Marilyn Goode

January 23, 1930 - December 11, 2022

Marilyn Goode, humanitarian , artist, and environmental activist, died in her Sonoma home on December 11th, at age 92.

Marilyn was born on January 23, 1930. Marilyn was raised in San Francisco, and was profoundly shaped by her parents, Dick and Muriel Van Hoosear - world travelers, naturalists, and the heart and soul of their extended family. In 1935, Dick and Muriel purchased land in Sonoma and built a family compound which they named El Rancho Rodeo. Marilyn treasured the freedom she had there as a child to ride horses and explore the beautiful meadows rich in wildflowers and wildlife. It was here that Marilyn developed her lifelong commitment and affinity to the natural world.

Marilyn met her husband, Frederick Goode, while working on an art history graduate degree at NYU. Marilyn and Fred experienced a deep creative and intellectual bond upon first meeting. They married in 1955. They had five children, and Fred’s work as a private high school teacher took the family back and forth from the East Coast to the West Coast.

In 1968 the family moved to Ojai, where Frederick had a teaching position at Thacher School. Marilyn said that upon arriving there she felt as if she had “died and gone to heaven.” She was a California girl at heart. She often recalled the joy of riding horses in the Sespe Wilderness, and reconnecting with her beloved home state. While living in Ojai, the family experienced firsthand the devastation of the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill. Marilyn frequently cited that event as a catalyst for her environmental activism. In the early 1970’s Marilyn built one of the first solar powered houses in California and in protest of the fossil fuel industry she converted her car to run on propane.

In 1970, the Goode Family moved to Northern California, and while they lived in San Rafael, Marilyn established the Environmental Forum in Marin County. Among the many activist campaigns in which she participated, Marilyn successfully fought against the building of a new hospital in Sonoma which would have required the seizing of privately owned ranch property. She also opposed both the dredging of the Petaluma River and the building of the Sonoma Sears Point Raceway. In 2004, Marilyn and her twin sister, Joy Moulton and older sister Patty Westerbeke, established the Van Hoosear Wildflower Preserve on the family Sonoma property..

Marilyn explored varied spiritual paths, from Catholicism during her marriage, to Buddhism in more recent years. She met her death gracefully and peacefully, in her home, surrounded by her five children. Marilyn received darshan by a Tibetan Buddhist monk on the evening of her death, and also on the day after she died, and will also receive the traditional Tibetan rites of passage.

Marilyn was truly a force of nature. All who knew her will remember her acerbic wit, infectious humor and playful spirit, as well as her keen aesthetic. She had a unique way of seeing and speaking of people and situations in terms of the natural world and all the creatures who inhabit it. She never backed down from a fight - from “making good trouble.”. She faced life with curiosity and strength, overcoming many struggles without compromising her values.

Marilyn is survived by her five children: Jennifer Goode of Ojai, California; Eric Goode of Ojai, California;

Christopher Goode of New York, New York; Gregory Goode of Sonoma, California; and Melissa Goode of Sonoma, California; as well as, her twin sister Joy Moulton of Whidbey Island, Washington; her daughterin-laws Adrienne Bragdon and Lisa Goode, and her grandchildren Nicholas, Wilson, Charlotte, Cairo, Ethan, Weston and Charlie.