Washington educator loved ‘connecting with people’
Community mourns young mom, 36, who died of kidney disease
WASHINGTON — Whenever friends or family needed something, Shawnna Godshalk was the first one to reach out, including making food for others, said her sister, Amber Wright.
Godshalk, a 36-year-old Washington mother and educator, died Jan. 20 of kidney disease.
“On a surface level, people think she was kind and empathetic, but she also had this empath energy where she just felt for people so hard. I think that’s part of what kept her going for so long. Her body was failing her for an incredible amount of time. Those of us who were in her life every day knew that, but a lot of people didn’t,” said Wright, who is 24 and lives in Middletown.
“She was really incredible because she was like a cat with nine lives. She just kept getting sick and recovering. It was because she wanted to get back to taking care of people and being there for the people she loved.”
Godshalk, who grew up on Cape Cod, leaves behind her partner, Matt Strid, and their 13-year-old son, Jackson Strid. Her daughter, Lily Grace Strid, died in 2014, shortly after birth.
She moved to Washington in 2012, and was a PTO president and literacy tutor for Region 12 schools. She later became director of the district’s after-care program and a full-time paraprofessional.
A church service will be held at 11:30 a.m. Feb. 11 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, 34 Green Hill Road, Washington, followed by a celebration of life at Washington Town Hall.
Her friends and family organized a fundraising page to help pay for costs associated with her death.
The page, which can be found by searching Shawnna Godshalk on GoFundMe.com, has raised more than $10,000.
“She had a side to her that was passionate. If she felt for someone, it wasn’t like she just felt sympathy for what they were referring to. It was like she took on their own feelings and tried to think of a way to bring them some kind of peace, no matter what that person was going through.”
Amber Wright on her sister Shawnna Godshalk
‘Honed in on kindness’
Wright said her sister had a special way of “connecting with people.”
“She had a side to her that was passionate. If she felt for someone, it wasn’t like she just felt sympathy for what they were referring to. It was like she took on their own feelings and tried to think of a way to bring them some kind of peace, no matter what that person was going through,” Wright said. “Because of that, she became central in so many things. She just always kept us together and made sure when someone went astray, they came back.”
Wright said Lily Grace was “a really big part” of Godshalk’s life.
“Every year on Lily’s birthday, Shawnna would do something nice for the staff or the teachers that she was working with at whatever school she was in,” Wright said. “So, she would bring in food or she would do a craft with the kids to honor her daughter’s memory.”
“She always honed in on kindness,” Wright added.
Danielle LeBlanc, 35, who lives on Cape Cod, said they’d known each other since they were about 12 — when Godshalk moved around the corner from her.
They have stayed best friends, LeBlanc said.
“She was like my sister from another person,” she said, adding her friend had a special talent for baking.
“She was a scientist in the kitchen where she would create this gourmet food and bake stuff that was just so tasty,” she said.
LeBlanc said Godshalk’s kidney disease limited her success.
“When we were teenagers, she tried to start her own little baking business,” LeBlanc said. “She always had a goal of opening up a food truck.”
She said her friend had a great understanding of many topics.
“You thought you might have understood something and then she would just tell you like a little bit more to it,” she said.
‘A shoulder to cry on’
Bethel’s Dara Ray met Godshalk when she taught Ruth’s son in first grade at Washington Primary School.
“She offered to volunteer in my classroom. She would come in twice a week, every week, all year long, to run reading centers with me. The kids absolutely loved working with her, and so did I,” said Ray, a third grade teacher at Washington Primary. “She radiated positivity and love.”
She served as a support system for not just the students, but the adults in the classroom, Ray said.
Ray said Godshalk “truly cared about every person she came in contact with. She was also the best person to talk to for us adults when we needed a shoulder to cry on or a person to vent to. She had a way of helping us find our way back to a positive mindset without being preachy ... Shawnna was a shining light in the school community. I speak for myself and my WPS colleagues when I say she will be deeply, deeply missed.”
‘A fighter’
Godshalk was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 13. Her kidney disease stemmed from her diabetes, Wright said.
“She had a transplant almost seven years ago where she was given a new kidney. In April, her kidneys started failing again,” Wright said.”She went through a lot and just kept pushing. She went blind (for six months) from a massive steroid treatment that they used to try and keep the kidney. She went back on dialysis. She had two different dialysis ports. She was just a fighter.”
LeBlanc said she last saw her best friend the day after Thanksgiving when Godshalk came to the Cape to see her family.
“I kind of knew at that point that that was going to be my last day with her,” LeBlanc said, through tears. “Even though she was sick, she still wanted to put this huge thing together for her family.”
At one point, LeBlanc said, “She asked me if I could pick her up from dialysis, and I said ‘yes.’ I got all her favorite sweet treats and her favorite drink. I picked her up and we went to every single beach that I could drive to. The sun was about to set and it was just absolutely beautiful. It was a perfect day.”