Jack T. Goodman
August 22, 1921 ~ April 9, 2011
Jack T. Goodman, 89, Glasgow, died Saturday, April 09, 2011, at home. A native of Barren County, he was the son of the late William H. “Will” Goodman and Lucy Taylor Goodman. He was a lifelong resident of Glasgow and a member of First Christian Church where he had served as Sunday School teacher, Deacon, Elder, Chairman of the Board, and Trustee. He was Vice President of Goodman Candy Co. until the company was sold in 1991 to H. T. Hackney Co. Mr. Goodman worked with Hackney from 1991 until 2004.
He was a veteran of World War II, a member of the U. S. Army Air Corps, serving in the China-Burma-India Theater as a pilot and was credited with 600 combat hours, flying 152 missions from India to China. A loyal and dedicated citizen, Mr. Goodman served as a member of the Glasgow City Council for 36 consecutive years.
He is survived by one son, William Taylor Goodman of Glasgow and two grandchildren, Ann Lee Weber and Michael Taylor Goodman, along with several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his wife of 67 years, Bonnie H. Goodman.
Visitation will be from 5:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. Tuesday at the Hatcher & Saddler Funeral Home. A joint Memorial Service for Jack and Bonnie Goodman will be held 11:00 A.M. Wednesday at the First Christian Church of Glasgow. Alternate expressions of sympathy may be made to the First Christian Church Building Fund.
It was a pure pleasure and honor to know Jack! I will greatly miss his sweet kind heart and his smile. But I know your with our LORD in heaven dancing with your beloved Bonnie.
During a lifetime there are few people with whom you come in contact that you can describe as a true friend, through thick and thin. Jack was that to me. From my years in law enforcement, Jack supported me through his service on the council’s public safety committee. Years later, I was honored to serve along side him in city government. Jack was a true public servant, he always served his community and his country with pride. I remember on Veterans Day he always proudly wore his pilot’s jacket. Most of all he was a true gentleman in every sense of the word. He and Bonnie were truly made for each other and always gave so much of themselves to our family and our community. Theirs was a true love story that was admired by so many. The smiles they shared with each other, and with others, let you know that their hearts were filled with love. I always went to bed knowing that Jack was a friend and was always praying for me and my family.
Remembering Jack with fond memories. At rest with dear sweet Bonnie now. He will be dearly missed. We will be praying for all of you.
I always treasured those talks at Gorin Park. I also remember your kindness. As I child, I would continually remark on your navy tie, spotted with tennis players. One day, I remember you untied it from your neck and placed it in my young hands. What a heavy metaphoric mantle to hand to such a young person? You will be missed and remembered, my friend.
Jack and Bonnie will both be missed. In the past I worked with Bonnie and have been in the company of both Bonnie & Jack many times. I’m sure Jack and Bonnie are together again smiling , dancing and sharing the special love the two of them had for each other and other people. . Two special people who will be greatly missed because of their love and passion for life. Bonnie & Jack made a mark on this community and will never be forgotten.
Remembering Jack and Bonnie will forever brings smiles and good memories to all of us who were lucky enough to cross their paths in life. Never have two people had such an impact on so many. They always made our day when they visited us when we worked at Park Mammoth. We are blessed to have known them.
I have known Jack for many years and his passing will leave a sad void in the county as well as the surrounding communities. He has called on many places I have worked through the years, including Park Mammoth, and his arrival was always a bright spot in everyone’s day. It was a pleasure to know him and Bonnie. They were two very special people.
Every person in our community who can feel the force of love, felt a quake in that force on Saturday as Jack Goodman left us to join the love of his life, Bonnie. Bonnie and Jack Goodman were married for 67 years and had a bond so strong that no one knew what might happen to our world when Bonnie left two years ago. Now that Jack has joined her, no one should be surprised at the turmoil which seems to be consuming our world. The icons of love that held us all together have passed from our present.
My personal knowledge of Bonnie and Jack goes back well over 40 years. Growing up in the First Christian Church and knowing them both as Sunday School teachers and all around examples of how folks could actually live out the teachings of the sermon on the mount, I came to think of Bonnie and Jack as the text book definition of a perfect marriage and infinite love . . . and I was right about that.
After my formal education and my return to Glasgow, I got to experience Jack as a member of the Board of Directors of the EPB and that opened the door to a whole new understanding of the Bonnie and Jack binary star system. Each and every interaction with them left me ashamed of the vast divide between my ability to win friends and influence people when compared to them. They created their own gravity and exported kindness as a perpetual motion machine.
A few years ago we planned a train trip which included a stop in Glacier National Park. While I had no intention of becoming a tour guide, Bonnie and Jack heard about the trip and made their own plans to ride along. That was fine with me. The only problems with traveling with Bonnie and Jack came from staying on schedule. You see, every cab driver, TSA worker, baggage handler, and ticket agent were simply friends that Jack had not yet met. By the time he and Bonnie met them and learned all that was possible about their lives, well, time had a way of slipping away. Only now am I learning the lesson from that — that it is this use of the time we are granted that makes life worth living. Bonnie and Jack were trying to teach us that all along.
The train trip took us through Glacier National Park and we had reservations to stay for a couple of nights at Glacier Park Lodge, a famously large and rustic old lodge built of massive Douglas Fir trunks which tower over forty feet high. The lobby is huge and bustling with travelers from all over the world who have come to see the pristine Montana wilderness and the last of North America’s glaciers. After we unloaded our bags and got comfortable in the lobby, Bonnie exclaimed, “The only way to make this better would be to add a little music,” whereupon she walked up to a massive grand piano, sat down, and commenced to play. Everyone in the lobby stopped what they were doing and tuned in to the vibe being created by Bonnie. Folks from different states, countries, and continents were suddenly entranced by the combined beauty of the mountains, the lodge, and the love pouring out of Bonnie’s fingers through the piano keys. After a few songs, Bonnie excused herself from the keyboard and started dancing with Jack to reverberations of the music she had created moments before. Strangers wept.
The next day we were touring the park in the famous old buses. The mountains, glaciers, streams, waterfalls, and the sky combine at Glacier National Park in a way that makes the spirit soar as in no other place on earth. Toward the end of the day the stars began to come out to add even more glory to the sights we were beholding. But, as the trip wound down and the guides asked the crowd for questions, a young couple in behind me simply asked the guide “How soon will we be back at the lodge?” “We want to be there when that lady from Kentucky starts playing the piano!” I looked out at the visual palette of crystal blue sky, pristine lake, and mountains cut by the world’s great flood and smiled in complete understanding of how being around Bonnie and Jack trumped seeing the last of North America’s glaciers under a billion stars so bright they hurt your eyes. After all, there are lots of mountains and stars, but only one Bonnie and Jack.
Now their story is complete. The passing of Bonnie, and now Jack, creates a void that will be felt far beyond the confines of our small community. The love they generated created a wake that trailed behind them and washed over us all. Let’s hope those waves never dissipate
William Taylor, we are not there to share this time with you because Beth and her husband Billy had a baby boy on March 29th. Please know that you are in our thoughts and prayers. Jack and Bonnie were very special people to us,and we will miss them both.
Jack and Bonnie Goodman were always very kind to everyone. William Taylor, the entire Crouch family will miss Jack. Jack always had a kind word for everyone that he met, and he brightened everyone’s day.
Jack and Bonnie Goodman were in the Supper Club with my parents for 40 years. That group always had such a good time together. They organized the Supper Club early in 1951
after I was born.
Know that you and your family are in our thoughts and prayers. May God wrap his arms tightly around you in this difficult time.
Tom and Dianne Crouch
This world is a better place for having had Jack and Bonnie Goodman live here. I don’t believe anyone who knew them was not touched by their kind and gentle persona. They were a unit , one can not think of either without remembering the other. They were a joy to be around and a pleasure to talk with. I feel blessed to have known these two wonderful people. I am so sorry that I am unable to attend the visitation and memorial, but please know the Goodman family is in my prayers.God bless each of you.
Jack will be missed tremendously by the tennis community. That is how I met him in the summer of 1999 at the W.A. Weldon Tennis Tournament. I was a young 19 year old and he was the first one to come up to me and sit down and start talking like we were tennis pals for 30 years. The entire tennis community in Glasgow is a joy and tremendous family, however Jack added a little something else to it. His knowledge, personality, and zest for making everyone feel welcomed was a amazing. I have traveled to Glasgow nearly every summer for the past 12 years and always saw him and got to talk with him. He even opened his home to me for a couple of those trips. I hope that I can pass on the knowledge and lessons that he shared with me one day. He was truly “southern hospitality” at the finest.
My family and I had the privilege of meeting Jack Goodman through my participation in the Weldon Tennis Tournament and we always looked forward to spending time with Jack and the tennis community in Glasgow each summer. Jack always went out of his way to make our trip special and remind us of the traditions of tennis and in particular the history of your very special event. I was at the Southern Tennis Hall of Fame induction for Henry Baughman a few weeks ago and Henry mentioned Jack in his speech and I thought about how appropriate it was. Jack was truly a Hall of Fame person and he will be missed greatly.
Jack was a great person. Always kind. When I first started with Jr. Foods, he was the salesman for Goodman. I am so glad that he was. God always knows who to send in our lives and I am thankful that Jack was one HE sent my way. May GOD give the family comfort and keep you in HIS care. Melinda
Thanks for Jack”s friendship to our family. Thanks for the times that Jack allowed me to ride back to Western Kentucky University with William Taylor on Sunday nights. Jack was one of the kindest persons in Glasgow. Sincerely, John
We are so sorry for your lost. Jack and Bonnie were great people. They were like Grand parents to Lisa. They will always be loved and remembered.