Edwina Taylor Goddard's Obituary
Edwina Taylor Goddard, daughter of Gladys Nolan Taylor of Kansas, and William Henry Boyd Taylor of Virginia, passed away on February 20, 2020.
Edwina’s father died before she was two years old, so she and her mother returned to San Diego to live with her maternal grandparents, Edward F. Nolan and Winnie Packard Nolan, in the family household. She married Winfred Rawdon Goddard on February 6, 1944; they were married for 63 years before his death in 2007.
Edwina is survived by four children: Boyd, Patricia, Alan, and Ellen; eight grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.
As a native-born San Diegan, Edwina lived in Point Loma most of her 97 years. She attended Cabrillo Elementary and Point Loma High Schools and graduated from San Diego State College in 1944.
Edwina was a strong woman who enjoyed many unique interests. Her music tastes ranged from flute and harp to military marches to classical.
She loved boating and grew up rowing all over San Diego Bay when Shelter Island was only a sandbar, and families picnicked on North Island. This motivated her interest in maritime history, lighthouses, and seashells. Win and Edwina built a retirement home on the Siuslaw River in Florence, Oregon, where she enjoyed rowing across to the sand dunes. Edwina was a charter member of La Playa Yacht Club, a lifetime member of Southwestern Yacht Club, and a charter member of the La Playa Trail Association. She also supported the Point Loma Assembly, Point Loma Association, the Spreckels Organ Society, Cabrillo National Monument Foundation, San Diego History Center, the Natural History Museum, Museum of Man, and other local groups. She supported scouting and PTA activities with her children, and also served on the Peninsula Community Planning Board.
Edwina’s Scottish, English and Irish ancestry led her to explore extensive heraldic and genealogical research (long before it was trendy!). With Win, she traveled extensively throughout the British Isles and United States gathering genealogical records. She was very well-versed in British monarchy and regimental history, loving the pageantry and regalia. She was active for many years with the San Diego Scottish community (highland dance and pipe band organizations), San Diego-Edinburgh Sister City Society, British Isles Genealogical Research Association, Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Colonial Dames. Edwina was also very proud of her pilgrim ancestry and belonged to the Alden Kindred of America and Mayflower Societies.
A rock enthusiast, Edwina’s college degree was in geology, and she also had a keen interest in astronomy which led her to teach Celestial Navigation to pilots during the war years. She would have liked to have been a Navy WAVE, but family came first.
Edwina was a fount of Point Loma knowledge, and her passing is a huge loss to local historical groups.
Donations in memory of Edwina Goddard may be made to any of the local organizations named or The Boyd Tavern Foundation (http://boydtavern.net/contact-us/).
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