From the Journals

Family Stories

These stories are drawn directly from Dad's journals, which he kept during the 1980s and early 1990s, and from his multi-chapter Personal History memoir, written during the same period. They offer a window into his childhood in the late 1940s and early 1950s, family road trips, and the small moments that define a family across generations. Where possible, his own words appear in direct quotes.

1890s–1941

#16

The Country Doctor

Dr. William Erastus Platt practiced frontier medicine with a butcher knife, a dining room table, and five Indian languages. His patients hung tea towels on the gate when they needed him.

Dr. William Erastus PlattIsabelle Hill Romney PlattClara Platt Goodman

1940s–1950s

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.

DadGreat-Grandpa Clifford

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.

DadGreat-Grandpa CliffordGreat-Great-Grandpa George

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.

DadGreat-Grandpa Clifford

#12

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.

DadPamela

#14

Air Raid Drills & the Kindergarten Mat-Wetters

Cold War duck-and-cover drills, a multi-color pencil that took weeks of saving, and the daily ritual of pretending not to peek during nap time.

Dad

1982–2000

#19

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.

MomDadGrandma GLaura JoanBobElder Beacham

1984–1987

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.

DadDanaMom

"Chinese Burritos" & the Camp Snoopy Magic Show

A rainy weekend in L.A. produces two classic moments: young Matthias refuses Chinese food at Hop Louie's, then steals the show at Knott's Berry Farm.

DadMomMatthiasDanaSharen

The Era of Elaborate School Projects

Science fairs, fruit fly genetics at the ASU library, and Pinewood Derby engineering: the golden age of hands-on school projects before Wikipedia.

DadPeterNickyMom

Nicky's Rolling Racer Mishap

An eleven-year-old commandeers his little brother's new scooter, splits his chin open on the eve of a wedding anniversary, and sparks a sibling competition to be the next one needing stitches.

DadMomNickyMatthiasJames Allison

#20

The Banning Playland Stitches

A road trip home from Disneyland takes an emergency detour in Banning when toddler Dana splits her forehead open at a McDonald's Playland, sending Dad into high alert and leaving the brothers waiting outside the ER.

DadMomDanaMatthiasBinkiPeterNicky

1988–1989

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.

DadMomBinkiBob SiskArnie

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.

DadMomBinkiMikeyMatthiasDana

#10

Peter & Aaron's All-Night Hustle

Two teenage boys work through the night clearing a vacant lot, haul boxes into the attic, vacuum the closet unprompted, and earn a civilized dinner at Wendy's.

DadPeterNickyAaron HorneJohnny Sisk

#13

Dina's Baptism

After years of quiet spiritual growth, Mom announced she was ready. 250 people packed the chapel on New Year's Day.

DadMomBob SiskNoriElder Beacham

#15

A School Named Goodman

Twenty-seven years after Great-Grandpa Clifford's death, Chandler dedicated a brand new elementary school in his name, and eight-year-old Matthias preserved his own Sunday School talk in Dad's journal.

DadGreat-Grandpa CliffordStephaniePamMatthias

1989–1990

#17

The Ostrich Festival

Grandpa Earl Ellsworth rides as Grand Marshal of the first Chandler Ostrich Festival, a civic celebration named after the birds his family raised a century before. Why did the feather market collapse? Women started riding in open cars.

DadGrandpa Earl EllsworthLouis EllsworthA.J. ChandlerHarry Sisak

#18

The Temple Sealing

After a year of family counseling, teenage crises, and one last-minute reversal on Christmas Eve, Cliff and Dina Goodman took their family to the Mesa Temple to be sealed for eternity. Peter couldn't attend. They went anyway.

DadMomPeterNickyLaura Sisk

1991

#11

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

When his prepared talk falls flat, Dad scraps it at the pulpit and delivers a powerful farewell speech about family legacy, pioneer ancestors, and the giants who came before.

DadMomBinkiNori