BERNE — Jean Elizabeth Goodfellow excelled in school and used her to nursing skills to look out for the needs of children.

She died on April 3, 2015, after a long illness. She was 89.

Mrs. Goodfellow was born to Jeannette Brate and Floyd Crocker on June 1, 1925, at her maternal grandparents’ home, on Lark Street in Albany.

She remembered, as a young girl, receiving cookies across the fence behind their home from their neighbor who ran a family bakery — their name was Freihofer.

Her family moved several times before settling at her grandparents’ Berne homestead in Reidsville.  There, she attended the one-room schoolhouse up the road and was consistently moved ahead in grades before moving on to Berne-Knox High School at the age of 12.

Throughout high school, she insisted that she be allowed to take classes like geometry and trigonometry, generally considered classes for boys at the time, her family wrote in a tribute; they wouldn’t let her take chemistry. 

She graduated from high school in 1937 and was admitted that fall, at age 16, into the Russell Sage College nursing program — requiring approval from the college president, as she was the youngest student ever considered for admission at that time, her family wrote. 

She graduated in 1945 with a bachelor of science degree in nursing and worked briefly in Connecticut and Florida before becoming charge nurse of the pediatric unit in Albany Medical Center. 

Her experience at the medical center fueled her desire to work to prevent the kinds of injuries and illnesses she saw in the children for whom she had cared, her family wrote.

During World War II, with a shortage of nurses, one difficult experience she recalled was when a child came in with burn injuries, formed a relationship with her, and died while she was off work, said her daughter, Dawn Jordan. She once retrieved from the trash the torn strips of a safety blanket belonging to a crying baby.

“She washed all the strips and hung them around his crib and that at least stopped him from crying,” said Mrs. Jordan.

Mrs. Goodfellow earned a master’s degree in education and became a school nurse-teacher, working first for the Maple Hill School in Castleton and then the Averill Park School District. She retired in 1980. 

“She was an active advocate for both the physical and mental health of children throughout her career,” her family wrote.

As a school nurse, Mrs. Goodfellow worked with doctors to make sure children got quality physicals, talked to parents about the importance of vaccinations, and made sure children got to see the doctors they needed.

“She loved children,” her daughter said. “That was one of her main goals in life was to make the world a better place for children.”

Throughout her life, Mrs. Goodfellow loved to hike in the woods, pick wild blueberries, and garden in the summer, and sew and quilt in the winter, her family wrote.  Her great love was for her family, and her children and grandchildren. 

She and her husband, Leon Vreeland Goodfellow, married on April 17, 1951, and built a house on his father’s farm in Berne.  They moved off the hill for a period of time but moved back and built another house on her mother’s family property in 1975.  They raised beef cows, milk goats, and a number of beloved dogs and cats. 

One Mrs. Goodfellow’s favorite pets was a gentle mule named Gizmo, who had once been a pack animal in the western part of the country and lived out his last years in the fields of their farm, giving rides to adults and children. 

“Jean and Leon were sustained by their faith, throughout the difficult times in their lives,” her family wrote. “They enjoyed the fellowship and many friends they had at the First Baptist Church in Westerlo. Those that made visits, phone calls and sent cards during Jean’s last years were so very much appreciated by her and her family.”

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Ms. Goodfellow is survived by her son, David Goodfellow, and her daughter, Dawn Jordan, and her husband, Ronald; her grandchildren, Rebecca Goodfellow, Katherine Goodfellow, Jeremiah Jordan, and Rachel Jordan.

Her parents died before her, as did her brother, Winslow Milton Crocker, and her husband, Leon Vreeland Goodfellow. 

A celebration of life service will be held at the First Baptist Church in Westerlo at a future date.  Donations may be made to The Community Hospice Foundation at 295 Valley View Blvd., Rensselaer, NY 12144 or online at http://goo.gl/QW9zsq.

— Marcello Iaia