Gigi Fanders, age 13, of New Bedford, Mass., for her question:

WHO WAS GEORGE GOETHALS?

George Goethals was the American civil engineer and Army officer who directed the completion of the construction of the Panama Canal. In 1907, after two civilian engineers had resigned from the job, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Goethals as the chief of the Army engineers supervising construction of the canal.

Goethals overcame many problems of organization, supply, sanitation and health. He also completed the job ahead of schedule.

In 1914, Goethals retired from the Army to serve as the first civilian governor of the Panamaa Canal Zone. George Washington Geothals was born in 1858 and died in 1928,.