Marjorie Haydock Raitt Goddard, 1922-2004
Marge Goddard, the name by which she wished to be called when she joined our Meeting, was born 1 September 1922 in Los Angeles, the daughter of Earl and Marguerite Haydock. Her father was a Methodist minister and missionary, and Marge spent the first six years of her life on the island of Madeira off the coast of Africa. She was a gifted musician, majoring in music at Redlands College. While in college, she later recounted, she “left conventional Protestantism and became a Friend. This change was largely because of their outreach program in the American Friends Service Committee.”
In 1942, Marge married the later famous singer John Raitt, and the couple had three children, Steven, Bonnie and David. This marriage ended in 1970, and in 1976 she married Dr. James Goddard, an important official with the United States Public Health Service. Sometime after that marriage they became members of Scarsdale Friends Meeting. In the early 1990s, Marge and Jim began the practice of spending winters in Southern California, where they helped us keep track of the seasons by their regular comings and goings. To our joy, but no doubt to the sorrow of their friends in Scarsdale, they moved in 2002 to California for good, and transferred their membership to Orange County Friends Meeting.
In spite of serious health problems, Marge was always the most cheerful person in any room she occupied. She was a constant and active attender of our Peace and Social Concerns committee, answering, as she once said, her “strong need to be in an organization actively involved in helping needy people worldwide.” She died peacefully 2 July 2004 in the presence of her husband Jim. Her spirit remains alive in the memories of all who knew her.