’s son Paul, the older of two children, is deceased; but Pat, his widow, and his daughter Amy visited in Osceola in May 1996 for Memorial Day. Pat told that she and Paul had met at Columbia University. Melvin and Alverda attended their wedding in 1968 and Pat remembers that Alverda offered to press her wedding dress. With her mind on other details Pat set up the ironing board at the height she would for herself, then shortly turned around and could just see Alverda’s eyes peering over it. They had a good laugh.

The couple’s unusual honeymoon was spent with Paul doing the dissertation for his doctorate — visiting, photographing, and documenting the development of courthouses throughout the Midwest and Texas. While Pau] was taking pictures Pat would be detailing the locations and relative positions of the buildings. Pat questions how pleased County Recorders were for they were asked for minutes of meetings leading up to the decision to build, which might date back to the mid-eighteen hundreds. ‘With few exceptions they located them.

The fascination was that Paul’s chosen Held was architecture and these buildings were often designed by famous people who specialized in courthouse design. The structure represented the pride the community had in itself and much study and planning went into the decision process.

All told, in 1968-1969, they traveled 30,000 miles visiting 500 courthouses. One day Paul took a picture of Pat walking away from him into the sunset and he told her that the thought flashed into his mind that she might just keep walking and not come back. The dissertation was never made into a book but was available and has been used for reference by many communities.

Melvin remembers a conversation he had with Pat’s father when Melvin commented that Pat is a good girl and her father answered, "Pat has been a good girl since the day she was born." Melvin’s present comment was, "And she is still a good girl." Amy commented in typical daughter-fashion, "Some days better than others."  Melvin and Pat’s father together planted a tree in the northwest corner of the courtyard in Osceola just across from the Post Office.

Pat remembers fondly that Alverda invited lady friends for a reception when she and Paul came through on their way to Utah for Paul to finish his catalogue for that state. She has found fascinating that Melvin and Alverda have kept current with local and national affairs and that they seem as liberal as she. She was interested to hear Melvin say, "I am a registered Republican but at the present time I favor Bill Clinton."

Amy reminded Melvin of some of the responses he gives in certain situations. One goes back to a reply he received when he was in the Student Army Training Corps (see pg. 27 of his autobiography). He was on duty one morning when, before daylight, a lady approached and he ordered her to halt. She didn’t but when she reached him she said, "I’m kinda’ hard of hearin’ and if I don’t do what you ask me to it ain’t that 1 mean to be disrespectful? Amy recalls that he uses that quite often as his hearing is not as sharp as it was.

Pat is Clinical Services Volunteer Coordinator for Hospice Care in Washington, D.C. Amy is in college at the University of Arizona. Paul and Pat’s son Jonathan is a teacher of younger children in a Friends School in the Washington, D.C. area.

Ruth Goeldner Anderson was in Osceola for the July 4th celebration when her father was the Grand Marshall, riding in the lead car in the parade. Melvin had given me this 1990 clipping about her: Ruth Anderson’s background is filled with impressive experience, accomplishments and awards. Through hard work, she has been able to make a very rewarding career using her fiber arts expertise and degree. Within the fiber art field, specifically quilting, Ms. Anderson is qualified to consult, design, teach, judge, write and lecture. She has taught at Brookhaven, Richland, El Centro and Eastfield Colleges, as well as Southern Methodist University, University of Texas - Dallas, Olla Podrida and area quilting shops...After 21 years she no longer is involved in teaching but continues judging, and offers the Ruth Anderson Award yearly at the State Fair of Texas.

The article goes on to tell that at the time Ruth was designing and quilting a piece for the U.S. Embassy in Portugal, and she tells how that came about. The ambassador’s wife wanted a quilt for the stair wall of the embassy, so through Dallas friends Ruth was commissioned. The quilt would pick up the design and colors in the over 100-year-old tile floor of the entrance hall where they greeted all the visitors. The Ambassador’s wife photographed the floor and sent color swatches of the tile. “I studied the designs, interpreted them and made the quilt which she hung on the wall. She thought so much of it that she took a picture, then when they were transferred to Luxembourg, she asked to take the quilt."

There is an embassy art pool in Washington, D.C. from which ambassadors can pick out art. It doesn’t become their property but they can take it to their embassies. In this case the ambassador’s wife asked Ruth if she could buy the commissioned quilt so it would belong to her and not go into the art pool. She took it on it to Luxembourg where they were next stationed.

"I attribute interest in quilting to my German heritage which we didn’t talk about as I was growing up because we were American, not German. My analysis of Germans is that they are detail minded people and technicians, having pride in doing the best job they can. They are thrifty which is illustrated by the thrifty occupation of making quilts.  My art background and interest in fabrics, design and color made quilt making a comfortable pursuit I, now, prepare collectors’ rare textiles for hanging in public buildings and private homes.

"It was also natural for me to become an educator as my father before me. He had a g of learning. Learning was important to him. My brother and I were expected to go to college just as we were expected to do our best in school all the time. Our goal was not to be better than others, but the best we could be. We were not paid for our grades but our work was acknowledged. We were encouraged to be in the band and choir. Paul played the oboe. I didn’t want to be in the band and resisted. Some things I didn’t feel were right for me. I do love music and attend symphony concerts regularly.

"We were expected to go to Iowa State University. I suppose one reason I knew about Applied Art, which was my major, was because of Ruth Carlson, Linnea Friday’s niece, whom I admired as I was growing up. There are adults in the community about j whom you have perceptions from your parents, primarily, but also from your own j observations of their contribution to the community. On the whole I regarded most of l the people in Osceola to be good, solid citizens interested in the welfare of young people. We trusted their guidance and tried to live up to their expectations.

“My father has not given me unsolicited advice since I have grown up. He made the rules while I was under the roof and he was financially supporting me, but once I was an adult he treated me as an independent person. He has not been judgmental in the l decisions I’ve made. When I graduated from college, I moved to Dallas, where my brother was living. There I met Andy Anderson, an architect, and was married. We have two sons, Tod and Stuart.

"It was natural for me to become involved in the education program of our church. I was asked to teach Sunday School and taught the combined class of third and fourth grades. I came to realize that many people don’t really want to teach Sunday School but are often made to feel it is their duty, so they do it out of a sense of obligation. Facing that situation, I divided the congregation into four neighborhoods, found a hostess in each and invited all members to go to the planned meeting centered in their neighborhood. I developed a form which asked them to name their hobbies, interests, talents, education and areas of expertise from which I drew ideas to involve adult members and completely revamped all of the elementary Sunday School. Whereas most teachers are generally recruited for a year, I asked them to come to be involved in special events. This way they can do it out of excitement and as a sharing; everyone can gain from it. My inspiration came best as I was ironing. I kept a pad of paper beside me to jot down ideas of certain people to involve.

"Every fifth Sunday during the year we had a children’s worship service in the sanctuary and we found innovative ways to involve the children in worship. One project was inspired by a gentleman in the church whose business was printing bread wrappers. We did a whole unit on bread: the history of bread. . .people who didn’t have bread.. white bread, brown bread. . .the bread of life. . .Bible passages about bread and wheat and their symbolism in the Bible. Posters of bread were all over the walls and we had different decorative breads from various cultures. We invited a woman who knew how to bake bread. With her help the children baked loaves of bread in Sunday School which we used at communion.

"One Christmas we asked a young mother to bring her newborn baby. She sat in a rocker and held the baby. Each child saw the mother and child and related them to Jesus and his mother. Whereas they might not be able to associate the two by reading the Christmas story, they had a mother and baby there. Each child drew a picture of them and we displayed their art work in the sanctuary, as we customarily did, to affirm that they were part of the whole church and not relegated to a special room or building.

"This was in the 70’s and at that time the United Methodist literature had hardly anything about the Bible - no Biblical stories or references - it was all about social programs. We discontinued ordering United Methodist literature and wrote our own. I taught the art. One person working along with me was Ruth Turner who had been trained at Perkin’s School of Theology and was teaching in the Dallas School system as developer and head of the Special Ed. program. She wrote lesson plans coordinating the subject with Bible stories, art and music — a lot of student and adult participation.

"People were drawn to the church because of the education program and attendance grew. The Board recognized that something was going on and at the end of the year, when they were acknowledging people who served in various capacities, the young man who held the title of chairman of the Education Department was given credit for its success although he knew nothing about and had had nothing to do with the program. I was helped in accepting that situation by my father’s teaching that we don't seek acclaim for what we do but take satisfaction from having made a contribution, from having made a difference where we are.

"When I put myself into a project I really put myself into it! I organized the Sunday School for about three years and then I founded a cooperative pre-school in the church I belong to. I studied about pre-school education, visited several pre-schools and met educators. There were young women in the church who were highly trained, had outstanding abilities and were eager to use them. Recognizing their training and interests, we worked together to utilize those talents to benefit the children and community. This, too, I feel, came from my father who had a gift for discerning talents in the people he worked with.

"The pre-school came along coincidentally with the beginning of the women’s movement and it all came together as a great opportunity for children. I’ve long been away from that particular school but it is highly acclaimed, has retained its high standards after 25 years of existence and has received awards.

"My theory about education is that each learning is a step you build on. We do l not have instant knowledge. First learn the alphabet, words, sentences; learn the basics, l read, read and read. In reading, we see a word we don’t know. We look it up along with pronunciation and meaning; learn the core of the word and its origin. Then we know that word, recognize it and use it. It becomes part of our vocabulary. Representative of my father’s interest in the proper use of words: YOUR HOUSE IS YOUR HOME, BUT REALTORS CANNOT SELL YOU A HOME.

"My father loved learning, loved his teachers and country school and the songs they sang. That was probably one reason he admired his Aunt Louise and Uncle Louis because many of his family loved learning, books, the library and appreciated the opportunity to go to school; but Aunt Louise went to high school and college when it was rare for girls to do that. My mother and father, Lura and Melvin, both earned their way through school and college.

"Now I am coordinating an organization I founded in 1988 that ties in with my art and practicality. It has to do with creating wearable, off the wall art which people can carry with them, and which is seen by others — jewelry, clothing, hats — made by those who are simply interested and those who are professional. Last year we grew to 115 members. I am the only one managing the group because everybody is involved in jobs and their lives and don’t want to take on year-long responsibilities. As with Sunday School, members are eager to take on particular one-time activities.

"Women’s organizations that used to exist have changed. They are being replaced by offering opportunity where people of like interests can get together and share ideas away from work and home. We used to have coffee with neighbors but that is no longer possible because they aren’t home. In organizations like this one, members become substitutes for neighbors and friends.

"For the current organization I publish a newsletter which is a great draw to keep interest. Putting it together, mentioning the members’ accomplishments and their news is something I learned from my father as he has always shared his interests with others in newsletters in different forms. (His preference was writing letters over telephone calls.) He started me cutting and pasting at an early age.

"Regarding my family, Tod teaches science in the Dallas School System, Stuart is an Occupational Therapist. He lives in South Carolina, where he has bought a large country house that was under construction. He has been building on that house, pouring all his money and love of building into it. He has dug a pond and planted trees. His girlfriend recently had read about an "adventuresome gene" and asked if this was inherited because Stuart likes to travel, fly airplanes, run marathons, and these kinds of things. He didn’t inherit this particular gene from his grandfather who ’bloom’s where he is planted’. He always thought it was important to stay in the community and be involved there. He did travel to places he wanted to see in the U.S. but his adventures have been in Osceola and making it a better place.

"My father knows plants’ names and used to recite them as we saw them on nature walks along the byways — he likes byways more than highways. He loved "The Patch" and working outside there. He previously owned another acreage farther from Osceola. He planted fruits and vegetables in the backyard garden and cared for them. 

"He loves the church and has always attended on Sunday wherever he was or is.  He was a lay minister.  His integrity remains constant.

"He has particular piles and tiles of papers on different subjects and people. I do, too, for each organization I am involved with and have my own system of order. He clips items of interest to give to hose he would be interested.  I do, too, and am constantly amazed at the genuine appreciation this brings.
"Why am I who I am? I am my father’s daughter."

This is the day which the Lord has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
(Ps. 778:24 One of Melvin’s oft-quoted
scriptures.)

Return to main page for Recipes for Living 1996 by Fern Underwood

Last Revised April 28, 2012