Fred William Goetz

Fred Goetz was born and raised in Rockford, Illinois when the century was in its early teens. When he was in his teens, the Depression hit and the early '30s found him picking grapes and pedaling them for whatever they'd bring. He learned to repair cars, the tool and die trade, and became a machinist with the Woodward Governor Company, a defense plant making controls for any machine that needed controlling.

Fred Goetz has led an interesting life. He became a pilot in 1941 and for thirty years he flew, bought, built, repaired, and sold airplanes. In 1949, tiring of Illinois winters, he flew a friend to Palm Springs, liked the climate, and stayed for 26 years.

He built cabinets in his own woodworking shop, then worked as a construction carpenter. Following his retirement in 1965, he free-lanced for the next ten years doing carpentry work in the Palm Springs homes of Bob Hope, Jack Warner, Jack Benny, former Arkansas governor Winthrop Rockefeller, and others.

During these years, vacation trips back to Rockford brought him through Sedona's scenic red rock country. It grew on him, and in 1975 he bought a mobile home from a catalog, piled his tools and belongings into his station wagon, and headed for his new home in Sunset Village. He boasts that in his 23 years here, he lived through three owners and eight managers.

Typically, Fred couldn't stay retired. He learned the lock and key business and eventually opened his own shop, building an enviable local reputation for making and changing commercial and residential locks.

Meanwhile, Fred's older brother, Al, after being discharged from WWII with a punctured eardrum, taught accordian lessons in New York. When the family of one of his students invited him to room in their home, he accepted the offer and stayed for 47 years, until he joined his brother in Sedona in 1981.

Fred's had a hip and knee replaced in recent years, and needs to have the other knee replaced soon. He jokes about being careful to avoid setting off metal detectors and of having a yard sale of spare parts.

Fred likes to tell about a fellow mechanic in the '30s who borrowed his truck. When he returned it, the top was torn and the transmission was shot. Fred asked him to fix it but was told, "It's your truck!" So, Fred set fire to the guy's car! Astonished, the mechanic wanted Fred to do something about it, to which Fred, vengefully and predictably said, "It's your car!"

The moral of the story is this: If you're looking for the key man around here, call Fred Goetz. But don't let him near your car with a match.