Charlene L. Gooldy

Charlene LaVae (Johnston) Gooldy, 83, of Junction City, died Saturday, October 8, 2016 at Via Christi Regional Health Center, in Manhattan. Charlene was born April 14, 1933 in Beloit, the daughter of Omer Edward and Vera Anna (Nelson) Johnston.

As a young child, Charlene spent many summers out at her grandparents farm on Turkey Creek near Beloit, where she and her cousins, Joan and Vonda, would play together and help their grandma feed the field crews at harvest time. During the war years, her dad found work at Ft. Riley, and the family moved to Junction City.

In 1951, Charlene graduated from Junction City High School, and soon began her career with Central National Bank, one which would last more than thirty years. As she herself would later recall, "I started out in the basement of that bank, and worked my way up the stairs through departments and up to the main line of the teller windows." It was at the teller line where she could observe people coming and going, and helping them when they would step up to her window. It was a job she thoroughly enjoyed. It was in that teller line that she would be introduced to Dick Gooldy, who would later become her husband.

Charlene and Dick were married on July 15, 1969 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dick brought a ready-made family into their new union with Jack, Jan, and Jane-two teenagers and a pre-schooler. She once advised someone "be careful what you pray for---look what happened to me", all the while with a huge smile on her face. The new family was made complete with the birth of Jay in 1970, and a whole new branch of the family tree sprouted.

Her years doing books at the bank trained her well when she joined Dick at Jack and Dick's Pawn Shop, helping out with all the required book work and occasionally out in the front with customers.

Charlene and Dick retired from the business world at about the same time the grandchildren started coming along. It seemed those early years, working alongside her own grandma, and feeding a large group of hungry folks, would come in handy as this ever-growing family would gather for 4th of July Celebrations, Thanksgiving, and Christmas year after year. Eventually, Dick and Charlene would count twelve children as their own grandkids, blending other families into their own hearts, just as they had done before.

Charlene was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Junction City; the Auxiliary of the Earl C. Gormley, Post #45 of American Legion; and the Auxiliary of the V.F.W. of Junction City. She was a life-long registered Republican, which created lively discussions with her children and grandchildren through the years. Such discussions and debates helped instill the value of love of country, which she so deeply held, in them to carry on through their own lives.

Preceding Charlene in death were her parents, Omer and Vera, and her husband Dick, who died in 2001. Left to mourn her passing and celebrate her life are her children and grandchildren: Jack Gooldy and wife Mina, Prescott, Arizona, Jan Kimbrell and her husband Bob, Herington, Jane Miramontez and her husband Pat, Lenexa, and Jay Gooldy and his wife Trish, Junction City; Alyssa, Ryan, Rebecca, Matthew, Stephanie, Jessica, Joel, Sierra, Sydney, Sinclaire, Rachel, and Gabrielle. The great-grandkids had started adding up too, and , MacKynzie, Henry, Annabel, Emily, Eli, Myles will now depend on their own grandparents to tell the stories and teach values of their blended heritage for another generation. Charlene's cousins Vonda Van Pelt, Johnny Nelson, and Kim Nelson, as well as sister-in-law Beth Gooldy Clark, and a host of good friends will also miss her kind and sweet nature for years to come.

Penwell-Gabel Junction City Chapel will be hosting the open visitation for family and friends on Friday, October 14, 2016, 6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. Funeral service will be 10:00 a.m., Saturday, October 15, 2016 at Penwell-Gabel Junction City Chapel with Pastor Chris Schultz presiding. Burial will follow at Highland Cemetery in Junction City. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be given to GCSF, Gooldy Family Memorial Bowling Scholarship, c/o Junction City High School, 900 N. Eisenhower Dr., Junction City, Kansas 66441.