Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Goetsch, Leo June 8, 1885 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com February 6, 2011, 2:29 pm Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 851 - 852 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company McENTEE, HENNESSEY & GOETSCH. The firm of McEntee, Hennessey & Goetsch, funeral directors, conducting one of the most successful establishments of the kind in Portland, had its inception in the organization of a partnership concern known as Dunning & McEntee, in 1905, the senior member being George Dunning. A new building was erected at the corner of Broadway and Ankeny streets, where the firm continued business until its dissolution in 1919. The same year Mr. McEntee organized the firm of McEntee & Eilers and located for business at 547 Everett street, the present address of McEntee, Hennessey & Goetsch, which concern was organized to succeed McEntee & Eilers on the 1st of November, 1923. Since the death of the senior partner, George C. Hennessey has served as president, with Leo Goetsch as vice president and manager. In their large and modern funeral home at Sixteenth and Everett streets in Portland, McEntee, Hennessey & Goetsch cater to a large following. Their work in the community, as they conceive it, as they endeavor to perform it, is removed far and above a cold business transaction; the personal, the humanitarian, the grief alleviating element is always their first consideration. Leo Goetsch, vice president and manager of the firm of McEntee, Hennessey & Goetsch, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, June 8, 1885, a son of Leo and Louise (Hahn) Goetsch. His paternal grandfather, Herman Goetsch, emigrated to the United States from Germany in 1850 and was followed by the other members of the family two years later. He was a wagon maker by trade and lost his life at the battle of Lookout Mountain in the Civil war. Leo Goetsch, Sr., the father of Mr. Goetsch of this review, also enlisted in the Civil war, becoming a member of Company F, Sixth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, with which he served without injury until the Army of the Potomac was entering Richmond, when he sustained a wound in the shin that incapacitated him for further duty. Like his father, he followed the trade of wagon making. Leo Goetsch, Jr., remained a resident of his native city until twenty years of age and then made his way to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he was identified with the undertaking business for two years. It was in 1908 that he came to Oregon and during the first two years of his residence in this state he was associated with W. T. Rigdon in the undertaking business at Salem. In 1910 he took up his permanent abode in Portland, where he was connected with the undertaking establishment of Dunning & McEntee until 1918 and during the succeeding six years was in charge of the county coroner's office under Dr. Earl Smith. Since 1924 he has been a member of the firm of McEntee, Hennessey & Goetsch. He married Myrle Bondurant, of Portland, and they are the parents of a daughter, Maxine, now fourteen years of age. Mr. Goetsch is a worthy exemplar of the teachings and purposes of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Lents Lodge, A. F. & A. M. George C. Hennessey, president of McEntee, Hennessey & Goetsch, is a native of Prince Edward Island, Canada, born December 15, 1879. When a lad of twelve years he left home for Lapeer, Michigan, where he attended school. His cousin, Father Francis Kelley, now bishop of Oklahoma, was at that time pastor of a parish in Lapeer. After putting aside his textbooks Mr. Hennessey made his way to Detroit, where he was employed in an undertaking establishment for two years. On the expiration of that period he took charge of the chapel cars for the Catholic Church Extension Society, in the interests of which he traveled through many states for seventeen years, spending the greater part of the time, however, in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. It was the work of this society to visit rural sections and interest people in the establishment of churches. Mr. Hennessey severed his relations with the Catholic Church Extension Society to enter upon his present business association in Portland. At the time of his resignation Pope Pius XII conferred upon him the degree of Knight Commander of the Holy Sepulcher, the highest honor possible to be given a laymen. Fraternally Mr. Hennessey is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, the Loyal Order of Moose and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks in Portland. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/goetsch1455gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 5.0 Kb