Janette Goddard-Finegold

1948 - 2019

March 16, 1948
October 13, 2019
"Jan" Goddard-Finegold, M.D., beloved and generous wife, daughter, stepmother, sister, and aunt, died Sunday, October 13, 2019, at Kindred Hospital in Houston, TX. She was 71 years old and had lived with a chronic illness for several decades and had faced and overcome many health crises with courage and spirit. Jan was the eldest daughter of Ned and Jean Moore Goddard, born March 16, 1948 in West Palm Beach, FL. She attended public schools in West Palm Beach and graduated from Forest Hill High School in 1966, where she was involved in many activities and excelled in her academic studies. An Honors graduate of the University of Pennsylvania College of Arts and Science in 1970 and its School of Medicine in 1974, Jan went to Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital for pediatric internship and residency, followed by a fellowship in pediatric neurology and research in neonatal brain injury. She also spent a number of years training in neuropathology.
Jan obtained research grants, served on national research committees, published many research papers, and taught a large number of residents and medical students. Her work in the laboratory in the 1980s contributed to major changes in the care of very premature infants, including the "minimal stimulation protocol" now used in nurseries world-wide that has greatly reduced cerebral hemorrhages and brain damage in that population. Later she devoted her skills to clinical Developmental Pediatrics and cared for many children with neurodevelopmental problems at the Meyer Center for Developmental Pediatrics until complex illness forced her to retire as an Associate Professor in 2005. Jan's high degree of integrity, supportive intelligence, and empathy made her a unique exemplar of medical professionalism to many students and fellow physicians.
In retirement, Jan developed several creative hobbies and occupations, including black and white photography and a unique style of greeting cards and jewelry, under the aegis of "Beautsies and Cutesies," cherished by her "Tuesday Tootsie" buddies for many years. She was inspired to write poetry by the work of her cousin, Randall Jarrell (1914-1965), and published "The Bee in the Bottle and Other Poems" in 2013. Jan has also published four papers about her life with chronic disease, living with a tracheostomy, loss, and depression, with accompanying therapy and adaptation that have proven valuable in the education of trainees in psychiatry.
Jan was predeceased by her parents, Ned and Jean Goddard, and her cousin and beloved friend, Felicia Lewis Manly. She is survived by her husband of 37 years Milton J. Finegold, M.D.; stepchildren David L. Finegold and wife Susan M. Finegold, Pittsburgh, PA, and Emily F. Bouchard, San Diego, CA; adopted son Andrew Z. Finegold and his wife Claudia Weber, Chicago, IL; her grandchildren Samuel Finegold, San Francisco, CA and Charlotte Finegold, Oxford, UK; her sisters Carol G. MacMillan and her husband Hugh MacMillan, Shell Point, FL, Elizabeth Goddard and her husband Gregory W. Hornig, M.D., West Palm Beach, FL, and Linda Murphy and her husband Harry S. Murphy, Delray Beach, FL; her nieces and nephews Robert C. Erickson, III and wife Stephanie Mankins, Kristin G. Erickson and her husband Matthew Galvin, Christopher Hornig and his wife Veronica Aguilar Hornig, Eliza G. Hornig and husband Kyle Hausmann, Ian Murphy and his wife Honor Friberg, and Morgan Murphy Mejia and her husband Brian Mejia; beloved friend and caretaker, Julia Moreno; and cherished dachshund, Trixie.
A Memorial Service to be conducted by Rabbi Roy Walter of Congregation Emanu El, Houston, TX, will be held on Sunday afternoon, December 15, 2019 at a location to be determined in Houston.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to some of Jan's favorite charities, among which are the Dachshund Rescue of Houston, (https://www.droh.org/info/donate), Opera in the Heights, (https://www.operaintheheights.org/donate) or to the ASPCA, (https://www.aspca.org/ways-to-give).