EUGENE E. GOODWIN

Eugene E. Goodwin, 85 of Lynn Haven, Florida, passed away December 1, 2019 at Seagrass Villages of Panama City Beach. Eugene was born September 22, 1934 in Grand Forks, N. Dakota to Lloyd and Marian (Will) Goodwin and moved to Panama City in 2015.

He is preceded in death by his wife, June; his brothers, Donald and Daniel Goodwin and a sister, Ellen Tracy. Eugene is survived by his sons, Michael Goodwin of Kent, WA, Gregory Goodwin of Carmen Idaho and James (Pam) Goodwin of Lynn Haven, FL; his daughter, Tracey (Terry) Benson of Port Ludlow, WA; his brother, Walt Goodwin of Minneapolis, MN; his sister, Marilyn Koch of Lake Stevens, WA; his grandchildren, Tasha Benson, Thomas Benson, Grayson Goodwin, Makaila Goodwin and Caleb Goodwin and his great-grandson, Ezra Morgan.

As a young man, Gene enjoyed working on his Uncles farm, playing hockey, and spending time with friends and family. Gene attended Grand Forks Central High School and graduated in June 1953. After high school Gene followed in his brother’s footsteps and joined the Navy in September 1953. He served on the USS Columbus and the USS Toledo and attained the rank of SK3 (Petty Officer Third Class). Gene’s total sea service time totaled 3 years, 3 months and 24 days. His personal awards included the National Defense Medal and Good Conduct Medal. Once his service was up, Gene received an Honorable Discharge and returned to Grand Forks, ND in September 1957.

Once back home, Gene continued to work on the farm and held positions at the local gas station, where he broke his knuckles on cars, and worked at the local liquor store. He met June Lagergren that same year and shortly there after, they were married in March 1958. Gene quickly got busy and landed a job with the government and in 1961 he took a position in Minot, ND. In typical fashion, Gene went where the job took him and he moved his family to Rapid City, SD in 1971, but that only lasted long enough for the family to experience the Rapid City Flood of 72 and their kids nearly burning down the mobile home. After that year, Gene moved the family to Kent, WA, in 1973, where he received a position with Boing as an Industrial Property Management Specialist. Staying in one place was not easy for Gene, so when an overseas billet supporting the United States Air Force was available, Gene took a position in Saudi Arabia in 1982. Another overseas position opened up in Ankara, Turkey in 1986 and Gene and June were ready to take it. He continued supporting the US Government, Air Force and Operation Desert Shield until his retirement in December 1991. However, Gene was not ready to settle down and he took a position with Boise Cascade/Office Max in March 1993 and supported their organization delivering office supplies throughout the Seattle area until his second retirement in May of 2002.

Gene instilled a hard work ethic, to grow where you are planted, complaining never solved anything and to always care for others; we are certain that is why he was always busy doing something. He was a devoted husband and father that selflessly took care of everything, but never asked for anything. This made Christmas gift buying difficult for us, so he always received socks, T-shirts and underwear each year. We will miss him tremendously and he will be in our hearts and minds as we continue living without him.

Funeral services will be held at the Fort Snelling Chapel on 19 December 2019 at 1130 (1 Tower Ave, Mpls. MN 55450), followed by an interment at Ft. Snelling National Cemetery at 1315. A celebration of life will commence at 1400 at the Mendota VFW Post 6690 (1323 Sibley Memorial Hwy. Mendota, MN 55150)