Manfred (Fred) Albert
Goettig, 76, passed away October 4, 2016 at his home in Bloomington, Utah. Born
May 12, 1940 in Kassel, Germany, Fred was one of three children of Konrad and
Hilde (Flurer) Goettig, including his sister Hannalore and a stepsister named
Claudia.
As a small child, Fred was given the nickname of Jockel by
his grandmother. German for “rooster,” his Oma would sing “you are my little rooster, little rooster, my boy.” After his marriage, his favorite nickname was Dad in response to his four children and two adopted children. Later in life, he loved being called Opa by
any of his 15 grandchildren.
Fred began his mortal
journey during the great conflict of World War II. His father was a train
conductor who was away from home a great deal transporting supplies, so rarely saw his children. Fred’s mother was a professional chef and a
baker of the finest pastries. Fred was a
typical boy growing up in a difficult situation. The war took him, his mother
and sister to find safety in bombed out Koln where his mother's parents and siblings
lived.
Most of his early memories
were of life in Koln. Even as a young child, Fred thought of himself as a
protector of others. One of his earliest memories in Koln is a great example.
During the morning hours he was behind his house playing in a dirt pile
with his sister. Suddenly air raid sirens went off. In recalling this instance, he remembered
grabbing his little sister's arm and running for their house. As they ran
home bombs began raining down from the sky in an attack on the nearby
airbase. During the raid a plane crashed
into the field where they had been playing. In the arms of their mother,
they rushed to the basement of their 3-story home. While sheltered in the basement, their home
was hit by an incendiary bomb destroying everything above their heads. When it
was safe, they ran together finding refuge in a nearby house.
Fred frequently
commented that no child should have to endure war, recalling a time when he
survived a bomb dropping on his house leaving death everywhere in the
streets. He recalled the horror of being
taken from their home by the Gestapo and sent by train to a farm work camp in
the city of Zahna by the Polish/Czechoslovakian border to help with the war
effort. The town was captured by the Russian army, and Fred remembered soldiers
lining up people and playing Russian roulette on him and his family members. The soldiers also did other atrocities, which
Fred struggled to talk about. After a time they were able to escape back to
allied occupied Germany and back to Kassel. This escape was aided by a Russian
soldier who befriended Fred’s mother making it possible to flee to safety by
sneaking on a train and heading west. Even though he went through so much, one
of the things he remembered most was when the American soldiers gave him and
his little sister Hershey’s chocolate bars and showed kindness.
When he got back to
Koln everything had been destroyed, but he never lost faith in his Heavenly
Father or his testimony of the truthfulness of the The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints. He remembered meeting to worship on Sundays in a
bombed out house. The family’s knowledge of the gospel and the Plan of
Happiness helped them through the hard times including the trials of war and
life to follow. Fred was about eight
years old he was baptized in a river by an Elder Schmidt. He told his
family on the day he was baptized the elders had to break the ice to give him a
place to have the baptism.
Soon after his baptism,
Fred was diagnosed with Tuberculosis (TB), likely resulting from the after
effects of war. In those days, patients were treated in sanitoriums, so
his mother put her 8-year-old son on a train to Switzerland by himself to spend
a year recovering all alone and in a strange place.
His youth was filled school
and friends. After high school he went
to a trade school to become a Tool and Die Machinist. In February, 1960, at the age of 19 years he
boarded the SS United States alone to immigrate to America. He had not
been on a large ship until that time so much of the trip was spent feeding the
fish below with the dinner he just eaten. Finally he reached the US. In the New York harbor, he saw the Statue of
Liberty, the symbol of freedom which has welcomed immigrants from all over the
world for decades. Fred wanted to become an American so he changed the spelling
of his last name from Gottig with two umlauts to Goettig to be more phonetically
correct.
He arrived in New York
City with very little money to his name. He stayed with some family friends for
a time, worked and then purchased a car and drove across the country.
Many people said their ancestors came to this country and crossed the
plains in covered wagons. Fred drove a car across the country and the
only incident was when he fell asleep at the wheel and ended up in a corn
field. He quickly backed up and kept
driving to Salt Lake City.
The gospel of Jesus
Christ was so important in his life Fred knew he had to serve a mission.
He was called to the Austria-Switzerland Mission and set apart by then
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley. While on his
mission Fred learned many things and had many adventures both spiritual and
interesting. One such interesting story was regarding the flower
Edelweiss. He loved Edelweiss, so while in Austria he climbed the hills like
the von Trapp family and obtained for himself one of these protected flowers. This
was one of his little indiscretions for this great man. Don’t tell the Austrian
government.
As a missionary he felt
he was not very successful or did he feel he had been a good missionary.
Many years later he and Dinorah went back to Switzerland. While at
the temple a man came up to him and asked if he was Elder Goettig. When Fred
said yes the man reminded him he had baptized him and his wife all those years
ago. He said he was now a stake president and his sons had all served missions,
married in the temple and were bishops. Fred learned from this experience
how our decisions and actions impact others and how important a mission really
is to even one person.
When he arrived home
from his mission the Vietnam conflict was waging and he was told he needed to
enlist in the war effort. If he returned home safe then he could become a
citizen. Fred wanted to be an American citizen more than anything, so he
enlisted and served his new homeland. He started out as a paratrooper in
the Army, but before his platoon was sent to Vietnam he was transferred to
Berlin, Germany as a translator and driver for a General.
When he was honorably
discharged from the army he received his citizenship and then he was a true
American. Since that day he treasured his new country and displayed his
undying patriotism for the United States. He would always say he was an
American born in Germany. Growing up people asked if he spoke to us in
German or if he lost his culture. He was full German, but wanted his kids
to be raised as Americans. He spoke German when he was angry or he hurt
himself, but I those weren't traditional words used in proper settings.
One of the funniest proofs of his patriotism was when the family watched
soccer and the coach for the U.S. team was a German. When his team was
not doing well he would yell at the TV to send the German sauerkraut packing
back home.
While living in SLC he
went to a party with his best friend Manuel and met the most beautiful woman he
had ever seen. He had gone to the party with another date and then noticed his
future wife and quickly forgot about the date he had brought. He asked
his friend about her and even invited this beautiful girl in the red dress to
dance. He soon began dating Dinorah Del Carmen Aquirre, a recent
immigrant to the USA. Fred was still
learning English and “Dino” did not know much of the language herself, but this
little problem didn’t bother them. He
would often say they did not need words to understand each other because they
used the language of love. They dated for a few months, a time Fred said
was filled with “interesting dates.” On
one date, Fred told Dino he was going to take her to his home in the Avenues of
SLC but instead he took her to the cemetery. He stopped the car by one of the
big gravestones and helped his date out of the car. As they were walking,
he put up the collar of his trench coat and placed some fake Dracula teeth in
his mouth and proceeded to scare her. Dino was so scared she demanded he
take her home, although she later forgave him. After several months of dating
they were married and sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake City
Temple by President Gordon B. Hinckley on July 27, 1967. This began a new
chapter of life together. Their
honeymoon included a 2500 mile drive from Salt Lake City to Santa Ana, El Salvador
where he met Dinorah’s family for the first time. This adventure took them on a
wild ride including hitting a donkey, almost going to jail, Dinorah thinking
her new husband had left her when he went to wash the car … and many other
adventures.
Throughout his life,
Fred provided for his family, first by working as a tool and die
machinist. Eventually, he studied at the
University of Utah obtaining a degree as a Radiology Technician. For a time, he worked in sales for a large
equipment company then purchased a rental store in St. George. Eventually, though, he returned to the
medical field working many years as a radiology technician and orthopedic assistant.
Fred didn’t consider
himself a success by the world’s standards, but he left behind a great legacy
of faith and testimony, an ethic of hard work, a determination to never give up
and a beautiful family of four children – Edward, Claudia, Robert and Trisha -
two adopted children and 15 grandchildren.
The greatest lesson his family learned from their father was his undying
love and absolute faithfulness to our mother, his family, the Savior Jesus Christ
and the Plan of Salvation. In the end, his greatest worry was not the end of
his life or what he accomplished, but his greatest worry was for his beloved
wife. His love is eternal and his family knows he is waiting for them on
the other side of the veil and hoping all will do whatever is necessary to be
with him forever.
Rest in peace, dear Brother Goettig, 'til we meet again!