We are sad to report that Mary Payne Goodenough passed away on 31 January 2015.  Mary, mother of BCGS President Chris Roberts, was a charter member, an active volunteer, and our biggest supporter as our hospitality angel, serving coffee and her scrumptious cookies behind the counter at our meetings. We will miss her.

This article about Mary appeared in our May 2014 newsletter.

____________________________
 

Mary Payne Furlong was named for her grandmother.  Within her family she was known by the double name of Mary Payne, a name of which she is always proud.  She grew up during the 1930s and 1940s in a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.   The oldest of four children, she describes her family as typical of that era.  Her father was a hairdresser and had his own shop in the city; her mother didn't work outside the home. 

When Mary was 13, her parents divorced.  After the divorce, Mary's job was to be a good example for her siblings and to take care of them.  Her youngest sibling was four years old at that time.  Mary quickly learned the difficulty of feeding and clothing a family on WW II ration books.  Mary's paternal grandparents lived on a nearby farm, so they occasionally supplied the family with eggs and milk. 

Mary Payne Furlong married Don Goodenough in the early 1950s.  Sadly, their first child died at one month old.  SIDS wasn't a diagnosis at that time; perhaps that was the cause.  Mary and Don raised three children - a daughter and two sons. 

Don worked in academia and during his sabbatical they traveled.  At one point the entire family moved to Bristol, England.  Taking advantage of their location, they piled into their VW bus to travel through Europe and Scandinavia - Mary and Don and their children.  They have many stories to tell of their travel adventures.

Mary and Don settled in the Pennington, New Jersey area when he worked for the Education Testing Service in Princeton, New Jersey.  Both of them loved playing tennis. Along with other tennis devotees, Mary started a tennis club.  This was the era for women to take off their aprons and work outside the home.  Mary gave lessons to the women and partnered for a time with a man who wanted some exercise before going to work.  During that time, Mary was on the court many days at 5:30 AM!  During her tennis career, she worked at Rider College.  For a time, she coached the men's tennis team.  With the advent of Title IX, she coached their first women's tennis team.

Her interest in genealogy started in the 1980's when her husband's interest started.  There were road trips to New England to do research.  Two of her children (Jamie and Chris) picked up the genealogy bug.  The BCGS president, Chris Roberts, is Mary's daughter; and Chris's children carry Mary's and Don's names; i.e. Caitlin Payne and Kyle Donald.  Mary feels it is nice to be so honored and have the names carried into the next generation.

Mary's maternal grandparents came from Germany, and her paternal grandparents came from England.  The grandmother came to the United States when she was eleven years old and worked as a maid in a doctor's office.  Her paternal grandfather worked in mines at age eight.  Like most of us, she regrets not asking more questions of about their lives and their memories.

Mary enjoys retirement and coming to BCGS meetings to learn what is new in the genealogy world. She graciously manages the refreshment area at our meetings.