CPS Worker 003472 - Goering, Oswald H.

CPS Worker 003472 - Goering, Oswald H.

Birth year: 1923

Denomination: Mennonite General Conference

Original occupation: Physical education instructor

Occupation after CPS: Medical Doctor

Drafted from: Elyria , Kansas, United States

Entered CPS: 6 15, 1943

Left CPS: 6 26, 1946

Notes:

When Goering arrived in Puerto Rico, he was offered three job possibilities—cook, running the laundry, or working as a mechanic.  As he explained, “None of these seemed to interest me so I finally chose the laundry.  The first weekend before I started work was a sad time for me.”  On Monday, matters changed, as the director had read a letter from Roman Gingerich, Ozzie’s CPS camp director at Mulberry. Goering recalls:

 

"On Monday morning he called me into his office and asked if I would be interested in running the recreation program, teach phys ed. in the local junior high schools and coach the sports teams.  What a relief that was to me.  Never in my life since then or before did I put in as long a day working as I did there.  I left for the school at eight o’clock in the morning and then had the recreation program for the community people until about nine o’clock in the evening.  Having had an athletic background in high school and college this assignment was a real joy.

 

This was probably the happiest period of my life as well as the busiest.  If the Mennonite Central Committee had offered me a contract to work with them for the rest of my life without pay, I probably would have signed it. Certainly the impact that this service project had on me influenced my interest in service projects for the rest of my life."

 

--Taken from The Eden Peace Witness: A Collection of Personal Accounts, p101-102.