{"id":1398,"date":"2015-08-12T12:00:35","date_gmt":"2015-08-12T06:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/?p=1398"},"modified":"2015-08-12T12:13:37","modified_gmt":"2015-08-12T06:13:37","slug":"those-were-the-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/?p=1398","title":{"rendered":"Those were the days"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Charles Arnold Goddard has lived to be 100. Several dozen relatives, friends, neighbors and even business associates gathered at his Myrtle Avenue home Saturday to share the occasion. A group of fellow veterans was there to present him with a certificate for his Army captaincy, and Mayor Alfonso Ortiz handed him a certificate from the city.<\/p>\n<p>Goddard was born in Denver and is the former owner of Southwestern Oil Company at Grand and Washington. The company supplied coal oil and gasoline. Goddard is widowed, his wife, Margaret, having passed away eight years ago. Mrs. Goddard had a long tenure as a teacher and principal with the Las Vegas City Schools.<\/p>\n<p>Lynn Esquibel has been a caretaker for 36 years. She organized the centennial party, which included a buffet and music by Lorraine Varela, who led the guests in a round of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Las Ma\u00c3\u00b1anitas.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Old-time friends such as Marie Montoya, Karen Pettine, Mary Edith Johnsen, John Moore, Bob and Sharon Vander Meer, Gilbert and Marcy Pino, Kathy and Fred Allen, Gloria Ortiz, Kathy, Allen and Steve Franken, Janet Remenyik, Alnita Baker and Chuck and Carol Searcy attended and gave their best hugs and wishes to the honoree.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Details on how many centenarians there are in the United States can be sketchy, with estimates running from 53,000 to 110,000. That puts our local centenarian in an exclusive class.<br \/>\nBut before we ask for an invitation to his 101st birthday celebration, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s consider the way the U.S. was when Goddard made his appearance in 1915:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There were only 1.8 billion people on the planet, with 100 million living in the U.S.<\/li>\n<li>Warren G. Harding was the president and Henry Cabot Lodge the senate majority leader.<\/li>\n<li>Because 1915 marked the first full year of World War I, fighter pilots constituted the bulk of the U.S.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 most prominent people, according to leading news magazines.<\/li>\n<li>The most popular songs of that era were \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Carry Me Back to Old Virginny,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by Alma Gluck; \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a Long Long Way to Tipperary,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by John McCormack; and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They Didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Believe Me,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by Harry McDonough.<\/li>\n<li>Take-home pay was $687 a year, comparable to $16,063 in today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dollars;<\/li>\n<li>In 1915, a decent house would have cost $3,200, compared to $177,600 today.<\/li>\n<li>A $2,005 auto (which would cost $46,879 with today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s inflated dollars), would require $3 to fill its 20-gallon tank.<\/li>\n<li>Ford Motor Company that year manufactured its millionth car.<\/li>\n<li>Only a couple of years before Charles was born, one could buy a Studebaker Model 25 Touring Car for $885.<\/li>\n<li>A loaf of bread went for 7 cents; a dozen eggs 34 cents, a quart of milk 9 cents and a pound of steak 26 cents.<\/li>\n<li>Clothing at the time was comparably a bigger investment in the year Goddard was born. Why? Because people of that era bundled up a lot more. Common outfits consisted of a vest, gloves, hat, overcoat, chemise, knickerbockers and petticoats.<\/li>\n<li>In those days, a 15-cent movie ticket entitled patrons to watch flicks like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Birth of a Nation,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A Fool There Was,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Cheat\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Martyrs of the Alamo.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/li>\n<li>Some of the favorite expressions of 1915 were \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Take no prisoners,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which today carries the same meaning; \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Give someone the eye,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which still means to glare at or to give a dirty look to; and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153babe,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as today, referred to an infant or an attractive young woman.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Goddard was featured in the Optic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Senior Profile\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a year ago, on the event of his 99th birthday. My biggest surprise, when I joined writer Lupita Gonzales to interview the almost-centenarian was his ability to recall things so clearly. In the Senior Profile interview, he mentioned that a college education, which included room, board, tuition and books, set him back $400 a year. Today, some single textbooks cost $200.<\/p>\n<p>Goddard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s company supplied fuel to many houses, including ours, on Railroad Avenue, less than two blocks away from his station. He remembered my father, J.D. Trujillo, as well as my oldest sister, Dolores, and my older brother, Severino, whom Goddard remembered as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Wow.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tell my brother I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve let his childhood nickname slip out.)<\/p>\n<p>When I was in my early teens, Goddard hired me for a dollar to go around town distributing handbills that advertised his company. And, like my dad, Goddard conducted much of his downtown business on foot, delivering statements to customers and taking that opportunity just to visit a while with friends.<\/p>\n<p>Saturday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s party produced many more memories. Judging by his apparent good health and his razor-sharp memory, he may well be instructing Lynn Esquibel to prepare invitations for his next birthday.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n<p>One of my passions is writing about language, and it pleases me when people respond.<br \/>\nMack Crow sent in this item about how inexplicably, certain word combinations continue to make sense. Crow wrote:<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why is English so much fun?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Then he inserted the following:<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153All the faith he had had had had no effect on the outcome of his life.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Because that sentence makes perfect sense.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n<p>We have a convert:<\/p>\n<p>Sallie Bingham, a Santa Fe-based writer, responded to my recent column that lamented the dying practice of sending out thank-you notes. Earlier, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d written about how a local bride printed several dozen generic, all-purpose notes for those who attended her wedding and\/or reception.<\/p>\n<p>The scroll-like notes were tied by a ribbon and placed, like a taquito, on everyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plate at the reception. So, regardless of what you presented the newlyweds, the thank-you notes were identical.<\/p>\n<p>This is part of Sallie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s commentary on the more recent column:<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thank you for your column on thank-you letters and the importance of protecting the English language \u00e2\u20ac\u201d particularly poignant for me since my grandson who just visited with all the necessary treats won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t thank me, even by email. I think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll forward your column to him! Inspired me to renew my subscription to the Optic.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Charles Arnold Goddard has lived to be 100. Several dozen relatives, friends, neighbors and even business associates gathered at his Myrtle Avenue home Saturday to share the occasion. A group of fellow veterans was there to present him with a certificate for his Army captaincy, and Mayor Alfonso Ortiz handed him a certificate from the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1398"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1398"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1399,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1398\/revisions\/1399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}