|
|
|||
|
A man to whom dry humor comes naturally, Mr. Goppert is a transplanted Kansan. He was born in Junction City, Kansas, around the turn of the century. “No use telling people exactly how old I am,” he says. In Junction City his father was a rancher who did a little farming on the side. In 1911 the Gopperts moved to Cordele in Jackson County where Fred received his education. “I went through the twelfth reader,” he says. “In those days we didn’t have grades. I got what was equivalent to a high school education.” Mr. Goppert’s first job was in a tin shop in Edna where “we made everything from stove pipes to gutters.” “Anything you go to a hardware store to buy now, we made in the tin shop,” the hardware merchant says. After his job, Mr. Goppert helped build a gin at Cordele. He worked there for three years and then took up diesel engineering with the Central Power and Light Company at Crystal City. That community later became quasi-famous for its statue of Popeye the Sailor Man which commemorated the area’s spinach crop After a stint there from 1925 to 1926, Mr. Goppert returned to Cordele where he worked for the Ball Gin Company covering the communities of Morales, Edna, and Cordele. When he left the company, it was as general manager. About this time, 1928, Mr. Goppert was wed to the former Miss Lenna Baker of Cordele. The union produced two offspring, Charles and Florence—both of whom have been wedded in recent months. Charles, who attended Texas A. & M. for three years is now a Naval flight instructor at Pensacola, Fla., and Florence, who attended the University of Corpus Christi, is Mrs. Curtis Mayfield of San Antonio. Both children were graduated from Palacios High School. After getting out of the ginning business, Mr. Goppert tried his hand at farming and ranching. It was in 1935 that he and his family came to Palacios. Our subject’s first job in Palacios was as manager of the Dornbluth Variety Store, a position which he held for over a year. In August of 1936 Mr. Goppert opened a variety store in the building now owned by him and in which his hardware business is operated. During the war year of 1943, the Gopperts moved to Austin where Mr. Goppert was in the real estate business. However, like so many Palacios residents, the pull of the City by the Sea was too much, and in 1945 the variety store was again in business here after remodeling. Between 1945 and 1950 Mr. Goppert tried his hand in the construction business. He and his wife now live in a home in the section of town in jest as Goppert Heights. In 1950 he converted his store to the hardware business which Mr. Goppert admits, he likes better than the variety store business. “Less work,” he jokes. Television sets are among the items Mr. Goppert sells—and they are one of his hobbies. While most people are satisfied with getting the Houston and Galveston stations, Mr. Goppert tries for long-distance or DX reception. Some of the stations he has picked up in Palacios were transmitting from Spokane, Wash., Caracas, Venezuela, and Miami Beach, Fla. He explains that long-distance television reception depends upon atmospherical weather conditions—which are highly freakish. “The night I picked up the Florida station,” he recalls, “people in Miami were calling up the local station and complaining that they couldn’t get anything but snow on their sets. Photography, which was Mr. Goppert’s love before television, ties in with his present avocation. When he picks up a station hundreds of miles away, he snaps a picture of the screen during the station break when the channel flashes its call letters. “After all, I’ve got to have proof I got the station,” jokes the ever jovial Goppert.
Palacios Beacon, February 7, 1957 |
|||
|
The Beacon this week printed bills for Dornbluth announcing the newest store for Palacios Variety Goods as their specialty, which has a big opening Saturday, July 13th and will continue for one week. A few suggestions for every day needs as well as some articles specially priced are advertised on the bills and a general invitation is given to the people of Palacios and vicinity to come and look their stock over. This new store is located in the Chamblee building on Commerce Street which has been remodeled and decorated by the Price Lumber Co., with our local painter L. H. Jockson doing the paint job. Fred Goffert, of Cuero, who will have charge is here getting his stock ready for the opening day. He is being assisted by Miss Ella Wehrmann, also of Cuero. Mrs. Goffert and two children are here and Palacios welcomes these newcomers to our midst.
Palacios Beacon, July 11, 1935 |
|||
|
Palacios Beacon, August 6, 1936
|
|||
|
The opening of Goppert's Hardware Saturday, August 5, was a grand success reports Mr. and Mrs. Fred Goppert. The attractively arranged stock of new merchandise was viewed by friends and customers throughout the day, and each lady visiting the store was presented a favor. Many beautiful floral arrangements presented by business firms and wholesale dealers placed at vantage points made pleasing decorations for the building, which had been repaired and redecorated. A modern front and lighting fixtures of the latest design have made it one of the most inviting places on Main Street. Mr. and Mrs. Goppert wish to express their appreciation for the manner in which the community accepted their new establishment and the hearty welcome back to the business circle accorded them by their many friends and customers. Palacios Beacon, August 10, 1950
|
|||
|
Fred S. Goppert, former long-time resident of Palacios, died in San Antonio on Jan. 8 at the age of 80. Goppert had owned several businesses and built several homes in Palacios. Survivors include his wife Lenna; one son, Charles; one daughter, Florence Mayfield; one sister Verna Dornbluth; one brother, Joe Goppert and six grandchildren. Interment was in Sunset Memorial Park in San Antonio.
Palacios Beacon, January 27, 1982 |
|||
|
|
Fred S. Goppert always has a joke and a smile for
his friends and customers at his
