Cleo Mae Goodman

Cleo, the daughter of Charles and Bertha Miller, was raised on a farm near Hennessey, Oklahoma. She was the youngest of four children. Her siblings were Harold, Idella and Ruby. She attended Lacy school, 1st through 12th grade & graduated in 1941. She always shared stories about milking cows before and after school and participating in sports.

She attended Mangum Junior College for one year and then transferred to Oklahoma State where she received a BS degree in Home Economics and Master’s Degree in Elementary Education.

Her teaching career started in a one room school (grades 1st through 8th) near Hennessey, Oklahoma prior to graduating college. After that she taught at Jewell, Oregon; Orlando, Oklahoma; Spray, Oregon and ended her career in Paisley, Oregon. She taught elementary 5th and 6th grade and finally her last 5 years prior to retirement she taught Kindergarten.

In the midst of her college education she joined the Marine Corp during World War II. She was stationed at North Carolina and Washington D.C. She had many great stories about military service. She was discharged as a corporal.

In 1947 she was united in marriage to Maitland (Brownie) Goodman and were blessed with four children, George, Linda, Charles and Dale.

She retired from teaching in 1979 and they moved to Salem, Oregon. She loved sports, especially watching her husband, children and grandchildren play. She also enjoyed watching most sports on TV. She loved cooking for her children and grandchildren, especially baking cookies for the holidays.

Her joys were visiting family, playing cards & other board games. With friends and family she participated in mushroom hunting, gambling (penny slots (where she never won millions) in Reno and cooking at the groups Hunting camp in Eastern Oregon.

In her later years she had the opportunity to participate in Honor Flight and Dream Flight, both honoring military veterans.

She will always be remembered for her big heart & loving ways. Her home was always open and she was a role model for her students & community. On numerous occasions she literally helped raise several students who found themselves needing a home during the school year.

Those left to honor her memory are her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

The service will be at Virgil T Golden Funeral Home in Salem, on April 15th at 11:00AM with a graveside service following at City View. In lieu of donations or flowers, Cleo wanted you to hug everyone you love.

Click to view livestream of the service: https://view.oneroomstreaming.com/index.php?data=MTcwOTc3ODE5ODI5OTAwMSZvbmVyb29tLWFkbWluJmNvcHlfbGluaw==