26 Mar 1899 – 14 Apr 1978
Husband of Ella Cardon
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 Kansas 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 downs, 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 us 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
*Howard’s Grandma Goodman was Margaret Ann Taylor, daughter of George Edward Grove Taylor and Ann Wicks.
April 14, 1978, an airplane fell out of the sky on Howard’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. His neighbor, Ken, also received burns helping to get him out of the house. Howard was buried in Mesa near his in-law’s grave. Five years later Ella joined him in death due to liver complications from hepatitis caused by blood transfusions received during the treatment of her burns.
Buddy is hero in blaze from airplane crash
By JACK WEST
“He saved my live – my buddy saved my life,” Jack Thomas sobbed Thursday as he clung to the arm of his rescuer, roommate Ken Turrentine.
A twin-engine airplane had crashed in the narrow space between the house at 927 S. Lesueur in Mesa, occupied by the two men, and the home of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Goodman, 933 S. Lesueur.
Turrentine, 27, not only rescued Thomas, but pushed Mrs. Goodman, 74, to safety, then pulled and carried Goodman, 79, outside the blazing house.
The pilot of the Piper Aztec twin, James Arthur Harrison, 48, of Nogales, was killed immediately when his plane exploded between the houses, setting both aflame.
“I was in the bedroom, where the house burned the most,” said Thomas, 35, “I’d been drinking, and I was asleep.
“The door was locked but he (Turrentine) kicked in the door. And he said, ‘Come on, come on, it’s a fire.’
“The next thing I know I’m out on the lawn confused, not knowing what’s going on, and he’s next door helping the neighbor out. He’s running all over the place.
“He’s one hell of a person,” Thomas said.
Ron Bayes, 16, of 928 S. Lesueur, across the street from the crash scene, had been watching television just inside his open front door.
“I heard the loud sound of the engines,” he said. “I got up and I looked toward the sky and I saw it was turned this way and the wings were tipped way over, and there’s a field over there and it looked like he was trying to swing around and go toward the field.
“But he didn’t make it. It just came straight down and it hit in back of their houses.”
Harrison’s body was found in the wreckage of his plane.
Relatives in Nogales – he is survived by a wife, Wanda, a daughter, Patricia, and a stepson, William Mossburg – said Harrison was flying the plane to Phoenix for repairs.
They said the elevator on the plane wasn’t working right. He was supposed to meet his wife in Phoenix and she was going to return to Nogales with him.
Turrentine said he was watching television when he heard an explosion.
“I looked out my window and I saw flames next door.” he said. “I got my buddy out of the house first.”
“He saved my life, “Thomas said. “I was in the bedroom where it burned the most and I was asleep. The door was locked but he kicked in the door.”
Thomas was led outside by Turrentine.
“Next thing I know I’m out on the lawn confused, not knowing what’s going on,”Thomas said, “and he’s next door helping the neighbor out. He’s running all over the place.”
Mrs. Sylvia Despain, 924 E. LeSueur, said she heard the plane and then heard and felt the plan’s impact, followed by an explosion.
“I ran to the phone to call the police and then I ran out and that’s when (Turrentine) pulled him (Goodman) out of the house,” Mrs. Despain said.
John Walkup, general manager of Arizona Piper at Sky Harbor International Airport, said Harrison had flown the plane there several weeks ago for an adjustment to the autopilot.
-Published in the Arizona Republic, Phoenix, Arizona, Friday, April 14, 1978, pages A1 and A22
Mesan dies after plane crash in home
PHOENIX (AP) – A Mesa man died yesterday from burns he received when a plane crashed into his home Thursday.
Howard A. Goodman, 79, died at the Maricopa County Hospital burn unit from burns over much of his body. His wife, Ella, 76, remains in satisfactory condition at the hospital.
The plane flown by James Arthur Harrison of Nogales, plowed into the homes of Goodman and a neighbor and exploded. Harrison, who was taking the plane to Phoenix for repairs, died immediately after the crash.
The Goodmans were pulled out of their burning home by neighbor Ken Turrentine after he rescued his roommate.
-Published in the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, Arizona, Saturday, April 15, 1978, section B, page three.
Aged victim of plane’s crash dies
A 79-year-old man died Friday of burns suffered when an airplane crash set his home afire Thursday.
Howard Goodman, the victim, was trapped in his home at 933 S. Lesueur in Mesa after the light plane, flown by James Arthur Harrison, 48, of Nogales, crashed between the Goodman house and one occupied by Ken Turrentine, 27, and Jack Thomas, 35 at 927 S. Lesueur.
Harrison was killed outright by the crash, which caused both houses to burn. Turrentine rescued Thomas, his roommate, and then entered the flaming Goodman house. He pushed Mrs. Goodman to safety and then half-pulled, half-carried her husband outside.
Goodman, who suffered second and third-degree burns over 85 to 100 percent of his body, died in the burn unit at Maricopa County Hospital.
Mrs. Goodman, 75, who suffered first and second-degree burns over 25 percent of her body, was listed in satisfactory condition at the same hospital. Turrentine suffered minor burns during the rescues.
Harrison apparently had been drinking before the crash, authorities said. An autopsy showed hi had a blood alcohol reading of .1 percent. Under Arizona state law, motor vehicle drivers who test at that level or higher are presumed under the influence of alcohol.
-Published in the Arizona Republic, Phoenix, Arizona, Saturday, April 15, 1978, page C6
Howard A. Goodman
MESA – Services for Howard Arthur Goodman, 79, who died April 14, 1978, at Maricopa County Hospital from burns suffered when an airplane crashed by his house Thursday, will be at 2 p.m. Monday in Mesa 23rd Ward Chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Mr. Goodman, 933 S. LeSueur St., was born in St. David. He lived in Mesa 13 years. He was a guide on the LDS Arizona Temple Grounds. He was a high priest in the church and had been a bishop in Farmington, N.M.
Survivors include his wife, Ella; children, Ervin, J. Clyde, Thomas A., Geneva Palmer, Erma Ruth Ausburn and Alice Christinsen; four brothers; two sisters; 29 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.
Friends may call from 6 to 8 p.m. today at Meldrum Mortuary, MacDonald at First Street.
-Published in the Arizona Republic, Phoenix, Arizona, Sunday, April 16, 1978, page C33
GOODMAN, Howard Arthur, Husband of Ella, father of Ervin, J. Clyde, Thomas A., Geneva Palmer, Erma Ruth Ausburn and Alice Christinsen, Brother of Joseph E., Morten, Glen, Harry, Ruth Tilton, and Mable Green. Services 2 PM Mon. at Mesa LDS 23rd Ward 235 W. 10th Ave. Bishop Loy K. Despain officiating. Interment Mesa. Friends may call 5-8 PM today at Meldrum Mortuary, MacDonald at 1st St., Mesa.
-Published in the Arizona Republic, Phoenix, Arizona, Sunday, April 16, 1978, page C32
Mesa City Cemetery, Mesa, Arizona
