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Arthur
Goodyear: a mainstay of Porter's Funeral Service
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| By SCOTT WHIPPLE,
Staff Writer |
July
22, 2002 |
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| KENSINGTON
-- On July 15 Arthur Goodyear did what he usually does on his birthday.
He played golf: 18 holes at Tunxis Plantation. Nothing unusual about
that. However, on July 15, Goodyear celebrated his 83rd birthday. Even
though friends gave him a retirement party at Rockledge Country Club
three years ago, he's still a funeral director for Porter's Funeral
Service. And, he still shoots under his age. |
Why
doesn't he spend more time on the links?
"My greatest satisfaction is helping people going through bad
times," Goodyear says. "They may have lost a mother, father,
son or daughter. Helping others is challenging, but rewarding."
Friends and family say Goodyear has always had empathy for others.
Recently, he was honored by the Connecticut Funeral Directors
Association for 55 years as a licensed funeral director, while Porter's
Funeral Service was honored for more than 150 years of service. (Please
see box with story.). The association promotes and advocates high
ethical standards in funeral service and represents more than 200
funeral homes in the state.
Carol Goodyear, oldest of Arthur and Harriet Goodyear's three children,
says it was watching her father's compassionate behavior with bereaved
family members that convinced her to become a social worker.
"Some funeral directors can turn the tears off and on like a
faucet," Carol Goodyear says. "But the emotion my Dad displays
is genuine."
Ask Goodyear, the father, where this empathy started and his response is
characteristically modest.
"I thought I wanted to be a priest," he says. "I was a
student at Lasalette Missionaries in Hartford, and might have gone on to
seminary in Bloomfield. But, we were expected to do farm workand read
religious books. That wasn't for me. But I did acquire discipline."
Carol Goodyear believes lessons in discipline might also have come from
her grandfather, a butler on the Hubbard estate in Middletown.
Whenever the Goodyear family could take a summer's day off they would
picnic in Madison at Hammonassett. Her grandfather always sported a tie,
jacket and straw boater to the beach.
"I understand he was a strict disciplinarian," she says.
Carol believes her Dad may have always had a guiding angel.
During World War II, Goodyear served as coxswain in the U.S. Navy on the
cargo ship USS Veritas. One day a storm broke on the Atlantic, and
pieces of plywood broke loose on deck and pinned him to the railing.
"It scared the pants off me," Goodyear says. "I thought I
was going overboard."
Suddenly the plywood dropped off him and he was safe.
After the war, Goodyear worked as a clothing store salesman in
Middletown, still unsure what to do with his life. Then a friend
introduced him to funeral work and interested him in embalming school.
"If you had been in the war, you only had to serve one year of
apprenticeship," Goodyear says. "You only needed two years of
college education, rather than four, to work for a funeral home."
After embalming school in New York he heard the Porters, then in New
Britain, were looking to round out their staff. So, he applied.
"Art was perfect for us," says Chris Porter. "We've
always approached our business like a ministry. It's not abusiness where
you make money; you serve families economically whenever you can."
Goodyear and Porter's relationship has ripened over the years,
When Eliot Porter, Chris' father, decided to retire, Goodyear convinced
him to bring his son, Chris, in to replace him. Chris Porter agreed, but
only if he could report to Goodyear.
"This is a Porter family business," Goodyear explains. "I
own stock in it, but I believed a Porter should be involved in running
it."
Though the Goodyears spend November to May in Port Charlotte, Fla., they
always return to Connecticut. How he and Harriet get to and from the
Sunshine State concerns Carol, and her younger brother and sister. Mark,
43, is a district manager for a storage company on Long island and
Barbara, 38, is an environmental attorney in California.
"My Dad and Mom drive both ways," Carol says. "It takes
them three days."
Goodyear says he's seen a few changes over the years in the funeral
business.
"We used to do embalming at home," he says. "Not any
more. Facilities at funeral homes have improved."
Though funeral homes still cater to certain ethnic and religious groups,
Goodyear says Porter's serves most faiths, more Catholic than
Protestant. He hasn't watched the popular HBO series, "Six Feet
Under," about a family-owned funeral business. But Porter has, and
he says in the 16 funeral homes that serve the Greater New Britain area,
"I'm sure I could find at least one character from each one that
would match up with the cast of 'Six Feet Under.'"
As portrayed in "Six Feet Under," corporations here in
Connecticut are trying to take over independent businesses. This way
they can control prices of caskets and services and set their own rules
and regulations. Porter's, however, remains independent and family
owned.
Goodyear isn't sure how much longer he'll keep working. But for now, as
in the past 55 years, he's ready whenever the Porters need him.
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| ŠThe
Herald 2002 |
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