by Herb Goering
From my earliest memories I followed big brothers around. First Walt, then Al, followed by Bill and Dan. Bill and Dan were buddies and most of the time they got along very well. However there were times when they had their differences. One bone of contention was the chore of washing the cream separator. I remember that on some summer evenings they argued about it until well past bed time, when finally one or the other would give in and take care of the nasty job. I observed the final stages of some of these altercations from the upstairs bedroom window.
Bill, Dan and I went on a drive one Sunday afternoon after we moved to Canton. We were in one of the 1935 Fords (we had two of them). We were driving on a narrow dirt road, I was in the back seat, Bill and Dan were in the front seat. I don’t know which one was driving, but I do know that the one that wasn’t driving thought he should be. Suddenly the one in the passenger seat reached over and turned the ignition off and removed the key. This locked the steering wheel and the car immediately veered to the left. Fortunately there was no deep ditch and the driver was able to bring the car to a halt without damage. Some tall weeds along the roadway took a beating. Quietness ruled on the way home.
My older brothers were good mechanics. I didn’t pay much attention, which I very much regretted in later years. When Dot and I were farming, I cut some alfalfa for seed. I wanted to thresh it with my combine, but I could not get the engine to operate properly. To my good fortune Bill and Alice paid us a visit. I told Bill about my problem and he told me to grab the tool box and take him to the combine. In a few minutes he diagnosed the problem, which was, the engine was out of time. In just a few more minutes he had it purring like a kitten. That saved me the expense of getting a mechanic out.
Bill’s favorite subject in high school was football with whatever was second, a distant second. Bill was a very good football player. He was agile and quick and a very hard hitter. I was always glad that we were on the same team and sometimes I felt sorry for the opposition. It was fortunate for me to be in a small school, as I could make the team. On the other hand, it was probably unfortunate for Bill because he would have made the team in a much larger school with a much better team.
When Bill was a senior and I was a junior, we were both on the Canton football team. He was the right tackle and I was the left tackle. I have many memories of that season and would like to share with you the most precious memory of the time I played football with Bill.
Canton was playing Sedgwich at Sedgwick. We lost the toss and Sedgwick elected to receive the kickoff. When Sedgwick lined up I knew I was in trouble because they came out in the formation that was identical to the Canton offense. Single wing unbalanced line to the right which meant that most of their running plays would be against the left side of the defense. Being the left tackle meant that my work was cut out for me. The very first play was off tackle to their right, right at me and the left end. They were well coached, hit hard and low. They continued calling the same play and after several plays, my head was reeling and the ball had been advanced to scoring position somewhere around the 20. I was trying to collect my senses when I became aware that Bill was beside me. He said, “go play right tackle, I’ll play here.” Sedgwick ran the same play and Bill knifed through the blockers and threw the ball carrier for a loss. This was repeated twice more times. I heard the quarterback say as he went into huddle, “What happened to that guy?”
They tried another play on the 4th down. I don’t remember what, only that it didn’t work and they lost the ball on downs. Bill and I shifted back to our assigned positions. Sedgwick was none the wiser. They didn’t call another off-tackle play the rest of the game.
Bill took a keen interest in Ralph. During the last couple of years that Ralph was in the home at Peabody, Bill visited him many times. Dot and I were fortunate to have Bill with us when we took Ralph with us to Denver for Archer’s funeral. Ralph was very difficult on that trip, but Bill sat in the back seat with him and managed to get Ralph’s attention away from the thoughts that were troubling him.
On one occasion while visiting with Bill, I confided in him about a problem that I was having with someone. I felt that I was not being treated fairly. Bill listened to me and then asked, “Have you told him how you feel?” That was a good question.