Jasper Goodwill

The Goodwill family grave marker in historic Minden Cemetery in Minden, Louisiana

Grave of former Mayor Jasper Goodwill in Minden Cemetery

Jasper Goodwill (November 18, 1889 – November 10, 1974)^[1] served from 1955 to 1958 as the Democratic mayor of the small city of Minden, the seat of government of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana. He is considered a transitional mayor between the longer tenures of John T. David and Frank T. Norman. He worked to implement health insurance and a pension plan for municipal employees.^[2]

Background

Goodwill's paternal grandfather, Captain Alfred Goodwill, a native of London, England and a member of the Confederate States Army, lived first in Claiborne Parish. After the death of his first wife, Elizabeth Ford Farley (1834-1869), Captain Goodwill moved in 1873 to Minden with his five children, including Jasper Goodwill's father, Alfred Jasper Goodwill, and Captain Goodwill's second wife, the former Ida Victoria Hill (1838-1937). Captain Goodwill in 1880 opened an 18,000-square foot general store in Minden, a "superstore" believed at the time to be the largest such enterprise in the state. One could even purchase a casket and embalming fluid from Goodwill's. Goodwill Street in Minden, which connects the Minden Cemetery with the Webster Parish Fairgrounds, is named for Captain Goodwill, as is the Goodwill Road near the former Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant in western Webster Parish..^[3][4] Jasper Goodwill was the second of seven children born in Minden to Alfred Jasper Goodwill (1855–1937)^[5] and the former Sallie Fort (1859–1934).^[6]

Captain Goodwill and his second wife, Ida, had four children. A daughter, Olive Goodwill (born c. 1875), married Robert Roberts, Jr., the mayor of, first, Farmerville and then Minden (1905-1906), a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for Webster Parish, an appeal court judge and a state district judge in Minden, and, finally, an attorney in private practice in Shreveport. Their daughter, Olive Roberts (1904-1990),^[7] married Murphy J. Foster, a sugar planter in St. Mary Parish and a son of Governor Murphy J. Foster, Sr. The second Olive Roberts was hence the mother of former Governor Murphy J. "Mike" Foster, Jr.; born in 1930, he left the governorship after two terms in 2004. Captain Goodwill was hence the maternal great-grandfather of the second Governor Foster; Alfred Jasper Goodwill, the great-uncle, and Jasper Goodwill, a cousin.^[3]

Career

Jasper Goodwill graduated from Minden High School, probably in 1906. When he entered the United States Army during World War I, he, like his grandfather, had no middle name. The Army required at least a middle initial if no middle name, and he was hence assigned a "K", which stood otherwise for nothing. He remained in the United States throughout the war.^[8] An older brother, Christopher Goodwill (1867-1901), was shot to death while making an arrest. Ralph Goodwill, another brother, was the co-owner of a clothing store in Minden known as Brown-Goodwill,^[3] which closed early in 1987.^[9]

After he left the military, Goodwill was assistant postmaster in Minden until 1923, when he joined the staff of Empire Southern Gas Company. He retired as the company manager in 1954. He and his younger surviving son, Robert Eldredge "Tuby" Goodwill (born June 21, 1928),^[10] started a hardware and sporting goods store on Broadway Street in 1952.^[11] The business closed in 1978.

Goodwill prevailed in a special election on May 10, 1955, to fill the remaining three years in the term of John T. David, who resigned amid a bootlegging scandal after nine years in office. Goodwill defeated Paul Wallace (1896–1969), a furniture store operator and a former member of the Minden City Council, 944 (52.4 percent) to 858 (47.6 percent).^[11]

David had also narrowly defeated Wallace in the regular Democratic primary election in 1954.^[12] Though he succeeded with the health insurance and pension plan for city employees, Goodwill did not seek a full term in the 1958 primary, which brought Democrat Frank Norman, a sitting council member, to the mayor's chair for the first of two four-year terms.^[2]

Goodwill was a president of the Minden Chamber of Commerce (1943–1944), a director of the Minden Building and Loan Association,^[13] a past director of the former Minden Bank and Trust Company (since part of Regions Bank,^[12] and a member of both the civil defense and Selective Service boards. He was affiliated with Lions International, the National Wildlife Association, the American Legion, the Knights of Pythias, and he served on the board of the First United Methodist Church of Minden.^[13]

Family and death

Goodwill was married to the former Annie Eldredge (July 2, 1889 – June 18, 1959),^[14] a medical secretary originally from Abbeville in Vermilion Parish in southwestern Louisiana. The couple resided at 201 North College Street in Minden. The Goodwills had an older son, Marion Jasper "Buddy" Goodwill (January 2, 1925 – July 20, 2014), a 34-year employee of United Gas Pipeline Company who resided in Shreveport.^[15] Daughter Gloria Ann died as an infant in 1926. The Goodwills had four grandchildren. Goodwill was also survived by a sister, Alice Turnley (1901–1991) of Plain Dealing in northern Bossier Parish.

Goodwill died in Minden eight days prior to his 85th birthday. Services were held in the Rose-Neath Funeral Home Chapel in Minden. Interment was at the Minden Cemetery, along with other family members.^[13]

References