Photo provided by Donna Reed Austin Dr. Alphonso Goff

Dr. Alphonso Goff, a classic country doctor, was remembered with a special exhibit as part of the annual Flaming Leaves Classic Car Rally on Marcy Field in Keene this past Saturday. Born in Willsboro in 1893, Goff served Keene and the surrounding communities for over 50 years.

Growing up in the Adirondacks in the 1950s, doctors still made house calls, a rarity today. Doc Goff made house calls in all manner of weather at any time day or night and to patients who might live as far as 50 miles from his home in Keene.

If that was not enough, early in his career he provided an air mail service, flying the mail from Marcy Field to the main postal centers in Albany, Burlington and elsewhere. Indeed, he flew the very first air mail delivery out of the Adirondack region in 1938.

Doc Goff became Keene’s first resident physician in 1920, initially working from the Neighborhood House, a building used for both social functions and as an infirmary that included an operating and recovery-birthing room. In 1931, its purpose shifted fully as a medical facility and remained so until a modern brick hospital was built in 1955; Goff given the honor of laying the cornerstone.

A founder of American Legion Marcy Post 1312 in 1945, Goff served as the Essex County coroner for decades, delivered many babies in their homes, taught school for a few years at the East Hill School House, was an avid sportsman and loved driving fast – and a good cigar. A large, burly man, known for his generosity, wit and sensitivity to those he served, his legacy and personality live on through the exhibit and many stories shared by former patients who loved him dearly.

Photo provided — Naj Wikoff Donna Reed Austin, a former patient of Dr. Alphonso Goff, helped organize an exhibit of his memorabilia Saturday in the historic Holt House at Marcy Field in Keene Valley. Here she displays a black apothecary bag used by Dr. Goff, who served Keene and surrounding towns for more than 50 years.

“He was my doctor,” said Donna Reed Austin, one of the planners of the exhibit. “He was gentle. He was gruff. He was intimidating because he was quite large, built like a football player and looked a bit like John Wayne. I brought his black apothecary bag for display. It’s full of vials and instruments that I don’t want to know what they were used for.”

Austin described how his wife Joyce, serving as his nurse, eased her fears of having a fish bone lodged in her throat after a meal as a young girl. After looking down her throat, Joyce gave Austin a popsicle. As to whether or not she had a fish bone either caught in or removed from her throat, she can’t remember, but she can remember how they eased her fears and soothed her pain in such a manner that the actual outcome has long since been forgotten.

“He always had a Jeep and drove fast, very fast,” Austin added. “He always had a gun with him in case he was called out in the night and saw some game along the way so he could take advantage of the opportunity.”

“He was a pleasant old guy, funny at times,” said Jim Winch, who was treated by Dr. Goff, as were his parents. “I remember going to him for my blood tests before I got married. My girlfriend, now wife, and I went. After, I asked him, ‘How much do we owe you now?’ ‘You don’t owe me anything,’ he said. ‘You’re going to be paying the rest of your life!’ That’s the kind of guy he was. We lived in Wilmington, and he came to us, he made house calls. He drove fast. One time a trooper stopped him and said, ‘You’re flying kind of low aren’t you? Let’s see your pilot’s license.’ He took out his wallet, pulled out his pilot’s license and said, ‘Here ya go.'”

“I can’t tell you my age, probably 4,” said Alana Both. “I had a cold abscess on my arm. My mother took me in, and Dr. Goff lanced it. My dad, out in the car, could hear me crying. Dr. Goff was so upset about making me cry the next day he brought me this little doll. I’ve now had it with me for over 60 years. He was the most caring and charismatic man. If you were sick, he always came to your aid; he was amazing.”

Photo provided — Naj Wikoff Above, Larry House poses with his 1919 Model T Ford sedan at the ninth annual Flaming Leaves Classic Car Rally Saturday at Marcy Field in Keene Valley. Dr. Alphonso Goff, honored the same weekend in Keene Valley, delivered House’s birth and, when House was a boy, sewed up an ax wound in his hand.

“Doc Goff saved my life when I was a little girl,” said town historian Janet Hall. “I was out crawling around in the fields, and all of a sudden I started to itch. Apparently I had crawled through a patch of nettles. Turned out I was terribly allergic to nettles. I started swelling up like a balloon. My grandmother called Doc Goff and asked, ‘What do we do? Do we bring her down to you?’ He said, ‘You don’t have time. Throw her in the bathtub with ammonia.’ My mother said, ‘Are you crazy? That will burn her! That will kill her!’ He said, “No, you’ll save her life!’ So they threw me in the tub with ammonia and water, dunking my head under the water. He told them to keep me in there until the swelling started to go down. He saved my life!”

Goff owned more than 300 rifles when he died. Many patients gave what they had for payment when cash was tight, often rifles as they knew he liked to hunt. Gallons of maple syrup, venison, pies or whatever else they could provide were accepted as payment. He was also known for calling all the women “Sis” as he was bad at remembering names; an added consequence is that he often put down the wrong name in the birth records.

“Doc Goff brought me into this world,” said Larry House, who had a 1919 Model T sedan in the car rally. “I don’t have a vivid recollection of that, but I do of him sewing up my hand that I cut with an ax when I was young. To a little kid, he was a kind of intimidating. You didn’t give him any back talk, but you learned to like him and respect him because when you were sick, he fixed you.”

“I was living here in the winter and decided I want to learn how to drive a bobsled,” said Chris Blaicher. “I had to get a physical. I got the paperwork from the bob run and went to see Doc Goff. He looked at the paperwork and said, ‘Breathe in.’ I do. He said, ‘OK, you’re alive. You’re in good shape.’ Asks if you have any mental incapacity. ‘You’ve got to be crazy to drive a bobsled, but I’ll sign off anyway.’ That was the extent of my physical.”

The car rally and exhibit raised more than $8,000 for American Legion Marcy Post 1312 to use to support various community projects, including a permanent plaque to honor Dr. Goff.

Photo provided — Naj Wikoff Alana Both holds a doll Dr. Goff gave her to apologize for a shot he gave her that was painful.

Photo provided — Naj Wikoff Keene town historian Janet Hall was also a former patient of Dr. Goff.

Photo provided by the Keene Public Library Dr. Alphonso Goff rides his Harley-Davidson motorcycle as a competitor in the Keene Hill Climb.