Minnesota, Iowa FFA honor Goodwin's legacy
By Janet Kubat Willette
jkubat@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 04/29/2010 10:45 AM
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STILLWATER, Minn. — Norman Goodwin's legacy of bringing people together will live on in a scholarship created in his honor.
Goodwin graduated from Austin High School and was Minnesota's first recipient of the American Farmer degree. He worked for University of Minnesota Extension and Iowa State University Extension. He also served as an Iowa state senator.
Goodwin died April 2. He was 97. The Norman J. Goodwin Memorial Scholarship has been created to award a scholarship each year to a FFA member who exhibits leadership qualities and who plans to pursue an agricultural education degree and a life of service, said Patricia Keller, Goodwin's stepdaughter. The scholarship will go to Minnesota and Iowa FFA members.
Her stepfather spent his life building partnerships, be it forging a coalition to pass legislation in the Iowa Senate or to get things done when serving on the First Lutheran Church council, Keller said. It seems fitting that he bring the Minnesota FFA Foundation and the Iowa FFA Foundation together with a scholarship named in his honor.
Goodwin grew up on a farm in Udolpho Township, Mower County. His family farm was diversified with cattle, hogs, poultry and crops, said his stepson, Jim Johnson.
An article in the November 1931 issue of "The Visitor" details Goodwin's work. He placed first in the state high school dairy cattle judging contest in 1929 and he organized a 4-H club in Udolpho Township.
Goodwin worked with his father to increase the dairy herd's butterfat production. He tested the soil for acidity and tried new varieties of seed grain. He fed the hogs a balanced ration.
"He brings to farming a mind alert to progressive methods and trained to handle farming problems just as men in professions are trained in their particular fields," the article says.
Goodwin continued to experiment in agriculture throughout his life. He was a Master Gardener and once grafted 10 varieties of apples to his crabapple tree and all of them bore fruit.
Goodwin will be inducted into the Minnesota FFA Hall of Fame on April 26 and Keller said that he was looking forward to attending the ceremony. When the letter announcing his induction was read to him he asked who the letter was from. The Minnesota FFA, he was told. Goodwin nodded his head and said "yep, that's a credible source."
This is the third Hall of Fame Goodwin will be inducted into, Keller said. He is a member of the Older Americans Hall of Fame and the Clinton County Fair Hall of Fame.
Keller said Goodwin didn't talk about his honors.
"He was a very humble man," she said. His life was guided by faith and his agricultural roots. One of his favorite Bible verses is Psalm 15, "Those … who do what is righteous, who speak the truth from their hearts … Whoever does these things will never be shaken."
Goodwin lived a righteous life, Keller said. He was a public man who served a life of leadership in public service. He was president of the National Association of County Agents, the Iowa County Extension Directors and the Noon Lions Club in DeWitt, Iowa. He was president of the Farm House Fraternity at the University of Minnesota and the Austin FFA. He served in the Iowa General Assembly from 1979 to 1990.
He helped make the community better wherever he was at, Keller said.
Goodwin started his career as an assistant county agent in Wilkin County,, where he coached 4-H teams to wins at the Minnesota State Fair. In 1937, he moved to Alexandria, where he worked as an emergency county agent. He then spent six years working as a state 4-H club agent at the St. Paul campus. Then, he moved to St. Peter and worked as a field man for Nicollet Hybrid Seed Corn and later Cargill Hybrid Seed. In 1951, he moved to DeWitt, where he was the Clinton County Extension director until 1978, when he was elected an Iowa state senator.
His first wife, Marion Blomgren, died while in was in the Senate. In 1989, he married Mina Johnson. He left the assembly and moved to her family farm near Kensington. Goodwin was elected to the Solem Town Board, became president of AAL Branch 10197 and joined the Kensington Lions Club.
"He never stopped," Keller said.
When he was 94, Goodwin moved into an assisted living apartment in Bayport with his wife. Keller and her husband, Jim, would take them for Sunday afternoon drives to look at the crops.
"He was a wonderful husband," Mina Goodwin said.
Mina Goodwin and her children, David Goodwin and Julie Hoffman, plan to attend the Hall of Fame induction ceremony.