Ogden ‘giant’ John B. Goddard supported his city, university
John B. Goddard, Ogden businessman and philanthropist, died Jan. 8, 2015.
Ogden businessman John B. Goddard and his wife, Geraldine, pose for a photograph. John Goddard died Jan. 8, 2015.
OGDEN — The city of Ogden lost another giant.
Local businessman John B. Goddard, who was instrumental in helping to make Ogden and Weber State University what they are today, died Thursday at his Ogden home. He was 94.
“It’s always a sad day when one of these giants, who worked so hard for our community, leaves us,” said Ogden Mayor Mike Caldwell. “We certainly understand and appreciate the legacy he built here, and all he’s done for this city. We’re extremely grateful for people like him, who allow us to stand on his shoulders and achieve great things. Our deep appreciation and our thoughts go out to the entire Goddard family.”
Goddard’s was a rags-to-riches story. Or, more accurately, a riches-to-rags-to-riches story — shaped by both the Great Depression and World War II.
The Ogden native was born June 21, 1920, to Francis Kelly and Isabelle B. Goddard. His grandfather was a developer in Ogden, and owned quite a bit of real estate in the area.
When the stock-market crash and Depression came, the family was “totally wiped out,” according to Goddard’s son, Kelly Goddard, of Ogden.
“Dad was 10 years old at the time,” he said. “He went from eating pork chops to eating macaroni and tomatoes.”
To make matters worse, Goddard’s father had difficulty working due to chronic asthma.
“His father basically suffocated to death,” Kelly Goddard said.
Kelly says his father used to tell him the story of sitting in the parlor of the family home, listening to his mother crying and wondering aloud how the family would be able to survive.
“Dad told me, ‘Right then, I promised myself I’d never, ever be in that position again; I’d never let my family go through that,’ ” Kelly Goddard said.
As the oldest son, John Goddard worked to support the family, selling morning newspapers on the corner of Washington Boulevard and 25th Street, and later, during high school, scooping ice cream at Farr’s.
When World War II came along, Goddard enlisted in the Army, and in 1943 he married his high-school sweetheart, Geraldine Wadsworth. He was assigned to the Third Infantry Division, and fought in Italy and Southern France. It was in France that he was injured by machine-gun fire.
“Doctors were going to amputate his foot — he was shot three times in the foot — but he begged them not to,” Kelly Goddard said. “He was in the hospital for four years, and endured dozens of operations.”
In the end, doctors were able to save the foot.
When Goddard returned home to Ogden, he created Western Mortgage Loan Corp. with the help of mentors and friends. He later founded United Savings Bank, Western Real Estate, and Terra Firma Construction.
Self-taught in accounting and finance, Goddard was “sharp as a tack,” according to his son, and a hard worker.
“He’d leave home at 7 in the morning, come home for dinner at 6, and then go back to work until 11 — and he worked every Saturday and Sunday,” Kelly Goddard recalls. “If we ever got him on a vacation, it was really exciting.”
That hard work translated into business success.
“If anybody could get every dime out of a nickel, he could do it,” Kelly Goddard quipped.
However, as shrewd as he was with finances, Goddard was also generous. He and his wife were major contributors to Weber State University, in Ogden, including a sizable endowment to the college of business. Indeed, the business school was named after Goddard.
“He was just the nicest guy,” said Jeff Steagall, dean of the John B. Goddard School of Business & Economics, at WSU. “He’d call me regularly and say, ‘I need something to do. What can I do for you?’ “
Steagall said that help often came in terms of finances, but it didn’t stop there.
“And, he transformed what we were able to do here, like sending finance students to Wall Street,” Steagall said.
Goddard received an honorary doctorate from Weber State in 1983.
One of the reasons Goddard was so high on Weber State was that he recognized the school could be the economic engine to get Ogden back on its feet. As a member of the state Board of Regents, Goddard fought successfully to upgrade Weber’s status from college to university.
“Jack was an Ogden guy, through and through,” Steagall said. “He was always about how to make Ogden strong. He, John A. Lindquist and a group of others took us on the road to recovery after the railroads went away.”
And just when a lot of businesses were moving to Salt Lake — where all the financial action was — the “Ogden guy” kept his headquarters in Junction City.
Jack Lampros, of Ogden, called his next-door-neighbor “loved by all” and “one of the real movers and shakers in Ogden.”
“He was … Mr. Ogden,” Lampros said. “I don’t think it ever occurred to him to move his headquarters to Salt Lake, like so many companies do when they get big and successful.”
Steagall says it’s been a rough patch for the Goddard family. Wife Geraldine Goddard died in 2013, and daughter Susie Goddard Hulet died last October.
Kelly Goddard feels like he didn’t just lose a father, but a best friend. He says the two were quite close.
“I knew I would never, ever, ever be able to fill his shoes, but I wanted to learn from him,” he says.
Goddard, who died of congestive heart failure, was spending some time in Palm Springs, Calif., last month when he called his son in Ogden.
“I was going to bring him home to Ogden on Dec. 19, but on the 14th he called me and said, ‘Come get me, I’ve taken a bad turn,’ ” Kelly Goddard said.
His father was in pretty bad shape when he reached him.
“I asked him, ‘Should I take you to the hospital?’ and he said, “No, Kel. I just want to go home,” Kelly Goddard said. “He wanted to die at home.”
Back in Ogden, Kelly Goddard says his father had to take just one step from the wheelchair to the house, but he couldn’t even do that, and collapsed in the doorway.
“He said, ‘Where am I?’ and I said ‘You’re home,’ ” Kelly Goddard recalls. “He said, ‘No, but where am I right now?’ And I said, ‘You’re home. You’re laying in the back doorway with your feet sticking out into the garage.’ When he heard that he was home, he closed his eyes — I thought he’d died, because this peace came over him.”
A few weeks later, surrounded by family, John B. Goddard died, at home, in his beloved Ogden.
Lampros said he was devastated when he got the news of Goddard’s death.
“When you’re 94, it’s not unexpected,” he said. “But it’s still a great loss.”
“He was a giant here in Ogden,” Jeff Steagall said, “and he’ll be sorely missed.”
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 14, at Lindquist’s Ogden Mortuary, 3408 Washington Blvd. Friends are invited to visit with family from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 13, at the mortuary. He will be interred at Lindquist’s Washington Heights Memorial Park, 4500 Washington Blvd.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donation to the John B. Goddard School of Business & Economics at Weber State University, or a charity of choice.
Contact Mark Saal at 801-625-4272, or msaal@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @Saalman. Like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SEMarkSaal.
