Verna Geraldine Goodden

GOODDEN: Verna…..Peacefully on Easter Saturday at 2:20 a.m. with family by her side at Chelsey Park where she coped with amazing serenity for the past seven and a half years with Alzheimer’s disease, aided greatly by the wonderful nursing home staff. A Londoner all her life, Verna Geraldine McQuiggan was born on April 14th, 1920, the only child of Russell and Nora (nee Miller) McQuiggan. Verna’s mother died on her eighth birthday. She married David John (Jack) Goodden in 1941 and if there is any blessing to Alzheimer’s disease, it can be found in the fact that Verna never knew that her husband died in 2003. After the infant death of a first child Barbara Jane in 1944, she produced four sons in rapid succession: David Russell, 1946 (m. Elizabeth Chamberlain), Edward John 1947 (m. Cornelia Hoogland), Robert Morgan 1948 (m. Laura Florence) and Stephen James (Herman) 1952, (m. Kirtley Jarvis). Perhaps as compensation for the overbearing masculine influence in her life, Verna cultivated a wide circle of female friends, many of whom were members of her ‘Club’ which met monthly for almost 60 years. Gender balance was further restored to Verna with grand-motherhood where the girls outnumber the boys (in order): Kate, Emily, Oberon, Hugh, Sky, Jessica and Bonnie. But so far unto the next generation, the boys are pushing back with great-grandchildren Basil and Oscar. Friends will be received by the family at Wesley-Knox United Church, 91 Askin Street, London on Tuesday April 14 (what would have been Verna’s 89th birthday) from 12:30 to 2:00 pm. The funeral service will be conducted there at 2:00 p.m. Interment in Mount Pleasant Cemetery following the service. There will be a reception and celebration of Verna’s life at Chaucer’s Pub from 3:30 to 6:00 p.m. A. Millard George Funeral Home, entrusted with arrangements 519-433-5184. Online condolences accepted at www.amgfh.com.