Gary Goodwin

Gary W. Goodwin, 80, Woodsville, NH, in his own words.
I passed away at my home in Woodsville at the age of 80 yrs old on Dec.21st 2024.I was born on 9/13/44 in Barre, VT and raised in South Ryegate. I entered the army in June of 1963 until December 1965. Served in Vietnam in a Helicopter Battalion Strike Unite for one year. I suffered the effects of Agent Orange which contributed to illness and my passing in later years. I was predeceased by my parents Warren and Pearle Goodwin and my first wife Laurel Murray. I leave behind my brother Stuart Warden Goodwin and his Children, Katrina and her husband Frank Whalen, and Benjamin and his wife Erin Goodwin and their Children. My daughter Valerie Jeanette Joda and her husband Stephen Joda living in Texas. My Grandson Noah J Bogie and his wife Brittany Fulton Bogie and My Great Grandsons Jacob and Caleb Bogie. My second wife Claire Elaine Goodwin and my stepdaughter Karen and husband Peter Saladino and family. After Grade School I went to Woodsville High School in Groton, VT. Joining the US Army and attaining the rank of the Staff Sergeant. I was trained in combat infantry and attended quartermaster school at Fort Lee, VA. Then assigned to serve one year 5 days in the 145th aviation battalion in Vietnam. After coming home in December 1965, I went to work in the A&P food stores cutting meat for a short time. Then I entered the memorial industry trained in Granite cutting, polishing, sawing, and sandblast. While doing this I started my own little meat shop cutting meat for farmers, dressing deer for hunters during the winter. Snow blowing around town and working as a helper on a dairy farm. If you are still with me on this journey, great. I hope to make your reading worthwhile. During the summer in those years working on that dairy farm haying, milking, and everyday chores, mowing cemetery lots, cutting granite and digging graves. As the 60's rolled on I decided it would be a good idea to build a log home and cut firewood which I burned and sold, also raising many rabbits for meat, chickens, ducks, geese and beef. I don't think I left anything out. At that time my daughter was about 10 years old, and we would sit on the bank of the pasture and hand feed crack corn to the geese and ducks. In those years along with raising animals and raised lots of vegetables and dug a root cellar and it was very much needed during those bitter cold winters of the 70's. During those years I was working at Granite Memorial plants in both South Ryegate and Barre, VT and traveling daily. I rarely gave it a thought in those days. Still with me? OK, on we go. Coming back to South Ryegate I worked in another granite plant and became foreman and at the same time I started investing in flipping rental properties and moved to Woodsville, NH. In the early 90's I decided to start my own stone gift and granite studio in Woodsville and then moved it to Littleton, NH. Fast growth and providing stone gifts and garden sculptures to gift shops all over New England. Helped in the development of the Granite Museum in Barre and consulted in this trade in PA., Ohio, Maine, somewhere in the middle of that I went to Caracas, Venezuela helping do the repair granite work on the American Embassy which had just been built. The economy was changing. So, I came back and started working with the mentally challenged in Art Therapy at my home studio. Then going to work at Grafton Nursing Home in Haverhill, starting out working in dietary, going to activities and working in administration and then deciding to retire. I went back to Grafton Nursing Home and worked as a volunteer for the next 10 years. During that time my daughter and I went to a body building competition and the bug bit me. I found a trainer and started training for competitive bodybuilding and competed in several shows for a few years. I was in my early 70's at this time. After that I started training others for competition and fitness and then set up my own fitness studio and as years went by, I worked more with the seniors and others that were under care for hip and knee replacements and other modalities. During those years I had the desire to set up an aquatic center and I started a nonprofit which is extremely hard to accomplish. After 14 years of demanding work, it did not work out, but I enjoyed doing it. So, there you have it. I loved it all and would love to have added new things to it. Maybe next time. I've always been a firm believer in the pebble and water analogy. Which goes like this: "Throw a pebble into placid water and see where the ripples go". All our pebbles touch so many lives and hopefully my pebble reaches many lives in positive ways, I believe this is what we're here for and I trust that I have completed this task. Please send any donations to: www.uso.org/donate/donate-in-honor
Thank you for letting me share my adventures with you. I have no regrets. On to new adventures, Gary.