A Brief Bio

A Simple Biography

                      For future generations!

Lebanon, a city nestled among the rolling hills of south-central Pennsylvania, is where I was born on May 6, 1937, to Catherine Wentzel and John (Jack) Goodwin. I lived there for 15 years, except for a brief time we lived in my father’s hometown, Oxen Hill, MD.   My parents separated shortly afterward. My mother, older brother Don and I moved back to Lebanon.

My formative years were spent among aunts, uncles, and cousins, which were numerous since my mother was one of ten children, born to Catherine and Joseph Wentzel.

I went to various schools in Lebanon, beginning with St. Mary’s Catholic school, four years; one year at Garfield Elementary; sixth grade, was at a one-room schoolhouse outside Indiantown Gap, where my step-father, William Bradley, was stationed in the army.

We moved back to Lebanon and I went to Harding Jr. High School, from seventh to ninth grade, and then continued on to Lebanon Sr. High School. It was during my sophomore year that my life changed dramatically.  

In March of 1953, mother, my younger brother Bill and I sailed on the USS Butner to Bremerhaven, Germany to join my father. It was probably the worst nine days of my life.   I was leaving my hometown, my first love, and I was desperately seasick and homesick. Little did I know then that the next two and a half years would be a joy-filled time of my life.

Everyone should have as wonderful a high school experience as I had.   Living in a dormitory at Kaiserslautern American High School during the week. Going home to a little German town called Baumholder, where we lived on an Army Post, was a great way to go to school. We had some strong rules to follow, but the camaraderie among us Brats (a nickname most of us associated with the military tenderly cherish), made the rules just a simple part of life’s routine.