Dear Jean, 
I am deeply saddened to learn of my cousins passing.. I have fond memories of visiting my family in Freeport. I remember when you & Jeff first got married. I lost touch with everyone shortly after my Mom passed. Condolences to you & your family & my cousin Edward. 
Love, Hallie

I am am sorry for your loss and he will be missed by many in the astronomy community. I always looked forward to seeing him each year at the Okie-Tex Star Party.

Dear Jean, I so sorry to hear about the passing of Jeff.  I knew Jeff from the Deep South Regional Star Gaze.  He was such a great fellow. I know you will miss him very much.  I will keep him and his family in my prayers. 

John Watzke 
Abita Springs, La

I met Jeff in person for the first time at the DSRSG this past year. He was a very friendly and knowledgeable soul. RIP!

Jean and family,  Jeff was a true friend to the Deep South Regional StarGaze.  I had just received an email from him on the 16th of January letting me know that he planned to attend the DSRSG later this year.  Our group is truly in shock to hear of his passing.  He was our friend.

Barry Simon, Director, Deep South Regional StarGaze

I knew Jeff via attending the DSRSG, where he would set up his ASTRO GIZMOS display and sales shop.  Jeff was always super nice and helpful, alway having great stories to pass on to fellow astronomers, and would give freely of his time, whether or not we purchased anything.

His friendliness, wit and knowledge, along with his person will be greatly missed.  Bob Sinitiere, Baton Rouge Astronomical Society

Dear Jean and family, I am so sorry to hear of Jeff's way to early passing. My thoughts and prayers are with you. 

Deepest sypathies,

Jayme Hanzak and the Staunton River Star Party

Dear Jean. I was so distressed to learn of Jeff's passing. I will send a written communication to express my sincere sorrow. With loving thoughts of condolence,
Ralph Ladmirault

Dear Ed and Carol,
We are very sorry for your loss.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family at this time.

Jean, I was so sorry to hear of Jeff's passing. He will be greatly missed by the Astronomy community, especially everyone at TSP. Prayers & thoughts to you and your family.

I am Jeff's first cousin. He was just nine months older than I am, as children one grade ahead, and as our mothers (mine's deceased) are sisters, and we lived not far from each other, when we were little there was a lot of visiting. Those years, Jeff always had dozens of comic books. The most anticipated visits were the ones when Jeff's dad was home on leave from the Air Force. I imagine those were good times for Jeff, as well. How old were we when Nip retired from the service? Eight or nine?

Jeff read a lot, and even as a boy he liked the idea of being in business. My recollection of his first venture was buying a case of some sort of salve (ointment) out of an advertisement in one of those comic books. I don't know if the venture was a success. I have a feeling most sales went to relatives; for a while we had a tin in our medicine cabinet.

The summer of 1964 the families of the three sisters, Eileen, Gladys, Annette, shared a cottage upstate, near Circleville, NY. Jeff, his brother Ed, my brother Chuck, and I shared a bedroom and spent almost every waking hour in each other's company. The plan had been for us to attend a day camp on the property, but the proprietor fell ill and just a couple weeks into the summer we were able to go native, completely unsupervised. It was, basically, paradise. We swam endless hours, and rowed boats on the small lake. We netted painted turtles (well, others did, I wasn't particularly successful.) Chuck caught many catfish. We adopted, or were adopted by, a small, friendly black cat mostly looked after by Eileen's daughter Karen. Many days we hiked—it seemed a real tramp but it was just slightly over one mile—to a wide, flat dump of old slate beside Rte. 17 that someone dubbed “the rock garden.” We didn't know what a rock garden actually was and we imagined deep caverns beneath. A tiny clearing in the woods behind the lake became a clubhouse, until we annoyed a nest of yellow jacket wasps. Ow! The fathers would arrive on Friday evenings, and my Dad brought up a simple refracting astronomical telescope one weekend, and on another one of the service rifles he had bought with the idea of using them to hunt deer. He set up some targets in a farmer's unused field across the road from the cottage, and we took turns with the Springfield. That is an impossibly heavy rifle for small boys, with a powerful recoil, and if that wasn't challenge enough, my Dad set up the small targets at an impossible distance, easily 100 yards. I don't know what he was thinking. I'm not sure any of us hit the target. Am I right that Jeff had a gun collection? I've often wondered if that afternoon of shooting, and that telescope, eventually led to that hobby and the observatory dome business.

I was upset when Tom Sawyer summer came to an end and we were packing to return home. Just last July, on a bike ride through Circleville and environs, which has changed less than I expected it would, I realized it was easily the best summer of my childhood. Jeff was right in there always. When you're small, that's the way with families.

OBITUARY

Jeffrey Paul Goldstein

September 4, 1952 – January 25, 2015

Mullins & Thompson Funeral Service

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