Our New chapter in Kaysville, Utah
650 South
Our friends, the Bookers, let me stay with then during my job search. I unsuccessfully went job hunting for weeks in the Salt Lake City area. I decided to fast for a period to attune myself to God for guidance. I fasted for three days until I felt that my fast was accepted. I then ended the fast and got two job offers within the next two hours. I went to work at Salt Lake Hardware, where my grandfather had worked decades earlier.
The family soon followed me to Utah. We searched for a home and found one that was under construction in a new development in Kaysville, Utah. It took a few months for the house to be completed. It was a beautiful home, sitting on a lot and a half. The north lot had our home, and the half lot to the south became an orchard and garden.
While awaiting the completion of our house, we moved into a basement apartment. No dogs were allowed in the house. This wasn’t easy. We were fresh in the area and knew no one to help with Scamper. She was very confined while we were waiting for our new house. Scamper’s terrible living conditions changed her nature, so she was never the same sweet dog again. Because of complaints from neighbors when we moved to Kaysville, she was finally rehomed. We don’t know her fate after that. But it broke our hearts to lose our Scamper.
We finally moved to the new home. The Kaysville Ward that we moved into was huge—the many new housing developments overwhelmed local Church leadership. If you didn’t get to church early, there wasn’t a seat for you, and you ended up standing in the back. Having a one-year-old daughter, it was much easier to arrive early and secure a seat. They eventually divided us into smaller, more manageable wards.
After our move into the new house, my earlier job search, which included applying at the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, turned into a job interview there. I thought there was no interest in me there at the time I was searching, so I continued looking elsewhere. But now I was called in for an interview for a different Church employment position. The interview went well, but the person deciding on the position weighed his decision carefully for weeks. I did finally receive an offer to work for the Church, where I really wanted to have a career. I began a nine-year career with the Church in the finance department.
I started practicing stair climbing every day. I would start on the ground floor, ascend to the 26th floor, and then descend to the 14th or 15th floor, wherever I worked. I did so slowly enough to prevent a sweat breakout. They didn’t need a stinky accountant.
Kathy became pregnant with Aaron. Pregnancies were complicated for her, but deliveries were easy. At about three months pregnant, she began hemorrhaging. We went to the emergency room, where we were told that the baby was lost. They proposed a D&C procedure. In the Church, men who hold the priesthood often give blessings to the sick using consecrated oil. When I laid my hands on her head, I felt a strong prompt that the baby would be born healthy. I then thought about the circumstances and lost my courage to say this in the blessing. A few minutes after, her obstetrician called the emergency room and told her that we should wait before deciding that the baby had been lost. He prescribed bed rest for three months. That was challenging with a busy 2-year-old, Melissa, at home. Aaron was born a healthy baby six months later. And I have remembered ever since the lost chance to comfort Kathy with the blessing I should have given.
Please don’t ask me where my head was, but I decided to rebuild the carburetor on our only car when Kathy was nine months pregnant. Of course, she went into labor while the vehicle was down. Why not? She was sitting alongside the car, timing contractions, while I worked frantically. I called my neighbor from across the street, and we got the car running. Then, we were on our way to the hospital. Hey, we got there. Everything’s good. Right?
Kathy once had an exciting experience with black ice while driving the pickup I later bought. She was driving to Ogden for a doctor’s appointment when the truck’s back end slid sideways. Kathy spun around several times and ended up in the weeds alongside the road. Everyone was safe and healthy, and the truck was unhurt, so she continued to the doctor. I believe that was the last time she drove my pickup. Or any pickup I have owned since.
One time, when Kathy was outside gardening, three-year-old Melissa went into the house through the doggie door. We planned to entertain friends that evening, and Kathy had some strawberry pies in the fridge. Melissa pulled them out of the fridge, dropping them onto the floor upside down. Melissa had also gotten some cocoa powder and poured it on the furniture in the living room. The visitors that night commented on how they enjoyed the “chocolate smells” in our house. Melissa’s life sentence for her crimes was later pardoned, and she grew up to be a responsible adult.
I told Kathy that I would be willing to do any assignment in the Church except for teaching in Primary (the children’s organization). I picture the Lord as having a chuckle over that. I was called to serve as a Primary teacher within two weeks. I had a great experience, thanks to Kathy’s extensive help. I learned I can’t tell the Lord what I will and won’t do. The Lord knows me better than I do and knows where I will make a difference and what I need for my growth.
While teaching the children, I had one deliberately disruptive boy. Nothing I tried seemed to help. Then Kathy and I had him over to our house for lunch one Saturday. He enjoyed it, and we got to know him a bit better. Later we visited him at his home. A feeling of tension in the house gave me a clue that something was happening there that caused his errant behavior. The boy then appointed himself as the enforcer in my classroom. If someone became disruptive, they had to answer to him. Instead of being a problem he became a solution.
The Victorian
We saw a central Kaysville home for sale that was built in 1907. We were ready for a home with more personality than the cookie cutter tract home. We prayed about the purchase. Before closing on the house, our realtor told us he needed a temporary loan to complete the sales chain. He promised to repay it when all the properties were closed. We loaned him $6,000, but several of his business deals fell through, and we never received repayment. I decided that I would never loan money again. If a friend needs money and I have it, I will give it to him. If he has it to repay someday, he is to pass it forward to someone else in need. I will never become a finance guru this way, but it keeps my friendships clean.
The Victorian house was a love/hate relationship. When we watch HGTV programs where they tackle an ancient home, we say, “They have no idea what’s ahead.” An older home such as this requires constant and expensive repairs and upgrades. The Victorian details were exquisite, but the work was non-stop. Utility bills were huge due to its antiquated furnace, old windows, and 12-foot ceilings. We kept the thermostat set at 65 degrees for budget reasons. If we had lived there until we had more money, we would have had a wonderful home.
Kathy entered a writing contest with The Deseret News, a Salt Lake City newspaper. She wrote about her most memorable Christmas, when she received her very first owned flute for Christmas at the age of 13. The story told that they performed Christmas day at a care center for the elderly. She told the story of a bleak, sad setting that became lively and happy due to the group’s music and repeated performances. Her story was a contest winner and was published in the Deseret News.
Kathy was on her way to the doctor in Ogden. She left Melissa and Aaron inside the back porch with instructions not to move until Kathy asked them to. Aaron escaped and ran behind the car when Kathy was backing it out. He bumped into the back of the vehicle and fell when the car continued and backed over him. A panicked Kathy asked the doctor to look Aaron over. The doctor examined Aaron in Ogden. All was well. The snow he fell in was soft.
The new stake we moved into called me to the stake high council to oversee missionary activity in the stake. At 28, I was the youngster to be schooled by the masters on the high council. The high council is a unique opportunity to get to know Church leaders. Because of my access to technical computer equipment, I became a provider of statistics, charts, and graphs for our stake presidency. It allowed them to see trends in attendance and other factors graphically by ward. These tools are now commonplace, but my ability to produce them back then was unusual and beneficial. I came away with an appreciation of the sincere love and concern the stake presidency has for the individual members of their stake.
While serving on the high council, I visited various wards in the stake to conduct stake business and fulfill speaking assignments. Kathy was the chorister in our home ward. When I attended other wards, Kathy would have to leave the two children unsupervised in the congregation while she led the hymns. When she returned to her seat, the children were gone. As she looked around, she found that the ward had many adoptive grandparents who took them and held them during the meeting.
I was assigned to visit various wards in the Kaysville North Stake and could walk to all the chapels in the stake. We had only one car, which Kathy used to take the children to church.
Since my high council assignment was missionary work, I met with the 70’s Quorum in our home ward. (Back then, there were still members of the seventies quorum in the individual wards and stakes.) Our ward had four seventies. We became close friends. I recall a priesthood meeting where the usual Sunday lesson began, and one member shared with us a challenge he was facing at home. The lesson was set aside, and the discussion centered around helping this quorum member. I went away thinking that this is how quorum lessons should be done.
Missionary work was interesting in Kaysville. Our ward had ten people who were not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints within our ward boundaries. We could discuss each person individually. The discussions centered on how we could help each person feel that they are part of our community. This was a problem for non-members in the 95% LDS town.
I found a unique carpool for my daily commute. We were all employees of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was with some very experienced leaders who held jobs that provided them with unique knowledge. It was like traveling with the School of the Prophets each morning. I learned so much. One man was a co-author of the Old Testament seminary manual used at the time. He was a scholar of the Old Testament, the Hebrew and Greek languages, and ancient Israel. He had many insights that I gleaned. Another man was a historian working for the Church History Department. My carpool group had some great discussions and became a close group.
One morning, on the way to work, another carpool member who worked in Church International Operations mentioned that he was having difficulty finding a strong candidate for a financial manager opening in Samoa. I told him he could throw my name into the hat if he wanted to. A few days later, he called me into his office and offered me the Samoa position, which I accepted. The offer had been made in complete darkness during a multi-state power blackout. (I think he may have been fishing when he mentioned the opening on the way to work.)
The story of Kathy & Ron Goodlad
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