Elizabeth Christina Goodman

The family settled in Hertfordshire where her father, a WWI veteran, had a grain business selling to racetracks. During WWII her father re-enlisted and was a Capt in The Royal Artillery BAOR. Betty had many stories about the blackouts, bombings, rationing and uncertainty of those years. At 18 she joined the British Army’s Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service and was stationed in the War Office in London.

While enrolled in an army evening continuing education class, Betty met Ernest, a German Jew who had been rescued by the British government in the Kindertransport. He was in the Coldstream Guards and had been injured in active duty on the continent. Betty and Ernest were married in November of 1946.

In 1953 Betty and Ernest immigrated to the US with their young son Paul, living first in Chicago where Ernest’s surviving family members had settled. There she worked at the University of Chicago, doing nuclear research under contract from the US navy. Their daughter Ann was born in Chicago.

From Chicago they moved to Nebraska for the next 6 years while Ernest got his undergraduate and graduate degrees. In Lincoln Betty worked in the billing office of Gold’s Department Store, and as an Administrative Assistant in the Physics Department, University of Nebraska Graduate School. While in Nebraska Betty became a naturalized United States citizen and converted to Judaism.

The Goodmans moved to Oneonta in 1963 for Ernest’s first teaching position at SUCO. Betty worked for many years for Surveyor Leon Kalmus as a mapping draftsman. She also worked for a time at the Oneonta Savings and Loan, and as Administrative Assistant for the Upper Catskill Community Council for the Arts.

Betty was on Oneonta’s Common Council serving on the Airport, Parks and Recreation, Governmental Affairs, Finance, and Budget committees, as well as the Community Development/Urban Renewal Agency. She spearheaded the Neighborhood Watch Program, which started in the 6th Ward. In 1984 she was appointed 2nd Ward Alderman for one year after the death of Alderman Joseph Molinari in a plane crash. She lost the seat in a special election later that year. She was appointed Oneonta City Clerk in 1985 by former Mayor David Brenner and retired in 1993. Betty and Ernest became members of Temple Beth El upon their arrival in Oneonta and were active in the community for many years. Betty loved life in Oneonta and the surrounding beauty.

Betty had an enormous love of animals. She was an avid horseback rider, a talented artist, loved old crafts, travel, gardening, opera, theater, and music. She had a wonderful sense of humor and was a resilient and elegant woman who could do and make almost anything she put her mind to.

After suffering a stroke in 2013 Betty spent the next 4 years at Cooperstown Center, eventually joined there by her husband in 2017. After Ernest’s death in 2021 Betty moved to Westchester County, NY to be close to her daughter. She spent the rest of her days at The Paramount Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Somers, NY. Her family is grateful to the many exceptional caregivers in both Cooperstown and Somers.

Betty is survived by her daughter, Ann Goodman, son-in-law Joel Weinstein, and grandsons Michael and Benjamin Weinstein. She is also survived by her youngest sister Mary, along with Mary’s children and grandchildren in Australia, and a niece and cousins in the UK.

There will be a graveside service at the Temple Beth El cemetery at 2pm on Tuesday, May 2.