Opal Goode

BIOGRAPHY

Opal Goode was born in Comanche, Oklahoma (then the Territory of Oklahoma), USA, on 3 June 1907, to parents James Cleveland Griggs (1885–1951) and Mary Elizabeth Bowen (1888–1965). She had at least two siblings: Syble Williams (1910–1988) and Dessie Pearl Griggs (1912–2005). She was five months old when Oklahoma gained statehood. As an infant, Goode and her family traveled to Texas by covered wagon before returning to the newly minted state a few years later. She graduated as the valedictorian of her high school senior class on 13 May 1926.

In 1926, she married her husband, Henry Bascom Goode (1903–1976), and the couple moved back and forth between Bakersfield and Oklahoma. In August 1945, they relocated to the Indian Wells Valley when Henry took a position at China Lake. The Goodes remained in Ridgecrest until 1970, when they moved to Glendale following Henry’s retirement.

Goode continued living in Glendale for 32 years. In 2002, she returned to Ridgecrest to be closer to her daughter Cheryl and her family, maintaining her independence until the age of 105.

Goode passed away in Ridgecrest, California, USA, on 17 September 2019, at the age of 112 years, 106 days.