After months of declining health, Eileen Frances Taylor Goodnow passed away peacefully on September 5, 2021. She was born on March 13, 1922 in Durban, South Africa, to Dr. Alan Taylor and Mary Byers Taylor.
As a teenager, she traveled by ship with her mom and her older sister, Doris, for both the girls to finish high school in Massachusetts and to start nursing school in Lansing, Michigan. She volunteered to be an Army Nurse in World War II and was deployed to India and served as a 1st Lieutenant on the Ledo Road.
After WW II ended, she returned to the United States and was a nurse in several cities before moving to El Paso to be close to her sister's family. There, she met her future husband, Robert Goodnow, at the Tip-Top Club. They married in 1952.
They moved to Austin in 1954, where they raised their daughters Maureen and Alison. Eileen was very active in her church family, joining St. John’s Methodist Church in 1965. She served in United Methodist Women for decades, as well as on many church committees, and sang in the choir. She loved organizing the church’s kitchen, enjoyed volunteering with the West Austin Caregivers, and loved her TOPS friends. She retired from nursing after thirty years but remained active with her house cleaning business and volunteering in the community. She was close with their neighbors on Mountainwood Circle, which included daily coffee with Barbara Powers and Friday night dinners with “the gang”.
She adored her grandkids, Christopher and Elizabeth Sharp, enjoyed being with them during her visits for family celebrations.
Before the pandemic, she enjoyed her 12 years at The Renaissance Retirement Center tremendously. Due to the pandemic, she lived her last year with Alison and Cheryl, at their home in Corpus Christi. She was able to visit with family, enjoyed her 99th birthday celebration and always enjoyed a trip to the beach to see the waves, which she said reminded her of growing up in Durban.
She is preceded in death by her parents, brothers Richard Boardman Taylor and Alan Chandler Taylor and sister Doris Elliott, and former husband, Bob Goodnow. Survivors are daughter Maureen Sharp (Jarrell Sharp); daughter Alison Goodnow (Cheryl Standifer); grandson Christopher Sharp (Alyssa Sharp); granddaughter Elizabeth Karnowski (Kurt Karnowski) and numerous nieces and nephews.
Services will be held at St. John’s United Methodist Church on October 23, 2021 at 2 pm. We respectfully request only those who are vaccinated for Covid-19 attend. Masks are mandatory during the service.
For more pictures and information, please see www.memorygardensfuneralhome.com.
There will be a live stream of the memorial service on the Facebook page of St. John’s Methodist Church. The website is: https://www.facebook.com/saintjohnsaustin/
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