Nancy Goodman died at her home in Beaumont, CA, on Sept. 19, 2019. Nancy was born in Baldwinsville on April 29, 1932, to Beatrice and James H. Furbush, Sr. She married William Goodman, also from Baldwinsville, in 1954. Shortly after they married, Nancy and Bill moved to California, starting out in an apartment in Hollywood. After a couple of years, they started their family of four children, Bob, Susie, Jim and Sally. In keeping with her no-nonsense approach to life, Nancy had four children over four and a half years, all in an era when husbands did not equally share child care duties. How she did it remains a constant source of amazement to her kids. The family lived in La Puente, where Bill was a schoolteacher, until 1974, when the family moved to Beaumont. After moving to Beaumont, Nancy worked as an aide at Boy’s Town in Beaumont and Beaumont High School, at San Gorgonio Pass Memorial Hospital and then for Dr. Robert Abatecola. After retiring in 1997, Nancy was her husband Bill’s primary caregiver until he died in 1999.
Nancy was active in Saint Kateri Tekawitha Catholic Church in Beaumont, where she was a eucharistic minister, and as a volunteer at Carol’s Kitchen. She travelled frequently to her hometown of Baldwinsville, where she visited her brother, Jim, and his wife, Charlene, and her in-laws, Don and Norma Goodman, as well as many close friends from her childhood, some of whom she first met in kindergarten. Nancy was incredibly outgoing and personable, and continued making new friends through her entire life, while keeping the ones she already had.
Nancy was preceded in death by her husband, Bill, her parents, Beatrice and James Furbush, her brothers Jim and Bill, and her companion Gordon Rode. She is survived by her children, Bob (John Bankston) of San Francisco, Susie Goldenberg (Rick) of Laguna Niguel, Jim (Lita) of San Diego, and Sally June (Dennis) of Beaumont, nine grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and five nieces and nephews.
