Liane Goodwin

Liane Francis Goodwin (Hoolsema), born January 2, 1949, died in Benton, AR on December 8, 2019 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease and cancer.

Liane felt called to serve. When discussing arrangements for her, we were asked what word would best describe our mother. Her daughter Kimberly replied, "patriot". It is a very fitting term.

As a teenager in California, she was a member of the California Young Democrats and was particularly active during the 1966 gubernatorial election. In 1967, she enlisted in the US Marine Corps to support the president and the war in Vietnam. That's how she met our father, a Navy corpsman at the same base in North Carolina. She left the Marines shortly after and later became a lifetime member of the Women Marines Association.

After marriage, she shifted her energies to the communities where we were stationed. While our father was serving in Vietnam, she volunteered at the USO in San Francisco supporting service members going to and from the war. At Naval Station Treasure Island, CA, she helped organize parents to successfully advocate against the Navy's plan to close the base elementary school and bus students across the bridge to another part of San Francisco. She became an activist for preserving the cultural history of the base, most notably the "Fountain of Western Waters in the Court of Pacifica" and other monuments from the 1936 Golden Gate International Exposition. She also organized events to raise money for the base Morale, Welfare and Recreation fund for sailors and Marines. Her favorite was the annual haunted house.

After her children grew up and joined the military themselves (Kim joined the Navy, her son John became a Marine), she became active in politics during Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign and after the election, she moved to Washington, DC to work in his administration. Her first role was in the Commerce Department and later she moved to the Office of Presidential Correspondence, where she met Ray Goodwin - a man who shared her love of politics. She loved working there and seeing all of the things people send to the President. At the end of Clinton's second term, she worked for Senator Harry Reid and later Senator Robert Byrd until she retired. Liane and Ray married on Saint Patrick's Day, 2004 in Washington DC and eventually moved to Benton, AR after Ray's retirement from the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms.

As kids, she took us with her to polling places where she volunteered as an election judge. Growing up, we would talk about political issues both local and national. It was important to her that we know and care about what was going on in the world. She instilled in us the importance of voting and we spent many hours talking on the phone on election nights, discussing the results.

She was a lifelong San Francisco Giants fan (although she later adopted the Nationals as well, Go Nats!) She loved talking about baseball - even when her teams struggled - and was elated when the Giants finally won the World Series.

She loved music and holidays, especially Christmas time. Listening to her sing Christmas carols while decorating was always a joy. Her favorite band her entire life was the Beatles, starting as a teenager as president of the San Mateo Beatles Fan Club. It is entirely fitting that she died on the anniversary of John Lennon's death.

Some of her happiest times were with her husband, Ray. They loved walking on the Georgetown towpath, taking day trips to places such as the 9/11 Memorial in Shanksville PA and Smithsonian Museums around DC, visiting historic sites such as Mount Vernon and Civil War battlefields and simply sitting together enjoying her favorite TV Show "NCIS". Ray was her soulmate and her children are thankful for his loving care during the final years of her life.

We would like to express our deepest and most sincere gratitude to the staff of Saline Memorial Hospital and especially to Mendy Barnes. Thank you Mendy for your kindness, compassion and incredible professionalism.

In keeping with her wishes, there will be no services. Her cremains will be spread in California, where her mother and grandmother were laid to rest. She wanted to be scattered somewhere beautiful with trees and open space. In lieu of flowers, we ask you to please consider supporting the important work of the Alzheimer's Association in her memory.
Liane is survived by her loving husband, Donald "Ray" Goodwin of Benton, Arkansas; son, John Silva of Chicago, Illinois; daughter, Kimberly Silva Gibson and husband Jason of Bremerton, Washington; and her grandchildren, Alexander Silva and Ashley Gibson.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Smith-Benton Funeral Home. Online guestbook: https://benton.smithfamilycares.com/.