|
|||
|
My Papa by Elmer GoertzMy parents were Rudolph and Hettie Goertz. My dad was born on November 1, 1896 and my mother on September 21, 1899. They were married on November 18, 1919. My mother died on January 28, 1948, the day after my fifth birthday. While I have some very vivid memories of my mother, what I know most about my mother I learned in conversations with my older siblings. She was a wonderful mother. Because of the short time I did know her, I would be remiss to not acknowledge her while writing about my father. This man who was known as papa to his twelve children and grandchildren was quite a man and there are so many things that I could write about him. I have chosen two, his tremendous wisdom and his faith in God.In terms of academic education, papa had very little. It is probably not for certain how many years of formal education he actually had but the number I have heard most often mentioned is six years. While he had few years in this area, he was one of the wisest men I have ever known. There is an incident that occurred in my early life that I have never forgotten. It was a Saturday afternoon and papa, my younger brother William and I were picking cotton. We had just finished weighing what we had picked and were sitting next to the wagon getting a drink of water. Papa was not the type to lecture his children on life but he would often have some very sage words of wisdom and what he said this particular Saturday I have never forgotten. His comment was something like this: "Boys, I want you to remember, no matter how far you get in life, do not forget that you did this." As already mentioned, papa lost his wife when she was 48 to cancer in 1948. At that time there was not a lot that could be done to relieve the pain associated with the disease so mama's last months no doubt were very difficult for papa to witness. At the time of her death there were six of the twelve children still at home ranging in age from Mark at 16 to William who was 2. If ever there was a man to have his faith tested, it was papa. I have heard my brother, Father Alois, speak of his early experience of witnessing papa's faith in action. Father Alois is the third of the twelve children so he can recall the early days when the mode of transportation was a horse and buggy. On Sunday papa and mama would attend Mass at Sacred Heart in Rockne. There would be times when it was too muddy to use the buggy so papa would walk to church. As Father Alois has recounted it must have been very important to papa to make so much effort to attend Mass in an unheated building that at times had to be bitterly cold. My recollection of papa's faith in action came from praying the rosary. As I have said many times, you did not get to bed in our house without first praying the rosary. How well I and all of my brothers and sisters remember doing this. A typical evening would have papa sitting in his rocking chair reading. When he folded up his paper or whatever else he was reading and announced it was time to pray the rosary, there was no discussion. Each of us would get our rosary which was hanging from a nail in the wall, would kneel down and pray the rosary. I recall the years when my three sisters, Ann, Bernadette and Marcella, were dating. If their date came calling before we had prayed the rosary, he knew that he would kneel down with us before they left for the evening. As a boy of ten or eleven years of age, I was hoping papa would not embarrass us by allowing them to leave without praying the rosary. Because of his prayer life, papa developed a strong and deep faith. In the time that I knew him, I truly believe that he never worried for one minute about anything and he was the most at peace person I have ever known. He did not think God would take care of things, he knew God would take care of things. Without question, papa was the greatest man I have ever known and I thank God often for giving him to me. |
