Eunice Goodwin Barrow

NEW BERN - Lieutenant Commander United States Navy Retired Eunice Goodwin Barrow peacefully left us, Thursday, September 27, 2012 at Carteret General Hospital. She was born 27 April 1914 on Cedar Island, North Carolina, to Levi and Lydia Goodwin. She was the eldest of three children born to the couple. Her brother Harold Goodwin (deceased) and his wife Mary's children are Judy, Harold, Jr., (Sonny), and Jackson (Jackie), Eunice's sister Bettie Louise Goodwin married Worth Harris (both deceased). Their two sons are Bernard and Philip (Phil) Harris. Also dear to her heart were her grandnieces Laura Rosalynn Harris, Elizabeth Long White, and grandnephews, Corey Minton Goodwin, Christopher Shea Goodwin, and Colin Dayne Harris.

Eunice grew up on Cedar Island and attended local schools. After graduation, she continued her education at the Winston-Salem's City Hospital School of Nursing where she completed her nurse's training in 1937. While browsing through a magazine, an ad about the Navy Nurse Corps caught her attention. So on 15 August 1938 she made the Navy her career. Just before joining the Navy, Eunice took her State Boards and she made a 98.5, the highest grade anyone had ever made. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, Eunice was stationed at NAS Pensacola, FL. She was sent to Quonset Point, RI, and later to Oakland, CA for further training. She served aboard the naval medical ship USS Relief from 1943-1945 caring for wounded soldiers, sailors, and Marines. She remembers making several Trans-Pacific voyages between San Francisco and the Central and Western Pacific during those years. After World War II, she served the next 14 years at naval hospitals and health clinics.

Eunice has the distinction of being one of the first 12 nurses who was sent in 1942 to serve at the Naval Hospital at the newly opened Cherry Point Marine Base.

In 1959, after 21 years of service, Eunice retired from the Navy. She had some observations about those years. "We treated what we could, but what was too major for us, we sent to naval hospitals," explained Eunice. She was 30, the director of the nurses aboard the ship, and unafraid. "I reckon that I thought there was somebody up above who was going to protect me; (still) you had some anxious moments", she said, "but it was a good group of girls." At the time of her retirement, she was stationed at Naval Hospital Memphis. She and her husband Steve Ramer, a Navy recruiter, moved to Arkansas to be near his family. Seven weeks after moving to Arkansas, Steve passed away suddenly from a heart attack. Eunice then moved back to North Carolina. The New Bern Sun Journal wrote a profile of her in June of 2008.

In the early 1960's, she married Guy Barrow, a civil service employee at Camp Lejeune and Cherry Point. Guy died of cancer in 1977. Eunice's nursing career continued when she took a position at old Saint Luke's Hospital in New Bern and when Craven County Hospital/CarolinaEast opened in 1963, she transferred there, serving as chief gynecology and postpartum nurse until retirement in 1978. In her later years, Eunice enjoyed traveling in the USA. Another pastime that she could enjoy for hours was gathering friends together to play bridge. Eunice attended Village Chapel Presbyterian Church, was a member of Dixon-Condeman VFW Post 2514, and was an active member of the Republican Party. She also took delight in reading, particularly her Bible, and mystery novels, and enjoyed crossword puzzles.

Funeral Services will be 2:00PM, Friday, October 5, 2012 at Pollock-Best Chapel. Family and friends will gather 1 hour prior to the service at the funeral home. Burial, with full military honors, will follow at Greenleaf Memorial Park. Those wishing to offer words of hope or condolences may visit www.pollockbest.com. Memorials, in Eunice's memory, may be made to Wounded Warriors Project 1120 G St. NW, Suite 700 Washington, DC 20005, www.woundedwarriorproject.org or your church.

Pollock-Best Funerals & Cremations is entrusted with the Barrow Family.