Attended: 1912-1915

Birth: 16 Jul 1895, Iredell County, North Carolina
Death: 3 Jan 1974, Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina

Parents:
Joseph Alexander Boynton Goodman (1857-1945)
Margaret O. Lipe Goodman (1862-1943)

Siblings:
Reuben Alonzo Goodman (1885-1958)
William Badger Goodman (1885 – 1958)

Burial: Willow Valley Cemetery, Mooresville, Iredell County, North Carolina
Source: www.findagrave.com, #22326244.

Vernie, the younger sister of Mont Amoena President Reuben Alonzo Goodman, attended the school from 1912-1915. She left to help care for her sick mother in the spring of 1915 and she was then hospitalized for appendicitis that summer. Although it was reported she intended to graduate in 1916, she did not return as a student.

After Vernie’s death in 1974, her nieces and the staff of the Methodist Home where she worked and lived, published a book of poetry written by Vernie titled The Steep Path and Other Poems (you may view it in its entirety at the title link). An original copy is in the Mont Amoena Collection at the Eastern Cabarrus Historical Society. The cover is inscribed with the name of Wilhelmina A. Kalogrides. Wilhelmina Allen Kalogrides was a 1920 Mont Amoena graduate. A dedication at the front of the book provides the following biography:

Born July 16, 1895, to Margaret Lipe and Joseph A. B. Goodman in the Amity neighborhood of Iredell County, North Carolina, she spent (in a true sense of the word) her life in the Carolinas. Following formal education at Mooresville, North Carolina, and Mount [sic] Amoena Seminary at Mount Pleasant; “Miss Vernie” served as Secretary for the Superintendent of The Jackson Training School for ten years. From there her quest to serve others led her to The Lowman Home for Aged and Infirm at White Rock, South Carolina, where she stayed seven years.

Turning her interest from the aged.back to the young, Miss Goodman accepted responsibility at The Thompson Orphanage in Charlotte. From there in 19538 she became a part of The Methodist Home. It was here at “The Home” that she worked and lived the remainder of her life. We must put “work” and “live” together because for Miss Goodman to live meant to work for others, and so she did for those last twenty years.

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The Concord Daily Tribune (Concord, NC), 20 Feb 1915, p. 3.

From the Mooresville Enterprise
Miss Vernie Goodman is at home from Mount Amoena Seminary at Mt. Pleasant, being called on account of the illness of her mother, Mrs. J. A. B. Goodman, who is suffering with an attack of the grip. Mrs. Goodman is somewhat better today.

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The Concord Daily Tribune (Concord, NC), 06 Aug 1915, p. 1.

Miss Vernie Goodman, daughter of Mr. J. A. B. Goodman of Mooresville, N. C., has just returned from Dr. Long’s sanitorium at Statesville, where she underwent a serious operation for appendicitis. She is a sister of Rev. R. A. Goodman, President of Mont Amoenas Seminary, at Mount Pleasant, where she is a student and expects to graduate next year.

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The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, NC), 4 Jan 1974, p.5.

MISS VERNIE A. GOODMAN

Miss Vernie A. Goodman, age 78, of 3420 Shamrock Dr. passed away Thursday, Jan. 3, 1974 in a local hospital. Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Friday, Jan. 4 at St. Thomas Lutheran Church conducted by Rev. P. S. Hoffman and the Rev. Paul Cobb. Interment and graveside services will be at 4 p.m. at Willow Valley Cemetery, Mooresville, N. C. Arrangements by Miller Kerns & Cavin Funeral Home.