June Goodman Collection

June Goodman devoted much of her life to the city of Danbury and the state of Connecticut. She was a passionate advocate of the arts and a strong voice for the improvement of the Danbury school system.

Born June Karelsen in New York in 1920, she graduated from Ohio's Oberlin College in 1941. In 1940, while still in college, she married William Goodman. The couple had five children: Douglas, Louis, Michael, Kitty, and Susan. In 1970, after raising her family, Goodman earned a master's degree in education from Western Connecticut State University.

June Goodman claimed that one of the greatest gifts her parents gave her was an appreciation and a passion for the performing arts. They also provided her with a sense of community and a commitment to helping others. Goodman combined her passion for the arts and her commitment to service and volunteerism to improve both the arts and education in Danbury. Her interest in the arts and her skill as a fundraiser helped lead to the founding of the Charles Ives Center for the Performing Arts at Western Connecticut State University in 1984. Her commitment to education led to the improvement and expansion of the Danbury school system in the 1960s. A commitment to the Democratic Party spurred her involvement in local government and political campaigns. During the course of her life, her local efforts drew the attention of other who called on her for involvement in state and national cause.

Goodman was a firm believer in the power of the arts in school. In the 1950s she launched a program in which local women volunteered to go into the public schools to deliver slide show lectures about the arts.

A former teacher, Goodman was a leader in a grass roots effort that pushed for the improvement and expansion of the school system. In 1960 she and her husband William formed, along with many concerned citizens, the Committee of 1,000, a group that worked for a $9.5 million school expansion program. A bitter fight, the group saw victory in 1962 when the construction of four new schools was approved.

In 1963 Goodman became the fourth woman to serve on the Danbury Board of Education. She served until 1969. During this time she advocated for the improvement and development of pre-school programs.

In 1975 Gov. Ella T. Grasso nominated Goodman for the State Board of Education. She served for many years, including six as the board's chairperson. She served also as the chairperson of the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education and also as chair of the State Task Force on Gifted and Talented Education.

Goodman was the Danbury Music Center's second executive director. In 1974 she was involved in the effort to persuade Leonard Bernstein and Michael Tilson Thomas to conduct concerts at the Danbury Fair grounds of music by Danbury composer Charles Ives. The concert sparked the idea that Danbury could support, and needed, a musical performance center. After years of work, the Charles Ives Center, for which Goodman raised money and served as vice-chairman, opened in 1984. She also served on the board for the National Theater of the Deaf in Chester.

For more than 40 years, Goodman was a close friend to the famed opera singer Marian Anderson, who also hailed from Danbury. In 1990, Goodman established the Marian Anderson Award fund, which provides grant assistance for talented opera singers throughout the country. Specifically, the award provides financial assistance for a mid-career singer.

Goodman was also a twenty-one-year member and two-time chairperson of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and was Gov. Ella Grasso's representative to the National Governor's Association Subcommittee on the Arts.

June Goodman died on December 26, 1997 at the age of 77.