John C. Goodbody, Retired Director of Communication of the Episcopal Church, Dies at 75
Episcopal News Service. June 21, 1990 [90165]
John Collett Goodbody, 75, retired director of communication for the Episcopal Church, former president of The Seabury Press in New York, and former vice-president of Colonial Williamsburg, died of congestive heart failure on Sunday, June 10, 1990, in Charleston, South Carolina.
Goodbody, born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1915, was the grandson of the founder of Goodbody and Company, one of Wall Street's earliest and most distinguished investment firms. He was the son of Maurice F. Goodbody and Nellie Jane Collett Goodbody of Ridgewood, New Jersey. He was educated at Kent School, Williams College, and Harvard, where he did postgraduate work. He served in the Navy during World War II under Admiral William F. Halsey and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.
Goodbody served as director of communication of the Episcopal Church from 1975 to 1980 under the term of Presiding Bishop John M. Allin. "He was a dear personal friend and a good and faithful companion in the mission of the church," Allin said. "He had a primary objective in reporting the life and activities of the church as objectively as he could. He felt strongly that the communication office should not be merely a 'house organ' but that it should report the life of the church with honesty."
"He helped us to build credibility in the national communication office with strong leadership," said Sonia Francis, current executive for communication of the Episcopal Church and a former colleague of Goodbody. "He helped to strengthen the ties between the national office and local diocesan communicators."
Goodbody's lifelong interest and career in communications, and his dedication as an Episcopal layman, extended into his retirement in South Carolina, where, with his wife, he coedited the Jubilate Deo, a monthly diocesan newspaper. He also served as a communication consultant for
Trinity Parish in New York City and continued as a communications adviser to the Episcopal Church.
Surviving Goodbody are his widow, Harriet Linen Goodbody of Seabrook Island, South Carolina; his children Margretta Goodbody Niles of Darien, Connecticut; Joan T. Goodbody of Seabrook Island, South Carolina; and David L. Goodbody of Jackson, Wyoming. He also left two grandchildren and two siblings: Maurice F. Goodbody, of Hope, New York; and Margaret Goodbody McNeily of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.
A memorial service will be held at 3:00 P.M., Thursday, June 14, at the Church of Our Saviour, John's Island, South Carolina. The Rt. Rev. Gray Temple, retired Episcopal Bishop of South Carolina, will officiate.
Memorials may be sent to the Church of Our Saviour in John's Island, South Carolina, or the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, 815 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017.