Don Goodrich

November 10, 1928 - March 2, 2021

Don Goodrich Jefferson, Iowa Date of Death: March 2, 2021 Longtime Jefferson resident Donald Cole Goodrich died on March 2, 2021, at the Greene County Medical Center. He was 92. A memorial service will be held at 1:00pm on May 7 at Slininger-Schroeder Funeral Home. Interment will be in the Jefferson Cemetery. Family and friends may view live-streaming of the Memorial Service at 1:00pm on Friday, May 7th by clicking on this link. Live-streaming will begin just 2 minutes prior to 1:00pm. You do not need a password. https://www.facebook.com/SliningerSchroederFuneralHome/?view_public_for=105863521139107 In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Jefferson Public Library, a place that Don loved and used throughout his life. Don was born in Jefferson on November 10, 1928, the youngest of three sons of Orin and Mary Goodrich. His father owned the Square Deal Grocery on the north side of the Courthouse Square. During World War II, Don was his father’s delivery boy, driving orders to local households even though he wasn’t old enough to have a driver’s license. Permission to help out his dad had been given by Jefferson’s legendary police chief Mick Parr. In 1946, Don graduated from Jefferson High School where he was a member of the football team, and made many lifelong friends. After high school, Don joined his father in the grocery business. In 1950, Don and Betty Williams, a 1947 JHS graduate, were married at the Jefferson Methodist Church, where they became longtime active members. Don and Betty were the parents of five children, three daughters and two sons. In 1959, the Goodriches bought a grocery in Harlan. Don and his family returned to Jefferson in 1966 and he later became a painting contractor, painting “half the houses and businesses in Jefferson, inside and out,” said an old friend. An energetic man, Don loved to swim laps at Jefferson’s municipal pool. His father, as mayor of Jefferson, oversaw the construction by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) of the pool in 1937, and, once again, Chief Mick Parr overlooked unlicensed activity— after-hours dips on hot summer nights, when Don was a young man. Don was a committed …and swift…walker at the Greene County Recreation Center, doing laps on the track until shortly before his death. He never shied from making long road trips, and drove to visit his daughters and their families in Colorado well into his 80s. Don Goodrich was preceded in death by his parents and his brothers Ellis and Orin Jr., known as “Goodie. Both were decorated members of air crews in World War II, Ellis as a navigator, and Goodie as a pilot, and were greatly admired by their youngest brother. Don’s wife Betty died in 2014. They were a devoted couple, married for 64 years, who loved to travel, and made many trips to overseas destinations, including the British Isles, Mexico and Tahiti. They also travelled extensively in the USA. Survivors include his children, Rod Goodrich and his wife Cathy of Jefferson; Mary Jo Cole of Aurora, Col.; Beth Ann Goodrich of Nashville, Tenn.; Sarah Bradley and her husband Michael of Aurora, Col.; and Bruce Goodrich of Houston, Tex.; three grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Slininger-Schroeder Funeral Home 515-386-2171