The following story is true. The story about my father, Roswell Burt Goodroe. This blog is filled with true stories of God’s rescuing grace. I chose to share my father’s story here, for those that knew my Dad, especially for my family to read, in the years to come.
For those following this blog, I wrote this story to share at my father’s memorial service, a private gathering of family, with many grand children and great grand children present. I wrote the story for them…
He Pressed On
I would like to tell you a story about our father, your Papa Ros, that may surprise you. Papa Ros lived 98 years and I know but a small fraction of his story. He also has a story with his beloved Barbara, Mama B….so many adventures, their ministry with the navigators for years, their work in missions and in Uganda….their hobbies…their passions …their love for the Lord Jesus Christ. They both have a story of God’s redeeming grace.
Today is about Dad and his life
Before Dad moved into assisted living, I asked him to write a timeline of his life. Just one line from his childhood through adult life.
Don discovered a notebook when packing up Dad’s home office and saved it for me. I recently went through the box of memories last week and discovered the notebook!
I was amazed. He actually journaled his story…one line at a time!
From that journal and from my memories and from the notes I jotted down from phone conversations with dad, is a glimpse into…
The life of Roswell Burt Goodroe
He Pressed On…
“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14
Roswell Burt Goodroe was born October 6,1925 in Nashville, TN. Grandpa Ros was named after his father, Roswell Marcus Goodroe and his mother, Thelma Elizabeth Burt. He was born during the depression when poverty was high. Having 5 cents was okay…it would buy him a scoop of ice cream but having 10 cents meant he was wealthy enough to buy a ticket for the movies. He had one pair of shoes, which were too small for his feet and cutting the end of the shoes made room for his growing foot size. His long sleeve shirts had patches at the elbows and the pants had patches at the knees.
And he pressed on
He was often sick as a young boy…for $5 a doctor would make a house call and prescribed whiskey to help “cure” the cough and asthma. But, he pressed on through the asthma by running track and was the fastest runner on the team. He was an athletic kid and could kick a football farther than the other boys his age.
His childhood was difficult as his parents argued and fought a lot, plus their daily lifestyle was not healthy with poor choices of nutrition and drinking. His parents were alcoholics.
Papa Ros told me he thought his name was “SHUT UP!” Because his parents would constantly shout and yell at him. His home life was stressful, not joyful. Cruel and not loving.
And he pressed on…
His parents divorced when he was 13 years of age. His father, nor his mother wanted him. His mother’s sister, Maybird, and her husband, Lockhart said they would take care of Ros. And they did! He lived with his Aunt Maybird and Uncle Lockhart for many years. His parents never supported him financially or provided for him in anyway.
Enduring this difficult hurt weighed heavily on him. He told me that he didn’t like his name, Roswell Burt, because it reminded him of his parents and those difficult years. But Ros pressed on as a young teenager to become the youngest Eagle Scout in the history of Scouting, at that time, at 13 years of age. He said the work of earning the award of Eagle Scout saved his “moral life.”
And he pressed on
At some point in time, he moved from Nashville, TN with his Aunt and Uncle to a small farming community in Buena Vista, GA. His grandparents, Mama Pearl and Papa Sim Goodroe had a 1000 acre farm and grew peanuts and cotton. Papa Ros said he remembers praying for rain so the peanuts wouldn’t rot and the cotton wouldn’t fall off the stems. He enjoyed the farm life with cows, pigs, mules and chickens. He and his grandparents would work from sun up to sun down. The old farm house did not have electricity or running water. No bathrooms so an out house was used. He bragged about Uncle Lockhart teaching him to fish and hunt with a single shot rifle.
And he pressed on
As a teenager, he valued his education and would ride his bicycle 6 miles to school and then again, 6 miles to home. No matter the weather, he rode his bike to school. In his sophomore year of high school, Aunt Maybird and Uncle Lockhart enrolled him in a military school where he earned 3 years of ROTC credits. In 1942, and the youngest in his class at age 16, he graduated from military school, one of the few at the top of his class.
And he pressed on
World War II was happening, and he enlisted in the Air Force with the desire to be a pilot. He passed the training, however a faulty vision test prevented him from becoming a pilot. He was promoted to Crew Chief at Hickam Air Force Base, HI.
And he pressed on
After the Air Force, he enrolled in Auburn University where he was a college roommate with William Freelan Newman, the brother of Barbara Newman, an Auburn cheerleader. Ros and Barbara fell in love and married in the year 1950. Now living in a thriving city, Columbus, GA with four wonderful children, Ros had a successful business, they owned a home, they had a community of friends for card games and bowling leagues, plus Ros and Barbara were members of the largest Baptist church in Columbus and they were also teaching Sunday school.
Ros thought they had finally “made it.” But in reality…their lives…his life…was empty.
And he pressed on with searching for answers to the emptiness he felt
One day he opened his Bible to prepare for the lesson he was going to teach the youth class at church…and by searching the scriptures, he discovered the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. John 3:16…For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son to that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Romans 3:23. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
God’s word changed his life from emptiness to a fullness of more grace.
Roswell Burt Goodroe received the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior at the age of 36, together with his beloved Barbara in 1961.
From that time on, Papa Ros became a different man. A changed man.
With his eyes fixed on the same love of Jesus and the same grace that he believes was with him as a young abandoned child… and was always present…all along, giving him the ability to press on…preparing him for a greater prize.
Years later, our father returned to Buena Vista, GA…bringing his family with him, to meet his parents: Granddaddy Goodroe and his second wife, Lucille. Over time, our father began to nurture a relationship with his father, Roswell Marcus Goodroe and his wife Lucille, and eventually shared the gospel with them as they prayed to received Jesus as their Lord and Savior…because he pressed on.
There is so much more I can say about Daddy…Papa Ros…if we listen to our memories we can hear his southern accent, and feel the lid of the biscuit warmer pinching our fingers because we weren’t fast enough to grab the hot biscuit, or hear the loud way he would sneeze, and see the long stride of his walk, to know how he loved all of his grand children and great grand children, how he prayed for each of you by name. We can hear the sound of his laugh, we see the expression on his face, we remember the poems he wrote, and the many adventures we had with him….
Our father and mother…have left us a great legacy of faith. Dad said he had the perfect wife for 59 and a half years. We know they loved each other deeply and they loved their Savior, even more so.
Roswell Burt Goodroe and Barbara Anne Newman Goodroe (that’s Anne with an “e”)
Pressed on…
May we all continue to do the same…to press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. From generation to generation to generation…a legacy of faith for God’s glory.
Donna Harris‑More Grace 