Du Wayne L. "Benny" Goodwin

1919 - 2010

Du Wayne L. ""Benny"" Goodwin died peacefully on Dec. 22, 2010, at age 91, at the Mountain Valley Assisted Living Center, Ammon - east of Idaho Falls, Idaho.
Benny was born May 19, 1919, near Blackfoot, Idaho, first child of Alvin L. and Hazel H. Goodwin. Benny worked in a planing mill and graduated from high school in Idaho Falls. He learned carpentry from his father and on the job, becoming a member of the Carpenters Union in California where the family moved looking for work.
Benny graduated from the University of Idaho in 1942 before joining the U.S. Army in World War II. Benny became a captain in the 15th U.S. Army Air Force piloting B-17 bomber missions from southern Italy over Central and Eastern Europe. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
In 1944 Benny married Naida Larsen and they raised five children, Dayne (b. 1946), Susan (b. l947), Russell (b. l952), Jay (b. l960) and Rick (b. l962). With the GI Bill, Benny was able to get a master's degree in botany from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in range management from Washington State University.
In 1955, Benny became part of the faculty in the School of Forestry at Utah State University. Benny and his father did much of the labor to build a family home in North Logan. He was elected to the town council and did pioneering work in town planning and zoning. He was active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout his life.
In 1964 Benny became a project leader with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization headquartered in Rome. He worked for nearly twenty years in Pakistan, Iran and Yemen, with brief stints in Kenya, Tanzania and Panama, before retiring in the early 1980s. He enjoyed more than 25 years of pleasant retirement in Grants Pass, Ore., before moving into the Assisted Living Center in Ammon, near his youngest son, Rick, in fall 2009.
Benny was preceded in death by his parents, Alvin and Hazel Goodwin (Ogden), and brother Clarence ""Chuck"" (""Bunny"" Prestgard), of Riverside, Calif.; and is survived by his brother Dale (Jean Wadsworth), of Ogden; sister Bema Telford (Dale), of St. George; Naida, of North Logan, Dayne, of Salt Lake City, Susan of Cody, Wyo., Russell of North Logan, Jay (Erin McConnell), of Baker City, Ore., Rick (Becky Salisbury), of Idaho Falls; and five grandchildren.
The funeral service was held in Idaho Falls on Dec. 27.