Goddard-Reagan Family Website

You'll love it.

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And there's a stack of In The Bleachers cartoons from The Sun-Times, including one Thursday that shows a dentist on the mound working on a pitcher while the manager is calling the bullpen to say, "Start warming someone up.  Gordons getting drilled."

 

I've got a great Dad's Day card for you, too.  It's your kind of humor.  I've put in some pictures of Elizabeth and Caroline. your grandchildren.  They miss you, too.

 

Where can I send these, Dad?  Does heaven have an address?

 

Joseph Sterling Goddard died March 31 in Santa Barbara, Calif., at age 87.  He was one of 12 children in Riverside, and only two are left -- Liz Field, who lived many years in Hinsdale and was with Dad shortly before he died, and Herb, my favorite of the original uncles.  Herb's waiting in Seattle for this column to put on the family web page.

 

We had a great February reunion in Santa Barbara.  It started at cousin Bob Field's ranch house in the Santa Ynez Mountains that had windows from Stan Laurel's old Hollywood home to give a clear view of a horse farm below.  It continued at Fess (Davy Crockett) Parker's hotel on the ocean and concluded at a country club where everyone sang happy birthday to Dad.  I cried, my sister cried, my wife cried, my daughters cried.

 

We still cry when we see the reunion photo.  There he is, front and center, with good color in his face and more than 70 relatives from the original 12 Riverside kids, including "Little Cousin" Danny Field (Hinsdale Class of '55), who was a great help in the grieving and moving process.

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Dad's at rest now in Bronswood Cemetery, next to mom.  I miss them terribly.   I wish they were here for our Sunday barbecue.  The garden is in full bloom.   They always loved a good garden.  They could watch their grandchildren run through the Crazy Daisy sprinkler and throw peanuts at the squirrels.  And they could eat ice cream for dessert.  They always loved a good dish of ice cream.

 

We could talk again of the Riverside days, especially when Dad and his younger brother Lester "had it out" on the lawn in front of the other children and neighbor kids.  We circled and circled, and finally I got him right in the stomach," Dad said.  "It was such a good punch that Lester threw up on me, and that ended the Big Fight.  I won the battle, but he won the war."

 

Dad headed the linen departments at Marshall Field's and Carson Pirie Scott for 27 years.  And in retirement he created and built doll houses.

 

"I was standing in a toy store one day when a little girl walked in with her parents," he said.  "Her eyes lit up. 'That's the kind of doll house I want,' she said, and they bought it.  It made my life complete."

 

No, Dad, you made everyone's life complete.

 

Now about that address.  How 'bout if I send it in care of St. Peter, The Pearly Gates, Heaven?  That way, you'll be sure to get it.