Goodwin, Robert B.

Passed: 1955-02-17

Age: 45

Source: Jackson Herald

Death Notice:

Obituary Date: 1955-02-25

Information: HEART ATTACK ON THURSDAY EVENING PROVES FATAL TO A RIPLEY LAWYER-Suddenly Taken At His Home On Bridge Street On Thursday Night   Robert Booth Goodwin, 45 year old attorney and former mayor of Ripley and at one time a member of the state legislature, died suddenly of a heart attack at his home here on Thursday night. Death came to him within less that two minutes after he had put his three sons to bed for the night and had come downstairs and sat down in a chair in the living room.  He never uttered a word and slumped in his chair and was dead when a physician rushed to the home. A prominent lawyer, banker, educator, high school and Sunday School teacher, Mr. Goodwin at the time of his death was associated with his brother, Elbert, in the operation of the Goodwin and Goodwin law firm here. He began practicing law in 1954 after serving as mayor of this town for 10 years.  Prior to that he served as a Democratic member of the State Legislature in 1932 for one term. During World War II he served as a lieutenant in the Navy.  He spent most of the time in the Pacific theater. He taught at Ripley High School for three years and served as basketball coach here until he entered law school.  He was graduated from West Virginia University and West Virginia Wesleyan College. He was born May 31, 1909, in Nantasket Mass., son of the late C. E. and Martha Marie Vail Goodwin and came to West Virginia to live when not a year old. He received his early education in schools of this Jackson County town. Mr. Goodwin was a Mason, member of the Rotary Club, American Legion, Chamber of Commerce and the American Bar Assn. and also a director of the Bank of Ripley. He was a member of the Methodist church and taught one of its Sunday School classes.  He also was a member of Kappa Alpha Social Fraternity, Phi Alpha Delta and Order of Coif, and a member of the Committee of ""53"" of West Virginia University. Mr. Goodwin was also a member of the Jackson County Boy Scout committee. Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Lessie Goodwin; three sons, Joseph Robert, age 12, Thomas 10, and Stephen 7; four other brothers, George of California, Claude of Elizabeth, David of Jackson, Ohio and Dr. Olin Goodwin of Fairmont; a sister, Mrs. Nancy Duvall of Washington, D.C.; and his grandmother, Mrs. Anna B. Vail of Ripley. The funeral service was held from the Ripley E.U.B. church Sunday afternoon with Rev. Robert Fuqua and Rev. W. W. Harvey officiating and the burial with the the Vail undertakers in charge, was in the Pine Hill Cemetery. When the Methodist church was seriously damaged by fire more than a week ago, the use of the E.U.B. church was offered to them for any occasion when they might need it and leaders of the church said Sunday afternoon that this was the first occasion they had for accepting the offer which they had deeply appreciated.