Edward F. Goodwin

Goodwin, Edward F. “Atticus”

May 21, 1939 – December 28, 2022

Edward Goodwin died on 28 December on his own terms, a lifetime resident of Kittery, Maine. He was born to Annie L. and Raymond F. Goodwin. He and his cousins spent a good part of their childhood during the war years with his maternal grandparents, Eleanor and J. Sherman Waldron.

He graduated from Traip Academy in 1958 and began a lifelong habit of real estate before enrolling in Burdett College, where he earned an associates degree in accounting. After working from desk clerk at the Charter House in Kittery to auditor of the Hotel Corporation of Maine, he left to head the accounts payable department of Wentworth Institute in Boston. There he met Anne Mulkerin, the bursar of the institute and the only girl he asked out again after two refusals. As he would later proudly announce, ‘Some guys marry the boss’s daughter, but I married the boss.’ They were married for fifty years before Anne’s death in February 2020. They worked together to help found Wentworth College of Technology in 1970, of which he was the first registrar.

During the 1970s he was instrumental in implementing federal funding to senior services from the North Shore of Massachusetts to midcoast Maine, serving as financial consultant to organisations such as Greater Lynn Social Services and the New England Gerontology Centre. In 1980 he joined the circulation department of the Portsmouth Herald and worked his way to comptroller of the paper. He returned to the tourism sector in the 1990s until his ‘retirement,’ including working for the York Harbor Inn, the Sise Inn in Portsmouth and a return to the old Charter House, then under a new name.

Ed was a man of quick wit. He spoke his mind, and had the greatest respect (if also a bit of grumbling) for those who spoke theirs as well. He loved architecture and anything to do with constructing and maintaining buildings. His last project was reconstructing a gate from his childhood in Kittery Point.

He also loved to travel and see new things. He particularly loved to haunt the buffets of Atlantic City while the rest of his party was gambling, boasting he was the only one who gained anything from the trip. Later in life he found a love of Ireland and Britain. He would peruse the real estate pages of the weekly Galway, Ireland newspaper seeking his next renovation project (preferably close to a pub). That way, he could visit his ancestral home of Dartington, England with more frequency.

Ed was a longstanding member of Naval Lodge No. 184, A.F & A.M., Maine Royal Arch Chapter No. 73, both in Kittery, and Kora Shrine. He was also a member of Trinity Chapter No. 22 in Hampton, New Hampshire. He enjoyed the friendships he found in the Masonic community, especially with his late son-in-law Anthony, and always recalled with fondness the socials and travelling that went along with involvement.

He will be sorely missed by his daughter Mary “Ellie” Pereira, grandchildren Jessie and Anthony “Teddy”, cousins, nieces, nephews and many friends. An interment ceremony and a celebration of Ed’s life is planned for May.

We’ll meet again.

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