When I arrived in Grafton ND I realized that many folks that my parents were either related to or were acquaintances with lived there as well. Many of them went to Zion Church. One of them was Marie Goodman. Marie had taught in some of the rural schools around Gardena ND and my mother remembered where she lived. A few years after I arrived Marie left Grafton and went back to the Upham and Bottineau area and from there I lost tack of her. My mother saw here obituary in the Minot paper. So here it is. Marie was one of those LWML ladies and was a part of that special fraternity.
Marie Goodman, 99, formerly of Upham, Bottineau and Grafton died on Thursday, April 7, 2016 in a Velva nursing home.
Marie Lydia Goodman was born on February 11, 1917 on her grandfather’s homestead in Elm Grove Township near Upham, ND to Fred and AliceMalona (Jabs) Boye. She was reared on the farm, attended rural school in the area, graduated from Gardena High School and received her Standard Teaching Certificate from Minot State University. As a young adult she taught in country schools. Marie married Walter Goodman on December 23, 1942 at Shepard Field near Wichita Falls, TX, where Walter was stationed with the Army Air Corps. When Walter was transferred, as an aircraft mechanic, to the Yukon Territory, Marie moved to California and was employed as a secretary to a government nurse. When Walter was reassigned to Love Field near Dallas, TX; Marie worked at the Gentry Shop. After her husband’s discharge from the military, they moved to Grafton, ND, where they lived for the next 35 years. She received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education from Mayville State University after which she taught school in Grafton for the next 23 years. Marie retired from teaching in 1980 and she and
Walter returned to the Upham area where they resided on her grandfather’s homestead. They moved to Bottineau in 1997. Walter passed away on June 29, 2002. Marie moved to Warsaw, ND in 2005 to live with her daughter and family and to the Haaland Estates Assisted Living Center in Rugby in 2009. In April of 2015 she moved to the Souris Valley Care Center in Velva.
Marie was a member of Zion English Lutheran Church in Grafton where she taught Sunday School for many years and was a member and officer of the church’s Lutheran Women’s Missionary League. Also, she was a Den Mother for her son’s Cub Scout Troop and a member of the Business and Professional Club and American Legion Auxiliary all in Grafton.
While residing near Upham, she was a member of the New Hope Lutheran Church and its Ruth Circle. Marie and Walter especially enjoyed traveling. Their trips took them throughout the USA and to Alaska, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Iceland, Germany and Luxembourg.
Marie’s loving family includes her children: Neil (Darlene) Goodman of Minot and Loma Lou Rudnik of Minto; grandsons: Neil (Ronda) Rudnik and Joel (Kayla) Rudnik; step grandchildren: Debra (Raynor) Hanson and Tammy Holen all of Minot; sons in law: Todd Awalt and Kerry Holen both of Minot; two great grandchildren; ten step great grandchildren and five step great great grandchildren. Marie was preceded in death by her parents, husband, brothers: Albert (in WWII), Walter and Herb; sister: Lila; son in law: Joe Rudnik; step grandson: Danny Vormestrand and a step granddaughter Tracy Awalt.
