| Graduation Year | Class of 1957 |
| Date of Passing | Oct 02, 2007 |
| About | Michael Wolford Goode, loving son, brother, companion, and father - and infuriatingly unerring paragon of generosity and decency - died Tuesday morning, October 2nd, 2007. Mike was born in Indianapolis in 1940 to Frances Gruenwald and Arthur Goode. He grew up there and in and around Toledo, where he graduated from Genoa High School in 1957. His boyhood was spent reading, fishing, bow fishing, swimming, playing cards and chess, chasing girls, embarrassing his sisters, and scampering through field and stream. After high school, he majored in chemistry at the University of Toledo until getting a job at The Blade in 1961. During forty-six years there, he worked as a reporter and copy editor for the sports department. His colleagues remember him fondly for his broad and ribald sense of humor, work ethic, smelly food, colorful clothing, and unsurpassed kindness, as evidenced by his tribute in yesterday's newspaper. After a spell of eligible and enjoyable bachelorhood, he married Sandra Thacker in 1973. During twenty-five years together in Toledo and Ottawa Hills, they raised three children, and maintained a lasting friendship and partnership in parenthood despite divorce in 1995. Upon divorce, Mike lived in Toledo and Holland, Ohio with his long-term companion Linda Jackson. He traveled, dined, and competed in bridge tournaments throughout the region, while spending his time and resources on his family, friends, and all in need. Mike had a lifelong love for family, reading, music, food, bridge, conversation, learning, the outdoors, tennis, new experiences, taking his time, travel, humor, people, and doing the right thing. His memory will be cherished by all and resented by none, which is a tribute to his unsurpassably stubborn patience and desire to leave the world a better place than he found it. Like his mother, he willed himself to smile and help others smile through any situation. He would always give whatever he could to those in need, and would rather be unfair to himself than entertain the slightest possibility of being unfair to another. He is survived, missed, loved, and admired by his sisters, Robin Hughes, Kathy Rearick, Patricia Young, and Lisa Merrick; ex-wife Sandra Snider; children, Kyle Sean, Shannon Courtney, and Michael Brendan Goode; longtime companion Linda Jackson, and numerous nieces and nephews. Visitation will be Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the H.H. Birkenkamp Funeral Home, 3219 Tremainesville Rd. Immediately following will be a memorial at 4567 Torquay Ave., Cory Woods, Toledo. He will not be forgotten. .Published in Toledo Blade on October 4, 2007 |
