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00:01 My name is Cecil Joseph Goff. 00:05 I began to lose eyesight in the ’70’s. 00:08 I can’t see to read or anything. 00:10 I see only peripheral vision. 00:14 I was playing in a country band at a very young age. 00:20 Well, I played the tenor banjo, tenor guitar, and I played the mandolin. 00:25 It was my life. 00:27 And yet, when I began reading and studying, 00:30 really, I wanted to stick with that, 00:32 and I left the band. 00:34 I started pioneering, 00:36 and then they assigned me to Texarkana, Texas. 00:41 Another brother and I were stopped 00:45 as we were holding the phonograph up, 00:47 and I was playing it for a lady at the door. 00:50 Why, here about 15 or 20 men surrounded me. 00:54 I asked him, “How did you enjoy it?” 00:56 And he said: “That’s not the question. 00:58 My question is, Do you salute the flag?” 00:59 And I said, “Let me explain it.” 01:01 He said: “I don’t want an explanation. 01:03 I just want to know yes or no; do you or do you not?” 01:06 I said, “I do not.” 01:09 He threw me up in the air. 01:11 I fell on my back in the street there, 01:13 and then about three of them got on top of me. 01:16 He said: “You’re going to salute the flag or eat it. 01:18 Bring me that flag over there.” 01:20 I was praying to Jehovah to remember me in the resurrection. 01:23 About that time, several women ran out of the houses on both sides of us: 01:28 “Leave those men alone. They didn’t bother you. 01:30 Leave them alone. Let them go.” 01:33 So they got off of me, and they left us like a bunch of beaten kittens. 01:37 I was asked to go to Brooklyn Bethel and become a member of the Bethel home. 01:42 Brother Knorr asked me, “Do you know how to use the typewriter?” 01:45 I said, “Yes, I can type.” 01:47 He said: “Well, I’m going to put you on a machine. 01:50 “It’s called a Linotype. 01:51 It has three keyboards.” 01:53 And he said: “And it will take you about two years to learn it. 01:56 Are you willing to accept it?” 01:58 And I said, “Yes, I will.” 02:00 So I was put on the Linotype. 02:03 I got married in the fall of 1945 and left Bethel. 02:07 Well, we were invited in 1949 02:11 to go into the circuit work. 02:13 We were in the 21st class of Gilead. 02:15 We enjoyed that course very much. 02:17 We received an assignment for Cuba, 02:19 and I was assigned as branch overseer. 02:22 And in ’63, 02:26 the police car came 02:29 up to the branch at about ten o’clock at night. 02:31 I was told to take my papers, 02:33 and we went over to the police station, and so forth. 02:36 And sure enough, soon thereafter, here comes an official. 02:40 He said, “You have to leave Cuba 02:42 because you’re not in favor of the Cuban government.” 02:46 A person asked a policeman standing close by, he said, 02:50 “Who are these people that are being sent out of the country?” 02:54 And they said: “Over there,” 02:56 talking about me, 02:58 “see that gangster man over there? 03:00 He’s the head of it.” 03:02 So then we got on the plane and headed back. 03:05 I got in contact with Brooklyn Bethel, 03:07 talked to Brother Knorr, and he said, 03:09 “As soon as you can, in the next day or two, come back to Bethel.” 03:13 And Brother Knorr said, “You got back just in time 03:15 “to get back on the Linotype machine 03:18 to set up a new book we have in Spanish.” 03:21 So I did that and got on the Linotype. 03:25 And then Brother Knorr told me, he said, 03:28 “In 1964, we’re going to have a ten-month course in Gilead 03:31 for all branch people who have branch experience.” 03:35 Oh, it was very, very good. 03:38 We studied a lot, not only the Bible 03:40 (we studied a lot on the Bible, discourse and everything) 03:43 but we studied a lot of branch material too. 03:48 Above everything else, our love for Jehovah should continue to grow. 03:53 He knows our thoughts, our mind, our heart. 03:55 He goes far beyond what man can do. 03:58 And whatever his decision is, 04:00 I’ve learned to understand that it’s the best decision. 04:04 I have learned that if we obey what the organization says 04:08 and what the Bible says, then we’re doing Jehovah’s will; 04:11 and that’s my concern 04:13 —no regrets whatsoever, none. 04:18 Maybe I could’ve done more at times, 04:20 but I’m certainly glad that I have taken advantage of it 04:23 as much as I have up until now. 04:25 And it’s been a happy life. 04:27 And I have seen Jehovah’s hand 04:29 time and again.
00:01 My name is Cecil Joseph Goff. 00:05 I began to lose eyesight in the ’70’s. 00:08 I can’t see to read or anything. 00:10 I see only peripheral vision. 00:14 I was playing in a country band at a very young age. 00:20 Well, I played the tenor banjo, tenor guitar, and I played the mandolin. 00:25 It was my life. 00:27 And yet, when I began reading and studying, 00:30 really, I wanted to stick with that, 00:32 and I left the band. 00:34 I started pioneering, 00:36 and then they assigned me to Texarkana, Texas. 00:41 Another brother and I were stopped 00:45 as we were holding the phonograph up, 00:47 and I was playing it for a lady at the door. 00:50 Why, here about 15 or 20 men surrounded me. 00:54 I asked him, “How did you enjoy it?” 00:56 And he said: “That’s not the question. 00:58 My question is, Do you salute the flag?” 00:59 And I said, “Let me explain it.” 01:01 He said: “I don’t want an explanation. 01:03 I just want to know yes or no; do you or do you not?” 01:06 I said, “I do not.” 01:09 He threw me up in the air. 01:11 I fell on my back in the street there, 01:13 and then about three of them got on top of me. 01:16 He said: “You’re going to salute the flag or eat it. 01:18 Bring me that flag over there.” 01:20 I was praying to Jehovah to remember me in the resurrection. 01:23 About that time, several women ran out of the houses on both sides of us: 01:28 “Leave those men alone. They didn’t bother you. 01:30 Leave them alone. Let them go.” 01:33 So they got off of me, and they left us like a bunch of beaten kittens. 01:37 I was asked to go to Brooklyn Bethel and become a member of the Bethel home. 01:42 Brother Knorr asked me, “Do you know how to use the typewriter?” 01:45 I said, “Yes, I can type.” 01:47 He said: “Well, I’m going to put you on a machine. 01:50 “It’s called a Linotype. 01:51 It has three keyboards.” 01:53 And he said: “And it will take you about two years to learn it. 01:56 Are you willing to accept it?” 01:58 And I said, “Yes, I will.” 02:00 So I was put on the Linotype. 02:03 I got married in the fall of 1945 and left Bethel. 02:07 Well, we were invited in 1949 02:11 to go into the circuit work. 02:13 We were in the 21st class of Gilead. 02:15 We enjoyed that course very much. 02:17 We received an assignment for Cuba, 02:19 and I was assigned as branch overseer. 02:22 And in ’63, 02:26 the police car came 02:29 up to the branch at about ten o’clock at night. 02:31 I was told to take my papers, 02:33 and we went over to the police station, and so forth. 02:36 And sure enough, soon thereafter, here comes an official. 02:40 He said, “You have to leave Cuba 02:42 because you’re not in favor of the Cuban government.” 02:46 A person asked a policeman standing close by, he said, 02:50 “Who are these people that are being sent out of the country?” 02:54 And they said: “Over there,” 02:56 talking about me, 02:58 “see that gangster man over there? 03:00 He’s the head of it.” 03:02 So then we got on the plane and headed back. 03:05 I got in contact with Brooklyn Bethel, 03:07 talked to Brother Knorr, and he said, 03:09 “As soon as you can, in the next day or two, come back to Bethel.” 03:13 And Brother Knorr said, “You got back just in time 03:15 “to get back on the Linotype machine 03:18 to set up a new book we have in Spanish.” 03:21 So I did that and got on the Linotype. 03:25 And then Brother Knorr told me, he said, 03:28 “In 1964, we’re going to have a ten-month course in Gilead 03:31 for all branch people who have branch experience.” 03:35 Oh, it was very, very good. 03:38 We studied a lot, not only the Bible 03:40 (we studied a lot on the Bible, discourse and everything) 03:43 but we studied a lot of branch material too. 03:48 Above everything else, our love for Jehovah should continue to grow. 03:53 He knows our thoughts, our mind, our heart. 03:55 He goes far beyond what man can do. 03:58 And whatever his decision is, 04:00 I’ve learned to understand that it’s the best decision. 04:04 I have learned that if we obey what the organization says 04:08 and what the Bible says, then we’re doing Jehovah’s will; 04:11 and that’s my concern 04:13 —no regrets whatsoever, none. 04:18 Maybe I could’ve done more at times, 04:20 but I’m certainly glad that I have taken advantage of it 04:23 as much as I have up until now. 04:25 And it’s been a happy life. 04:27 And I have seen Jehovah’s hand 04:29 time and again.
