 Photos
Incidental-Lee: Parents and (Godden / Billington / Riley) Ancestors
Father: Thomas William ("Tim") Godden
Dad was born March 6, 1922 in Marden, Kent, England.
He died
January 5th 1995 in Crewe, Cheshire, England, of a
heart attack. Dad was one of seven siblings from a poor
carpenter's family in Kent (southern England). As a boy,
all of Dad's clothes were made by his mother. He excelled in many
sports from youth through adulthood: cricket, table
tennis, javelin, discus,
football (soccer in America), darts and golf...something
he learned at age 57. Dad earned high marks in school,
and was the first of his family to enter and complete
all classes at the post-elementary Judd School.
At age 16 he lied about his age and
entered the Royal Air Force in 1938. He stayed in the
RAF for 13 years, working as a Senior Aircraft Technician
on British Spitfire fighter planes. Dad left the service
to join aircraft manufacturer De Havilland in 1951 and
stayed for 12 years (until age 41) as
a Provisioning Supervisor. He then joined Magirus
Trucks
in 1963 and stayed until his retirement at age 58 in 1980.
He was Manager of Parts Provisioning, and managed
65 employees.
He married Catherine (nee Billington,
see below) in 1943, then left for South Africa to help
the Allies win World War II. First son Terry (see below) was
born in 1944, and I followed 14 year later in 1958.
After a bitter divorce in 1967 Dad discovered his
ex-wife had taken his 9-year old son to America, against
English court orders. He didn't hear from me again again
until 1988, when I (age 30, with a last name
of Steinbach, that of my first step-father) found his address. I wrote a 1-page
letter to him--essentially "Are you my Dad?"--and
I received a 17-page
heartfelt letter in reply. I immediately flew to England
to see him.
Over the next seven years, until
Dad's death from a heart attack in 1995, I flew to
England several times, reestablishing ties with him, my
brother Terry and Terry's children Steven and Claire
Godden. In 1989 I legally changed my name back to
Godden. Dad visited us in America once, for a fortnight (two week)
holiday in 1990. In loving remembrance of Terry's and my
father, an inscribed brick now lies near my house, atop
Signal Hill, California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
   
   
    
Mother: Catherine Watson Yatrofsky
Catherine Watson Yatrofsky (nee Billington, formerly Godden, formerly
Steinbach) was born May 14, 1922 in Blackburn, Lancashire,
England. She now lives in San Diego, California. Mum
grew up in a poor Lancashire (northern England) family with
her only sibling, younger
brother Derick. She survived the German bombings of
England, and in 1943, as a "war bride," she wed
a dashing Royal Air Force mechanic named Thomas William
"Tim" Godden.
Mum was a talented
singer, and after the war she sang professionally in Germany,
fronting a Benny Goodman-style big band. After her 1967 divorce from
Dad she violated judges orders and immigrated with me to America
days after marrying American Navy Yeoman First
Class Philip Steinbach (14 years her junior...see below) in England.
We
lived near navy bases in Arlington, Virginia and
Charleston, South Carolina. The marriage was tumultuous
and brief. She divorced Steinbach in
1970, the year she and I became naturalized American citizens.
In 1973, while living in Charleston, she married American
Navy Chief Cryptologist Albert Yatrofsky (also 14 years
her junior...see below). Albert was then assigned to the Navy base
in Rota, Spain, and we lived there for the next two
years. After graduating from high school in Spain in
1976 I
returned to the US and lived with relatives in
Baltimore, Maryland for a few months before joining the
Navy myself. Mum and Albert moved to San Diego,
California, where they live in retirement today. Mum is
currently suffering from advanced Alzheimer's disease,
and requires constant care.
Albert is Mum's full-time caregiver, bless his heart.
     
      
     
     
Click
to hear 39-second (290k MP3 file) audio clip of
Catherine speaking to Lee (age 10) Christmas morning
1968
Click
to hear 45-second (430k MP3 file) audio clip of
Catherine singing solo Christmas morning 1968
First step-father: Philip Herbert Steinbach
(No photo of Philip Steinbach
available)
One day in 1966--I was 8 years old
and staying with my maternal grandparents in Blackburn,
England--Mum showed up with an American sailor from
Minnesota named
Philip Steinbach, and she told me he was to be my new
dad, and that I was to forget all about my real one. The
tall American seemed like a nice guy, but I was still uncertain until I saw
his massively impressive 1963 Ford
Galaxy 500 parked outside, taking up most of narrow
street. The three of us drove on the
motorway back to London that day, with me in the
backseat waving to all the cars we passed. In
Steinbach's London flat I ate Corn Flakes for the first
time.
After their hasty wedding Mum and I
flew on a Pan Am jet to JFK airport in New York.
Steinbach followed a month later. We settled in
Arlington, Virginia, near Steinbach's Pentagon duty
station. He called me "son" and I called him "dad." He
traded in the Galaxy for a Mercury Montego, and he took
a night job as a door-to-door Ecko cutlery salesman.
(Following his lead I took a job as an 11-year old
paperboy. I think my sales job made more money than
his.) Mum and Steinbach fought constantly, and they were
soon divorced. Even after the divorce he would sometimes
come by to see me. I never saw him afterward, but I
remember him as a great man.
Click
to hear 24-second (243k MP3 file) audio clip of
Catherine and husband Philip Steinbach singing "Irish Eyes" Christmas morning 1968
Second step-father: Albert Yatrofsky
Albert (no middle name) Yatrofsky was born January 15, 1936 in
Manhattan, New York. His siblings are all girls: three
sisters and two half-sisters. Albert's parents are
Julius and Nettie Yatrofsky. Julius was first generation
American, one of 9 children, whose father was born in Russia.
Nettie was
from New York City. Albert now lives in Chula Vista, California
with Mum and their two dachshunds. He married Mum in
Charleston, South Carolina on April 28, 1973.
(Al was previously unmarried, and had no children.)
After retiring from the U.S.
Navy as Chief Petty Officer (Cryptologist) in 1976, he
worked--then retired from--his job as a radio officer for
Scripps Institute for Oceanography in San Diego. An accomplished fisherman,
Al also makes a delicious corned beef and
cabbage. He is Mum's full-time caregiver.
     
   
 
Maternal Grandparents: Harry and Isabella Billington
Harry was born (birthday unknown)
1898 in (assumed) Blackburn, England, and died in (exact
date unknown but approximately) 1975 in England. Isabella (nee Riley) was born
September 26th 1898 in (city unknown) Ireland, and died
in (exact date unknown but approximately) 1975 in England.
During my parents' extended, bitterly
fought divorce in the mid-1960s I spent much time in
Blackburn with grandparents Harry and Bella. They lived
in a row house on a cobblestone street. The lavatory was an
unheated
shed in the backyard, so I always had
a bedpan near my bed during chilly Blackburn nights. In
the morning, toast was made by slicing fresh bread, then
holding it over the flames in the fireplace. Slather on
lots of butter and
marmalade or Marmite and...mmm.
   
Paternal Grandparents: Thomas William and Lillian Alice
Godden
Thomas was born December 15, 1898, Marden, Kent, England, and died May 31, 1954, near
Faversham, England, of coronary thrombosis. He was a farmer.
His wife was
Lillian (nee Ditton), and she was born January 2, 1899, and died
October 3, 1943 due to complications from childbirth. Unfortunately, both
of my paternal grandparents died
before I was born.
Maternal Great-Grandfather Thomas Riley
Thomas (grandmother Bella
Billington's [see above] father) was born October 16, 1872, and
died in 1940, likely during the influenza epidemic. His
wife was Helen, whom he married June 25th 1892. Little
else is known.
Maternal Great Great Grandmother
Riley
This is Thomas's (above) mother.
Little else is known about her, including her first
name, maiden name and dates and places of birth and
death.
Maternal Great Uncle John “Jack” W.
Riley, older brother of Thomas Riley (see above)
Jack was born June 6th, 1894, and died in 1918 of
injuries sustained during World War I.
 
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