Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Goodin’s lives have been so full and blessed. This past September they marked their fiftieth anniversary with a well-attended celebration. Joan Lea Cordry Goodin was born July 7, 1952, in the Bland, Missouri, area. Her adoptive father, Ernest Cordry, a farmer, her mother, Frances Dearman Cordry, a housewife, and her brother David Cordry, are all deceased, while her sisters Patricia Greenhalgh, and Rose Sarchette both live in Bland.
Heralding from Preston, in the Louisville, MS, area, Gerald O. Goodin was born June 17, 1947, to Mr. Lossie Goodin and Mrs. Ella Mae Wilson Goodin. His brother Cecil is deceased, and his sister Evelyn, 90 years old, resides in Louisville. His parents also raised a boy named Jimmy Johnson, now deceased. Gerald attended church with his parents at Ebenezer Pentecostal Church. Gerald graduated 1965 from Nanih Waiya High School and entered the National Guard, from which he recently retired after forty years and six months.
Joan was raised in church, as neighbors Mr. and Mrs. Biles would pick the Cordry children up to take them to church when her parents could not go because of farming duties. They took them to the Christian Church of Bland, which she attended until she was thirteen. At that age, she moved to the home of a Mrs. Pittman who needed help with their animals during the week while her husband worked away from home. Joan returned home on weekends.
She graduated from Owensville High School in 1970, and moved to the Meridian area soon after. At age 22, while working as a waitress at the Torch Truck Stop, Joan met Gerald O. Goodin, who worked at the Air National Guard station in Meridian. She remembered, “He caught my eye, was really good looking and very, very nice.” They were married September 18, 1975.
Joan worked as a waitress for seventeen years, but, in March 1979, she joined the Air National Guard also. She and Gerald both were deployed to places overseas during their times in the Guard. She was on Active Guard and Reserve Duty all the time, while he was a civil service technician during the week and on active guard duty during drills and many deployments.
When Gerald was 45 and Joan was 40, they were able to adopt two children through the Mississippi state foster home system. Sue Cobb, a wonderful foster parent in Meridian, kept children in her home for many years, with a total of 91 children having been fostered by her. She took the children to church at First Assembly Meridian. In December of 1991, Ms. Cobb had eight children in her home. As that was too many, a social worker called the Goodins to place two of those children with them until such time as the siblings could be adopted. That special adoption event took place in October 1992, when Kimberly was three and her brother Robin was five.
Robin and Kimberly both were tutored at a daycare run by a Ms. Lue, in Meridian, before entering the first grade. They both finished their schooling well, with Robin Goodin graduating from Newton County High School in 2006 then East Central Community College with honors in 2008. Kimberly, who miraculously overcame difficult physical problems in her early years, graduated from NCHS in 2008 and ECCC with honors in 2010.
This will be continued next week, as their story has more to tell, giving glory to God.
People, get ready! Jesus is coming soon!
You may contact me at lagnesrussell@gmail.com or 601-635-3282.
