Ester Goodman

Ester passed away peacefully at Roseview Manor on February 16, 2009 at the age of 88. Ester is survived by her daughters Lorraine Smallwood Comeau, Christine Palmer (Barry) and Katherine Warner, and step-son Tom Goodman (Cathy) and step-daughter Shirley Lehto (Richard), along with numerous grand and great grand children. She was predeceased by Robert (Bert) Smallwood in 1969 and William (Bill) Goodman in 1982. Ester was born in Port Arthur to Frank and Mamie Leppanen. She was predeceased by her brother Bruno and sister-in-law Saimi and Eva and Harold Sundberg, her sister and brother-in-law. Except for a few teenage years when her family lived in Beardmore, Ester has lived in Thunder Bay. She looked forward to spending the cold winter months in Weslaco, Texas at "Pine to Palm". There she learnt a third language, Spanish, and eventually became proficient enough to teach Spanish to the "Canadian Snowbirds". Mom always enjoyed singing and soon found herself part of the "Pine to Palm" choir. She took up golfing with Bill and became a passionate golfer, spending many hours watching Tiger Woods on TV. She enjoyed a good game of snooker, bridge and entertaining the many friends she made in the South. While in Texas she also took up painting which remained another passion up until the day she died. Ester and Bert were one of the founding members of Five Mile Community Centre which later became North McIntyre Community Centre. For years she owned and operated Smallwood's Grocery Store on Dawson Road. Along with Kay Wakefield, Elsa Ross and Edna Skrabek, Mom kept the spirit of the infamous weight watchers, "Twiggies" going. A Memorial Service to celebrate her life will be held Friday, February 20, 2009 at St. Paul's United Church at 11:00am. At the family's request, please take a friend to lunch and toast each other to good cheer, good health and happiness. In lieu of flowers, memorials to a charity of your choice would be appreciated. We will miss her. Love the family Online condolences may be made through www.nwfainc.com"