Stories Carved in the Frontier
A narrative record of migration, homesteading, and medicine, spanning the valleys of Southern Arizona to the cities of Central Europe.
George Edward Goodman
George Edward Goodman (1870-1952), teamster, freighter, and family patriarch who bridged the pioneer generation to the civic leaders of twentieth-century Mesa.
Louisa Eliza Sheen
Louisa Eliza Sheen (1850-1919), English-born LDS convert who crossed the Atlantic aboard the ship Enoch Train and walked to the Salt Lake Valley in the first handcart company of 1856. She lost her sister Emma on the plains. She settled in St. David, Arizona, married Heber Curtis Reed, and raised five children, including Roxanna Othelia Reed Goodman.
Margaret Ann Taylor Goodman
Margaret Ann Taylor Goodman (1841-1926), English-born LDS convert, frontier widow, and matriarch who raised nine children alone and ran a general store and post office in St. David, Arizona for thirty years.
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Summers at the Apache Drugstore
A six-year-old's paradise: comic books, milkshakes on professional mixers, and early-morning breakfasts with the drugstore cowboys of Mesa.
Adaline Amerilla Riggs
Adaline Amerilla Riggs (1879-1951), wife of Lafayette Dana and mother of Leoma Ellen Dana, descended from two of the most consequential frontier families in Arizona Territory. Through the Hamblins she inherited the peacemaker legacy; through the Babbitts, a story of violent death on the overland trail. Widowed at thirty-three, she raised her children alone in the desert Southwest during an era that offered women few options and fewer protections.
Alameda Jane Johnson
Alameda Jane Johnson (1833-1889), pioneer mother and early LDS convert who crossed the plains to Utah and later settled in the volatile St. Johns colonizing mission of northern Arizona.
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The Senate Post Office Playground
A young boy tags along to the U.S. Senate Post Office at 2:00 AM, discovers rubber stamps, hole punches, and the thrill of riding the Senate subway.
Cross-Country Road Trips
Pre-freeway, pre-seatbelt odysseys from D.C. to Mesa, powered by baloney sandwiches, breakdown detours, and endless questions whispered into Dad's ear.
Sledding on Tunlaw Road
When Washington snow hit hard enough, the D.C. Police barricaded the street and the whole neighborhood came out for barrel fires, sled runs, and a block party in the dark.
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Dina's Baptism
After years of quiet spiritual growth, Mom announced she was ready. 250 people packed the chapel on New Year's Day.
The Lead Pouring
Every New Year's Eve, Mom melted lead fishing weights over a propane torch, dropped the liquid metal into cold water, and read the resulting shapes to predict the coming year. It was an Austrian tradition transplanted to Chandler.
Dr. Clifford James Goodman Jr.
Dr. Clifford James Goodman Jr. (1943-2022), OB/GYN, MomDoc founder, and Chandler medical leader.
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The Great 1989 Van Saga
A family vacation to L.A. is nearly torpedoed by an overheating van, Tonopah Joe's night mechanics (Three Stooges meets Keystone Cops), and one very persistent modulator.
The 1988 San Francisco Expedition
An overnight drive to San Francisco, a garlic festival with 75,000 sunburned tourists, the Winchester Mystery House, and a prolonged joke about Lompoc's Belly Button Lint Festival.
The 1985 Disneyland Lock-Out
A trip to Disneyland's 30th anniversary goes sideways when the van keys get locked inside, with a screaming toddler, a hood rod, and a security supervisor named Bob who could open any car.
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