The Daily Citizen, Dalton, GA

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  • (Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen) Hubert “Gofer” Gossett blows out the candles on his cake as Chick-fil-A owner Karen Campbell looks on Friday morning.

    91-year-old birthday mlh.jpg

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February 6, 2012

Vet celebrates 91st birthday at mall

Feted by restaurant staff, called ‘amazing’

Mark Millican markmillican@daltoncitizen.com

David Williams said you could tell where his friend, Hubert “Gofer” Gossett, sat during the stock car races in Murray County.

“When you looked down, you could see the tracks in the gravel where his feet had shuffled back and forth because he got so excited,” said Williams, who was on hand with other friends when Gossage celebrated his 91st birthday in the food court outside Chick-fil-A at Walnut Square Mall on Friday morning.

“When we went back next week those places were still there,” he said. “He loves that racing and can tell you all about NASCAR.”

The Chick-fil-A staff seems to have adopted Gossage, and provided a birthday cake and cards signed by dozens of people to mark the big day. Through several franchise owners since the store opened in the mall, he has shown up every morning when he was able and has even helped them start business in the morning.

“Every morning since the day they opened, I’d help them put the chairs down (off the tables) and open the doors,” said Gossage. “And then my hips started bothering me and I had to stop.”

A Dawnville native who grew up on a farm, he enlisted in the Navy after the bombing of Pearl Harbor that hastened American’s entry into World War II. Gossage was the last Navy man on ship many of the Army and Marine assault troops saw as he loaded them onto amphibious landing craft to hit Japanese-held beaches in the South Pacific.

“I was in the Marshall Islands, New Guinea, the Philippines and the Admiralty Islands — I have 11 battle stars to go on my (campaign) ribbons,” he said, explaining that was the number of conflicts his battle group was engaged in.

Mary Curtis, the general manager at Chick-fil-A, said Gossage is “amazing.”

“I’ve been here almost 10 years, and he’s been here every morning,” she said. “He always has a pocketful of hard candy and hands it out. He’s a precious man and the way he still gets around, it’s amazing. I don’t know much about his past life, but he’s a veteran and that’s all that counts.”

Karen Campbell, the restaurant’s owner/operator, said she visited Gossage at his home a couple of years ago when he broke his hip.

“He still takes care of his wife, and he was ashamed to come in while he had to use a walker,” she recalled. “But he got his cane and started coming back. As far as I know, he’s been here since the mall opened in 1982. He’s a true patriot, and he loves The Daily Citizen. If he sees one of our kids in the paper, he brings the clipping to us.”

John Paul Bledsoe, a past commander of the American Legion post in Dalton, said he’s known Gossage since before World War II.

“He’s a fine man and outstanding veteran,” he said.

Gossage was asked how he picked up his nickname.

“I used to play football and they’d say ‘go fer a pass,’” he said with a smile.

And what’s his favorite breakfast at Chick-fil-A?

“Gravy and biscuits,” he replied. “They didn’t have it in the Navy.”

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