Joe was born in Seattle, Washington, to Ernest “Ernie” Goodner and Carolyn Krum. Ernie’s father was a professor at the University of Washington, and Joe followed in his footsteps.
Joe entered Reed College in Portland, Oregon and there he met his future wife, Oakley Comstock, who preceded him in death in 2016. After Joe’s graduation, they were married in Pasadena in 1951. They moved that summer to Salt Lake City, Utah, where Joe entered medical school and Oakley taught sixth grade in a private girls’ school. Upon graduation and internship of five years in Salt Lake City, they moved to Boston where Joe finished training as an academic endocrinologist.
Joe and family then moved to Germany where he served two years as an officer in the U.S. Air Force as a physician at Ramstein airbase. In 1962, they moved to Seattle where Joe joined the medical school faculty stationed at King County Hospital, now Harborview Medical Center. Eventually, he joined the faculty of the University of Washington. They made their home in Kirkland.
They later bought an old farm property on Lopez Sound and lived in a tent while first building a guesthouse. After that was livable, they built a barn and a main house and developed a working family sheep operation. Joe also became a member of the Catherine Washburn Medical Association board in support of the Lopez Island Medical Clinic.
Joe was an accomplished skier and spent many memorable moments atop the mountains in Utah and Washington. He favored the Alta Lodge in Alta, Utah, and Alpental at Snoqualmie
A source of great joy for Joe was becoming an accomplished international birder. Joe and Oakley began going on guided bird trips around the world. They went on one or two trips every year, primarily in the winter and early spring. As a result they were able to visit many of the most interesting places on earth and see the unique terrain in each place far better than with conventional travel so often focused on cities and other tourist venues. In the course of these trips, they were many times in Africa, Central and South America as well as Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar, Ethiopia, India and Morocco, and they were able to see almost half of the avian species in the world.
In January of this year, Joe developed complications with his artificial knee leading to infection, which progressed rapidly and proved to be fatal in July. Joe died at home surrounded by his family on July 9, 2018. His dog, Tru, led the way, passing three days before Joe. Joe was preceded in death by his wife, Oakley, brother, Ernest Krum Goodner, and a daughter, Gretchen. He is survived by his son Philip, daughter Stephanie, and grandsons, Forrest and Murphy.
