If everyone had in-laws like the in-laws I have been blessed with over the years, there would never have been “in-law jokes.” On August 17, 1968 when Janice and I were married at the Miami Springs Baptist Church in Miami Springs, Florida, I was received into the Goodlet family in the most open and loving way imaginable. Janice’s mother, a delightful and committed Christian, served as WMU director at the church as well as other functions in the church, too many to number. She led her husband, Jimmy to the Lord and he was baptized at Miami Springs. Dad Goodlet became an active member of the church where he served many years on the Budget and Finance Committee. This was the area of his gifts expressed in his daily life as Clerk of the City of Hialeah, Florida, a position he held for 30 years.

Janice’s mother went home to be with the Lord in 1988 at the end of a four-year battle with leukemia. Though her death was extremely difficult for Dad Goodlet, he has remained the same wonderful person I have known for more than 35 years. Dad Goodlet is ill with cancer at this time and the family would be very grateful if you would keep him, Janice and her sister Jeannie in your prayers. As a father of three girls I have learned that there is a very special bond between a father and his daughters. This time is very difficult for Janice and Jeannie.

I want to take this venue and this moment to express my appreciation for my outstanding father-in-law. I have loved him as a dad and he has loved me as a son. I have been deeply affected by his life and through his example have learned many valuable qualities.

The first lesson I learned is the value of a sense of humor. Jimmy Goodlet is blessed with one of the keenest senses of humor I have ever encountered. I remember meeting him for the first time. The occasion was my trip to Hialeah for the specific purpose of asking for Janice’s hand in marriage. I was so nervous when we finally sat together in the family living room, just the two of us. As I recall, we talked about everything under the sun until I finally mustered up the courage to ask if I could marry Janice. I said, “I guess you probably know that I have come to ask you a very special question. I want to marry Janice; I want to ask for her hand in marriage.” He looked straight at me and without changing expression said, “No.” I said, “Sir?” He said, “No. You have to take all of her or none of her at all!” Once they were able to revive me, we all had a good laugh over Dad Goodlet’s “little joke.”

Another lesson I have learned at the feet of Jimmy Goodlet is the importance of integrity. As the Clerk of the City of Hialeah, Dad had the responsibility of developing and executing the budget for a rapidly growing city, as well as managing the many employees and functions of the city. As you know, every city functions in a political environment where integrity and politics oftentimes clash. Dad Goodlet was consistently, unswervingly a man of integrity who ran the city by the book no matter what the challenge or who the challenger. His hard-line approach to doing business with integrity frequently made him unpopular with some powerful people, but he never blinked. I have been so proud of him and inspired by him because of this outstanding quality. The city loved him and expressed that in many ways including the naming of one of their recreation parks, James H. Goodlet Park. Having a tenure of 33 years speaks volumes!

From Dad Goodlet I have learned the quality of generosity. There was never a time that Janice and I visited with her parents, and in recent years, her Dad, that he did not hand me some money to help us before we departed for home. Beyond that, he and Mom Goodlet helped us to get into our houses and provided money to buy appliances and furniture, money that they called a loan, which later, they forgave. Dad Goodlet’s generosity had a transforming impact upon my life and taught me how to be a generous person, especially with my family. He put it simply: “We help those we love.”

Dad Goodlet has inspired me to be proud as an American. He was a war hero in WWII. He served in the Army Air Corps as a navigator on a PBY Catalina aircraft. This aircraft was capable of landing and taking off on the water and was used to rescue downed American and British pilots. On one occasion while rescuing a pilot in the Gulf of Venice off the coast of Italy, Dad Goodlet was wounded by German artillery fire. The pilot was brought safely into the aircraft and rescued. For his act of courage, Dad received the Silver Star, the Purple Heart and a special Air Service Medal. I am extremely proud of him and grateful for what he and so many others have done and are doing today to keep America free and to protect our wonderful country.

How is it that Jimmy Goodlet possesses so many outstanding qualities and where did they come from? They were instilled in him in his earliest years as one of five children, raised on a farm in Red Level, Alabama. It was there he learned the value of a hard day’s work. He learned to laugh and tell delightful stories from the nightly family time on the porch where the only entertainment was from the stories shared by family and friends. He learned the value of a dollar through the years of the Great Depression. He learned that a man’s word is his bond from a righteous father and from the agrarian life of the first third of the 20th Century. He treasured the freedom and quality of life in America and expressed his love through courageously putting his life on the line to protect that freedom and that life.

I am so thankful to God for giving me the joy and honor of calling Jimmy Goodlet “Dad.” The inspiration and the lessons I have learned from him will be a part of my life as long as I live. I want to be that kind of dad!