b'Jews continued from page 41As the late Barry Goldwater himself noted what he perceived to be the positive impact of the stores on the people and the culture of Arizona. In spite of things you may hear and read, I would contend that the thing the Goldwaters have done best for the past hundred years in Arizona is sell pants.At different times there have been Goldwater stores at La Paz, Ehrenberg, Prescott, Parker, Seymour, Lynx Creek, Phoenix, Bisbee, Fairbank, Contention, Tombstone, Benson, and Crittenden (not only are all the Goldwater stores gone now, but so are many of those towns). In the early days, our family tried to meet every need of their communitiesat first, our store took pride in supplying most of the clothing, household, food, farm, and industrial needs of pioneer towns. A customer could be completely outfitted at Goldwaters from cradle to grave. There are pages in old company ledgers that actually relate to the sale of baby wear and hardware for coffins on the same day. We sold everything the prospector needed from drill bits and black powder to demijohns of whiskey. We stocked groceries and stock feed; shoes and hats; furniture from Austria and herrings from Holland; horseshoes and horse collars; we had lamps and rugs for the front parlor, spices, and soap for the kitchen, and anything needed for the outhouse.Goldwaters was a complete store.Senator Barry Goldwater. (Even today, years after the remaining Goldwater stores were turned into Macy\'s or Dillards stores, Goldwater\'s salsa, arguably still an Arizona favorite, can still be found in Arizona grocery and specialty stores).While Big Mike himself eventually returned to San Francisco and his family, but not after serving (as his brothers Joe and son Morris did before and after him) a brief term as Prescott\'s Mayor. Son Morris would also serve a stint as an Arizona state legislator. A Prescott newspaper account from the time reported that. Prescott, September 7, 1877, M. (Mike) Goldwater, one of our successful merchants, we learn from a telegram received by Morris, his son, arrived in San Francisco today, where he intends to remain for four or five weeks, and will be present during the Jewish New Year and participate in the festivities attendant thereto. He will also purchase a large stock of goods for the company\'s stores in Ehrenberg and Prescott (The Arizona Miner - quoted in Howe and Libo, We Lived There Too, p. 188). Another contemporary and laudatory newspaper account informs the reader thatJanuary 9, 1885, Mr. M. (Mike) Goldwater will soon be mayor of Prescott. The new mayor and council take office at a time when the city owes the waterworks and other improvements upwards of $70,000. In case the water works are good, they will find the city pretty well equipped and should do what they can by way of retrenching. As mayor, Goldwater and his colleagues are successful businessmen and large taxpayers, the Courier believes they will run the city government in a wise and economical manner(The Prescott Weekly Courier, quoted in Howe and Libo, We Lived There Too, p. 191).Joe and Big Mike\'s sons Morris and Barron, also known as Baron, chose to remain in Arizona and continue the family\'s department store enterprise and empire. It was Barron Goldwater who, marrying a non-Jew, the Episcopalian Josephine Williams, sired a son named Barry in 1909. Barry and the rest of Barron\'s children were baptized and brought up as Christians never a practicing Jew, unlike his grandfather and uncle, although at times throughout his life, Barry Goldwater would occasionally refer to himself as being Jewish and often expressed pride in his Jewish ancestry. And we living in Arizona pretty much know of what became of Barry, the grandson of "Big Mike" and son of Barron, who continued the family tradition of running the Goldwater department stores while going on to be known as a famed photographer, Air Force major general, U.S. Senator for so many years, and as the quite controversial Republican nominee for president of the United States of America in 1964.Considering Barry Goldwater\'s brand of conservative Republicanism, it is a bit funny, maybe ironic, that several of the other brothers were quite active in Arizona Democratic Party politics (Ibid., p. 131). Another surprising aspect of Barry Goldwater, maybe even illuminating considering what was later perceived to be his own brand of extremism, would be, in following the Jewish tradition of social justice, was his ensuring that all of the Goldwater stores were fully integrated, where all were welcome, and his own personal reaching out to the diverse minorities of Arizona, whether they be Mexican, Indian, or Black. Barry Goldwater, to his credit, followed his own Jewish ancestors beliefs of fairness, tolerance, andJewish section of social justice whether as a businessman, a politicianBoothill Graveyardor a citizen of Arizona.To bring a close to this passage of the Goldwater family saga it is interesting, and perhaps fitting to note, that Big Mike Goldwater, his wife Sarah, and "Little Joe" are buried, probably not too far from the graves of Wyatt and Josie Earp, at the Hills of Eternity Jewish Cemetery in Colma, California, just south of San Francisco. This writer and his very good friend Cowboy Lee Anderson will be featured speakers at the Phippen Museum in Prescott, on Saturday, July 8th. I will be speaking about the Cavalry of the Old West, Custer, and the Rough Riders at 11:30 am; Lee will be speaking about Horses at 1 p.m.It\'ll be a fun and informative event, and I sure hope that you will be able to join us.Visit: phippenartmuseum.org/current-events/month/2023-07for more information! ARIZONAREALCOUNTRY.COMArizonaRealCountry.com July 2023 43'