SURVIVING RELATIVES

Daughter and Son-In-Law: Ranee and Joseph Johnson

Son and Daughter-In-Law: Michael & Jeanne Hardin

Granddaughter: Michelle Johnson

Goldie was adopted at the age of six months by Ida & John Zilverschoon. John was delivering milk to the orphanage and Goldie stood up in the crib and reached out to him. He came home to Ida (they were childless and had been married for ten years) and told her about the “little girl with the big smile”. When John brought her home she had pneumonia and rickets. They had no crib, so they put her in the bottom drawer in the kitchen and made a pull out bed for her.

As a child, Goldie loved to play in the lucerne (alfalfa) field across the street. They would trample down the grass into houses with rooms. Since the lucerne was taller than they were, it made wonderful play houses. Sometimes when she got to school, she would decide to skip it – she would wave to her teachers as she walked home. The garage behind Goldie’s house had a wonderful attic – the only access was from their neighbors shed through an attic ventilation window. Goldie would climb the shed and slip into the attic which she turned into a play room. Goldie took a blanket and books up to her very private “Secret Hiding Place”. Her neighbors never told on her.

When Goldie was seventeen, her father died from asthma. He left Goldie his car, and when she graduated from High School, Goldie got a job at J. C. Penny’s as a seamstress. It was there where she worked for Ewell Hardin. One day, Ewell’s son Howard was on leave from the military – he stopped in to see his mother and met Goldie. He went home and told his brother William Grey that he had “met the girl” he was going to marry. They began dating and a year later they got married. Goldie was married to Howard Hardin in a blue velvet suit which she had made at her Aunt Cora’s house in Linden, Utah. Goldie & Howard moved to the Avenues in Salt Lake City, Utah and lived in a basement apartment.

Shortly after Ranee was born, Goldie moved to Las Vegas where they lived in an apartment near the base. It was hot and there were cockroaches and tarantulas. One night Howard kicked Goldie out of bed – Goldie woke up dumbfounded. Howard had seen a tarantula walking on Goldie’s pillow towards her long hair and wanted to get her out of the way.

Howard received a medical discharge from the military because he was not expected to live long with severe asthma. After he was discharged, they moved to Clearfield, Utah where Michael was born in the Dee Hospital in Ogden, Utah. They then moved to Roy.

Family outings were the best part of those years. They hunted deer together every fall from the time Michael was an infant. As the kids grew they picked wild asparagus along creek beds in the spring, fished as a family in the summer, and played “bird dogs” in the fall, flushing pheasants out of the bushes.

When Howard was 29, he was diagnosed with cancer the first time and was given 6 months to live. He amazed the doctors and survived. Five years later another cancer hit and again he outlived the 6 months sentence. Instead of dying, the family moved to Phoenix, Arizona where they rented a home with a pool and loved to swim and watch the fruit bats dive for water at dusk.

They bought a house in Scottsdale, Arizona and one day Howard brought home one of Goldie’s most favorite gifts – a tea cup poodle they named Gigi.

Later moves took them to New Orleans, Louisiana, Sunset Whitney Ranch, California (Sacramento), and finally to Fresno, California. After the kids left home, Goldie & Howard continued to fish together. Sometimes he would call to say, “Pack the boat”. Goldie would rush to have lunch packed and the boat ready. They even bought “snow suits” to keep out the winter cold. Goldie only hated to fish in the rain. Howard loved to brag that Goldie could “fish like a man”. They each caught 30 pound stripers that they mounted on the family room wall.

Howard loved to fly and occasionally they would rent a plane and fly the whole family. The best trip was to Catalina Island where they spent the day as a family.

Howard’s health problems expanded from cancers to rheumatoid arthritis, congestive heart failure, and emphysema; eventually his body wore out.

After Howard’s passing, Goldie loved to spend time with her granddaughter Michelle and go on little day trips. Her love of hiking in the mountains resumed, along with walking on the beach, sliding down sand dunes, and watching countless horse shows.

Goldie and Ralph Andersen were introduced by their good friends, Nolan & Shirley Sharp. Much to their astonishment, they had gone to the same grade school together. Goldie’s high school boyfriend was one of Ralph’s best friends. They had a wonderful time thinking back on old friends and decided to get married. The Andersen’s adopted Goldie as a grandma.

There was always laughter in their home as Ralph’s wonderful sense of humor triggered Goldie’s own sense of humor. Shortly after their marriage, Ralph was taken ill with pneumonia when they discovered he had “black lung” disease.

After Ralph’s death, Goldie resumed working as a Funeral Director, which was a profession that was tailor made for her. She was full of love for all people, and understood sorrow from her own life’s experiences. She always concluded every service with words of hope and encouragement, reminding families to stay in touch and call each other often.

GOLDIE’S MOTTO

I have to live with myself, and so

I want to be fit for myself to know,

I want to be able, as the days go by,

Always to look myself straight in the eye;

I don’t want to stand, with the setting sun,

And hate myself for the things I have done.

I don’t want to keep on a closet shelf

A lot of secrets about myself,

And fool myself, as I come and go,

Into thinking that nobody else will know

The kind of woman I really am;

I don’t want to dress up myself in sham.

I want to go out with my head erect,

I want to deserve everyone’s respect;

But here in the struggle for fame and wealth

I want to be able to like myself.

I don’t want to look at myself and know

That I’m bluster and bluff and empty show.

I can never hide myself from me;

I see what others may never see;

I know what others may never know,

I never can fool myself, and so,

Whatever happens, I want to be

Self-respecting and conscience free.