When Ralph C. Godt ventured from Sacramento to see his many customers in rural towns -- in places such as Auburn or Pilot Hill or Placerville or Cool -- he was interested in more than just selling them a fine suit of clothes. Mr. Godt, who died of heart failure Friday, one day before his 86th birthday, had a gift for listening to people's life stories, for recalling nuggets of California history and for sharing stories and experiences with his children and grandchildren.

Mr. Godt was the grandson of a German immigrant, jeweller Wilhelm Godt, who came to Sacramento in 1875. For 33 years, with his father, Ralph Godt Sr., he owned and managed the Wilton's Men's Clothiers store on K Street. The younger Godt later worked for the Weinstocks department store in downtown Sacramento.

From the Depression era through the 1960s, Mr. Godt and his father gave personal attention to customers in rural farming and mining towns around Sacramento. And both father and son became enraptured with the Gold Rush and early California mystique.

They made a point of turning sales sessions into opportunities for gathering informal oral histories from families of early settlers.

"My father had almost a photographic memory. He could remember conversations that took place 70 years ago or more," said Russell G. Godt, a Sacramento investments portfolio manager who recalls Ralph Godt Jr. loading his family into the car for Sunday drives in the Gold Country and then regaling them with the stories of his customers.

Russell Godt said his father would drive his kids over the old Rattlesnake Bridge -- before construction of Folsom Dam -- and relate stories of settlers trying to tame the American River. He said Mr. Godt would tell them "the story of Rescue and how the town earned its name -- when people took off to save the Donner Party."

Mr. Godt was also a railroad history buff and a travel enthusiast. He was a graduate of Christian Brothers High School and the-then Sacramento Junior College. He was a member of the Sacramento Masonic Lodge for more than 60 years.