Loren & Clarene Goodheart to be honored with a Reception this Saturday

Loren and Clarene Goodheart have called Stockton their home for over 50 years, but they are now looking toward their next adventure when they move to Wind Crest in Highlands Ranch, a suburb of Denver, within the next few months. But before they leave, the Stockton Methodist Church of Restoration is hosting a Reception in their honor this Saturday, December 2nd, for their dedication to the church and community.

The Goodhearts moved to Stockton from Gove County in the early 1970s with their three children Steven, Stanley, and Jill when Loren was hired as the principal of Stockton High School. Before that, Loren taught business, shorthand, typing, and bookkeeping while he studied administration at Fort Hays State University.

Loren stated, “Most of the subjects I taught no one uses anymore, except for maybe bookkeeping.”

After serving as principal for three years at Stockton, Loren accepted a position as high school principal for Long Island and grade school principal for Almena. This was only for one year since Clarene started working for the Kansas State University Cooperative Extension in the Rooks County Courthouse in 1974. They moved back to Stockton, or back home, and settled in for the next 50 years.

Loren’s career path took a different turn then, and he started out as a Farm Bureau Insurance agent with Wayne Miller as his manager. When Miller retired, Loren stepped into the manager’s position and worked there until he retired in December of 2001.

Clarene’s job at the Extension involved teaching homemaking skills, cooking, sewing, upholstering, and working with the County’s 4-H clubs during the Rooks County Free Fair and throughout the year. Clarene retired in February 1995.

During their years here, the Goodhearts have been involved in the community and church, stating when they first came to Stockton, it was at the time of Evangelistic movements, and they came to know the Lord and, in turn, got involved in many community organizations.

Loren served on the Stockton Public Library Board, the school board, and the Methodist Church Board. He was also a project horse leader for the Extension, announced the Olde Tyme Christmas Parade for several years, and helped out Rooks County Fair secretary George Ostmeyer with the harness horse races. Loren loved showing horses and is pretty proud he got to show at the Kansas State Fair. But one of his proudest accomplishments was serving on the hospital board for ten years. During that time, the Board hired Dr. Daniel Sanchez, which led to working with several people on the campaign funding for the Stockton Medical facility. Loren stated, “A lot of people helped make the facility a reality, and we don’t realize how lucky we are that we have so many dedicated people and volunteers in our community who gave their time to that project.”

Clarene did her fair share, too, and served on many boards like the Rooks County Museum Board and the Methodist Church Women’s Committee, where she oversaw the church’s flowers. Clarene was among the first on the committee to renovate the Nova Theatre in early 2000. “I have many fun memories of helping Joan Balderston oversee the prison crews who worked on the facility.” she said. Clarene was also part of the Arts Council silhouette project, with the silhouettes now gracing the hills by the town's entrances.

Another project the Goodhearts were involved in was the Big Barn restoration near Woodston. Though the Barn was destroyed by fire due to lightning hitting it in 1995, it was a big draw for the community and a project many people took pride in helping with.

From the early 2000s until 2017, the Goodhearts spent a lot of their time each year in Breckinridge, Colorado, remodeling a home there to live in but traveling back and forth since Stockton was their home base. They worked at a ski lodge as volunteers, helping people get kids signed up for ski school, lining up people to get on the buses, calling in ski patrol when necessary, and even telling people where they could find the restrooms. In return, they got ski tickets for the volunteer work they did one or two days a week. Clarene said, “The best thing about this job was meeting people from all over the world.”

They also played Santa and Mrs. Claus for over ten years while in Breckinridge. Loren said once when their granddaughter Kayla was skiing and went off the slope, the ski patrol asked her whom they needed to contact. She told them to get Santa!

The Goodhearts stated they were also very blessed to be able to travel as much as they did through the years. They traveled to all 50 states, Mexico, Canada, the Bahamas, and Europe. They loved traveling with their friends Ken and Maxine Bates and Lee and Ruth Phelps, but their special times were when they took students working on college credits to Europe for summer trips during the 1980s. They said the most significant lesson the students learned was when they would visit the Beaches of Normandy. Clarene stated, “You could almost see them change as they visited the site. They walked off the bus as young kids but came back as adults.”

The Goodhearts have enjoyed their life in Stockton and raising their children here. They note they did nothing out of the ordinary but volunteered in the community like many others have done and still do. They state it takes everyone to make the town grow by joining clubs like the Lions Club or Rotary or volunteering when help is needed.

Now, they are packing up their memories and moving to be near family during this stage of their lives. Clarene states, “We are sad to leave, but we felt it was time to look to the future. We are moving west to be near our family, but we will always consider Stockton our home.”

(See page 8A of this week’s edition for more information about the Reception for the Goodhearts.)