Lyn Goffaux

October 21, 2020 – Julie, Leadership, and the Square Dance Promise

In this storytelling‑rich episode, Lyn Goffaux remembers a season of illness when she had to leave the ranch for town, and a frightening drive where drowsiness at the wheel nearly led to disaster. From there, she shifts into vivid memories of life on the ranch and how a young Julie stepped up as a capable, respected leader while Lyn was away. Lyn recalls how ranch hand Henry Strong treated Julie like the boss, and how visiting “dudes” and long‑time guest Jenny fit into the rhythm of ranch life. A powerful thread in this conversation is Jenny’s warning never to smoke, a moment Lyn took deeply to heart and credits with her lifelong choice to avoid cigarettes. The heart of the story is a promised square dance: Ally resists hosting it because of all the work involved, but Julie, still just a teenager, insists on keeping the promise, organizes the caller, and collaborates with the guests, who joyfully clean and wax the floors themselves after the dance. Lyn’s pride in Julie’s courage, resolve, and gentle authority shines through as she reflects on how that same strength shows up later in Julie’s own home and family life.

October 21, 2020 – Morning Reflections and Everyday Blessings

In this gentle, intimate recording, Lyn Goffaux shares a cozy morning moment as she looks out at fresh snow and talks about the change of seasons and growing older. She chats about her handy voice assistant that tells her the date, time, and weather, and jokes about not quite knowing how all the technology works but appreciating what it does for her. A check‑in phone call from Sherry becomes part of the story, giving listeners a glimpse into the loving network of care that surrounds Lyn in her daily life. Lyn talks about simple, comforting things like breakfast, errands, and the small embarrassments and graces of needing help with everyday tasks. Throughout the episode, you can hear her warmth, humor, and vulnerability as she admits she had something important she wanted to share but just can’t quite remember what it was, inviting listeners into the honest, unscripted flow of her thoughts.

August 25, 2020 – Goose Dinners, Harsh Winters, And A Father’s Love For Animals

In this heartfelt episode, Lyn Goffaux reaches back into her childhood to share vivid memories from life on the ranch, beginning with her mother’s determination to raise geese and the unlikely hen who hatched and mothered them. Lyn describes the comic yet painful moments when the once-cuddly goslings grew up and started nipping the backs of her knees, teaching her an early lesson about how quickly animals can change as they grow. Her story then turns to her mother’s long-standing wish for a goose dinner, and the humorous misadventures of Paul, who keeps putting off the task of butchering a goose and instead returns home one day with guinea hens from a neighbor so the family ends up eating those instead. When her mother finally takes matters into her own hands, Lyn paints a striking picture of her mother hiding behind a post with a gun, the frantic flopping of the goose she shoots, and the heartbreaking sight of the remaining geese running to her for protection, signaling the last goose her parents would ever kill. From there, Lyn moves into the story of a brutal winter around the time her sister was born, when deep snow and bitter cold made survival a daily struggle for both people and animals. She recalls how her father coped with starving cattle and horses by cutting down trees to strip the bark for feed, eventually supplementing with cotton cake made from cottonseed, which proved to be a lifesaver for the livestock. Lyn shares practical details of that season—like planting large, inedible beets just to chop and feed to the animals, and hanging one in the henhouse so the chickens had to fly up to peck it for much-needed exercise, resulting in eggs all winter long despite the terrible weather. She also remembers traveling through the range as a child, seeing dead cows and horses everywhere, a haunting image that captures the severity of that winter and the cost it exacted on the herd. The episode also explores her father’s near-serious injury while cutting a ham, the doctor’s insistence that milking the cows actually preserved his hand, and what this reveals about the unrelenting demands of ranch life—there was no option to stop working, even in pain. Lyn highlights her father’s deep affection and respect for animals, especially his geese and horses, recounting how the geese would quietly conspire while he milked: one goose would sneak over to untie his shoelaces, prompting him to make a big show of retieing them while the geese honked and flapped with delight. She reflects on his careful ethics with old horses—preferring to send them as bear bait rather than risk selling them to someone who might overwork or mistreat them—because once a horse left his hands, he could no longer ensure its well-being. In the closing portion of the recording, Lyn shifts from stories of animals to the complexities of family and motherhood, touching briefly on her daughter Francy’s stubborn nature as a child and how that spirit may have been necessary in a family where more children were not supposed to arrive. She candidly shares her own mixed feelings about having more children, describing a season when she felt like “nothing but a baby machine” and would have welcomed a rest rather than an absolute end to childbearing. Lyn then moves to the next generation, telling how her daughter Julie went on to have ten children, including a baby who died after just nine hours due to an undiagnosed blood issue. The story follows Julie’s journey through repeated medical challenges, the eventual discovery and treatment of her blood incompatibility with a full transfusion for another premature baby, and, later, the role of herbal remedies that seemed to resolve the problem so that the next child arrived a little late and completely healthy.

August 22, 2020 – Francie, Sibling Jealousy, and a Mother’s Heart

In this concluding segment, Lyn Goffaux returns to the subject of Francie and reflects on their close relationship in the present, affirming that “she is with us” and emphasizing how bonded they are now. Lyn then revisits the moment she announced another pregnancy to Celeste, a story that reveals the complexity of sibling emotions when a new baby is on the way. Lyn now believes she made a mistake in how she phrased the news, telling Celeste that she was “going to have another baby to love” instead of simply saying, “we’re going to have another baby,” unintentionally implying that love might be a limited resource. Celeste’s reaction was one of disappointment and distress, and when Lyn tried to reassure her by saying that they could not “give Paul away,” Celeste actually suggested they do just that, a child’s blunt response that nevertheless exposed her fear of losing her place in the family. Lyn gently points out that “you just don’t do things like that,” reflecting both the innocence of children and the deep responsibility parents carry when balancing attention and affection among siblings. This brief but powerful recording ties together themes of jealousy, reassurance, and learning as a mother, rounding out the day’s reflections on her children with honesty and hard-earned wisdom.

August 22, 2020 – Motherhood, Four Children, and Lessons Learned

In this central and most detailed recording, Lyn Goffaux shares intimate, vivid memories of raising her four children—Julie, Celeste, Paul, and Francie—and the people and small moments that shaped those years. She begins with Julie’s birth and the surprise of recognizing a nurse, Eva Franco, who had also been present when Lyn herself was born in Cody, tying together two generations through one caregiver’s steady presence. Lyn recalls visiting Eva’s home as a child, eating cereal with canned milk, and how those sensory details stayed with her across the decades. She then paints a tender picture of coming home with newborn Julie, whose father, Ed, was initially afraid to hold the baby until Lyn gently coaxed him into it, a moment once captured in a now-lost photograph she wishes she still had. From there, Lyn reflects on how easy it is to take many photos of a first baby, and how busyness meant far fewer pictures of Celeste, Paul, and especially Francie, something she deeply regrets in hindsight. Lyn describes Julie as a fiery, emotional child who would scream so loudly when angry that neighbors worried she might be hurt, yet as an adult Julie learned to maintain impressive self-control even when inner emotions still ran strong. Celeste, by contrast, is remembered as a homebody who disliked being left with others, preferring the comfort of her own house. As she grew, Celeste became the reliable older sister Lyn trusted to watch over Paul and Francie—keeping them off the street, away from the stairs, and generally safe—though Celeste had a mischievous side when it came to raiding the cookie supply. The episode also explores their adult lives: Julie became a mother of ten children, nine living and one lost, a loss that brought deep, enduring grief. Lyn shares how Julie feels spiritually connected to the child she lost, sensing her presence in the temple and believing that this daughter continues to watch over her. Celeste, meanwhile, happily raised three children after originally feeling content with just one boy and one girl, and Lyn lovingly describes her third as a particularly handsome and charming son who became a favorite of Lyn’s own mother. Lyn talks about Paul as a very small boy who jokingly reports that he is “up to 4 feet 11,” almost five feet, matching the petite stature of Julie and Celeste, both just around five feet tall, while Lyn herself has shrunk from about 5′ 3½″ to 5′2″ with age. She then turns to Francie, who cried constantly as a baby, partly, Lyn believes, because of strict medical instructions she now regrets following. A doctor insisted Francie be awakened at 2 a.m. to eat and demanded that each feeding, burping, and settling be completed within 20 minutes, leaving no time for the slower, more nurturing rhythm Lyn had used with her other children. Lyn feels that obeying those rules made both her and Francie unhappy, and she now wishes she had trusted her own instincts instead. Francie also faced a physical challenge: one of her feet was pressed up against her shin, and Lyn had to repeatedly work it down, a process that caused Francie pain and more crying but was medically necessary. Lyn remembers Francie as stubborn and dependent during feedings, refusing to hold her own bottle for months. At six months old, Lyn began laying Francie on a blanket with the bottle in her hands, stepping away to force the baby to learn; after many cycles of crying, dropped bottles, and returning to help, Francie finally decided that if she wanted the bottle, she would have to hold it herself. Through these stories, Lyn offers a raw, compassionate look at motherhood, guilt, resilience, and the bittersweet growth of both children and parents over time.