Name: Jack & LaVerne Goossens

Parish: Members of St. Matthew Church, Mt. Vernon, since 1977

Married, number of children: Married in 1956; three children and six grandchildren

Tell us three things about yourself:

Jack: I’m happily retired after a long career as a chemist (I worked at General Electric for 27 years). I earned an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Notre Dame and a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. I was born and raised on the north side of Chicago.

LaVerne: I have enjoyed my role as a mother and grandmother, and I also enjoy interacting with the elderly. I collect dolls and bells, and I spend my free time reading and working crossword puzzles.

What was your childhood like?

Jack: I was the youngest of five children. We grew up in Chicago, about a mile south of Evanston. We belonged to a Jesuit parish, St. Ignatius of Loyola, which was connected with Loyola University. At a young age, I was aware of being in a Catholic family because we had crucifixes in every bedroom, and one of my sisters was a nun. My parents were very conscientious about attending Mass every Sunday, and they made sure we had a Catholic education from grade school on up. We grew up in a neighborhood with a lot of big apartment buildings, and there were plenty of kids to play the usual childhood games, like softball in the corner lot and “kick the can.”

LaVerne: I am one of 12 children, raised in Harvey, Ill, a southern suburb of Chicago. My mother became pregnant again shortly after I was born. It was a difficult pregnancy, so I went to live at my grandmother’s house when I was six months old. When my mother felt well enough to take care of me again, my grandmother didn’t want to give me up because she was so used to having me there. I lived with my grandmother until I was 14 years old. I remember on Sunday afternoons, my mother, brothers and sisters would come to grandmother’s house to visit. I learned later that a big reason for those visits was for me to get acquainted with my brothers and sisters because one day, I would live with them. When my grandmother died, I went back home to my family. The adjustment of going to live with my parents, three sisters and eight brothers was really hard because I felt like a stranger. 

Who influenced you growing up?

Jack: My mother was the greatest influence on me. My dad worked in the composing room at the Chicago Tribune and had strange hours … something like four in the afternoon until midnight, so we didn’t see my dad much during the week. He spent time with us on the weekends. Through the week, I was at home with my mother’s influence. She was a person of faith and was very good about attending church and novenas. 

LaVerne: My grandmother. She was very religious. I loved going to Mass with her every morning.

What are your memories of World War II?

Jack: I was the student manager of the basketball team in grade school. We were playing a game on a Sunday afternoon. At halftime, it was announced the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. I can remember turning to my friend and saying, “Where is Pearl Harbor?” I had never heard of it. My brother, who was 10 years older than I, was in the service, so he went through the whole war. He was a pilot, and he flew a B-24 bomber in the Pacific. One of my sisters volunteered for the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACs). I remember my mother went to Mass and communion every morning to pray for them. I didn’t turn 18 and become eligible for the draft until after the war ended.

LaVerne: I was in my grandmother’s house when the news came that the war had broken out. We immediately knelt down and started praying. My oldest brother was in the service overseas. I would go to my parents’ home, and I member the little flag with the star hanging in the window, letting people know you had someone in the service. At the end of the war, I was out playing. My grandmother called me in and said we had to kneel down and give thanks because the war had ended.

What was your first job and what did it pay?

Jack: As a kid, I probably had the first job most little boys have: delivering newspapers It was a neighborhood news and advertising newspaper that was delivered to every household free of charge. We got a whole wagonload of newspapers – probably 300 or so – and we got paid 15 cents to deliver them all. As I grew older, I had other jobs, like stock boy in grocery store. In the summer I worked as a substitute mail carrier. It was a nice job because everyone is happy to see the mailman come. Especially in those days, they waited for letters from loved ones in the service. I still remember their happy faces when they got a letter and their sad faces when they didn’t.

LaVerne: When I graduated high school, I went to work as a bookkeeper at our local newspaper, which came out once a week. I was paid $35 a week. When I met Jack, I was working at an insurance company in downtown Chicago.

How did you meet?

Jack:  We met at the young peoples’ club at our parish. After I got out of school, I went to work at Standard Oil Co. in Indiana. I got a room with a family in Harvey, Ill., which was not too far from where I worked. The parish in Harvey had a young peoples’ club, and that’s where we met.

What form does stewardship take in your life? How do you give of your time, talent and treasure to your parish?

Jack: I retired early from GE and got involved in a lot of activities to assist the poor after having made my Cursillo. I worked with one other fellow in reactivating the St. Vincent de Paul conference at St. Matthew’s. I was president of the conference for 16 years and worked with other organizations that assisted the poor, including the Mt. Vernon Ministerial Association, thrift shop, trustee’s office, Posey County Council on Aging and SWIRCA. I have also been a member of the Knights of Columbus for many years. Since we moved to a retirement community, my activities have been limited. I currently serve on the board of directors for the Ozanam Family Shelter.

LaVerne: I was an Eucharistic minister and took communion to the shut-ins at home and in the Mt. Vernon nursing home. I was also secretary and treasurer for the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and through that I volunteered one day a week at the St. Vincent de Paul office in Evansville. I taught CCD for one year at St. Matthew’s, and worked as the parish secretary for five years.

What do you like most about being Catholic?

Jack: The Mass and the Eucharist. Being able to receive Jesus into my own body is just an amazing thing.

LaVerne: The strength I get from prayer. Unfortunately, I have had a lot of physical problems growing up. I had several surgeries, and I know I would not have made it through some of them without my faith.

What is your favorite religious item?

Jack: A treasured keepsake is a small statue of the Blessed Virgin holding Jesus, which my grandmother brought from Belgium when she came to this country over 100 years ago. I also have two prints of pictures of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph holding the child Jesus. The original paintings are over the side altars at the Chicago parish I grew up in. My sister who was a nun had these prints in her possession, and they were given to me after she died.

LaVerne: I have a rather large picture of the Holy Family on the wall right beside our bed. It was my grandmother’s, and I when I was a child, I knelt before that picture every night to say my prayers. My grandmother came from Poland, and she also had a framed picture that said “God Bless our Home” in Polish. I have it hanging over the door going out of our apartment.

Tell us about a favorite saint.

Jack: I am especially devoted to the Blessed Virgin, having gone to Notre Dame.

LaVerne: My favorite saint is St. Gerard, the patron saint of mothers, mothers-to-be and women going through difficult pregnancies. I had trouble getting pregnant when we first got married. We were told we would not be able to have children. A priest told me about St. Gerard. I prayed to him daily, and still two years later I was not pregnant. So, we adopted a baby boy, and of course, we named him Paul Gerard. I still kept praying the prayer so that one day we’d be able to adopt another child. Unexpectedly, I became pregnant. I eventually gave birth to two more children, both girls.

What makes a success?

Jack: A person who does what they are supposed to do and enjoys doing it.

LaVerne: Yes, doing what you are doing and being happy about it certainly would be a success.

What’s the best advice you could give someone?

Jack: To pray a lot. I think prayer is something we all need and can do and is effective in helping others and yourself.

LaVerne: To be strong in your faith. Let faith play a big part in your life. Don’t be just a “Sunday Catholic,” but practice your faith and pray about difficult situations.

People of Wisdom is sponsored by the Catholic Foundation of Southwestern Indiana, Inc. For more information, please call (800) 637-1731 or (812) 424-5536, or visit the website @ www.catholicindiana.org.

This article is copyrighted and appeared in the November 5, 2004 issue of The Message and is reprinted here with the permission the Catholic Press of Evansville. For information about subscribing to The Message email them at message@evansville-diocese.org