Goodwin, Benjamin Schoppaul, (Ret.), Col., 2002 April 11

This is a Living History interview with Benjamin Goodwin, Class of 1939, conducted by Marilyn Somers on April 11, 2002 at his home in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The subject is Mr. Goodwin’s life and experiences at Georgia Tech. Mr. Goodwin was born in 1916 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Soon after, his family moved to St. Augustine where his father got a job with the railroad. Mr. Goodwin attended school in St. Augustine through high school. When he was deciding on college, the owner of the railroad line offered him a job if he went to Georgia Tech as a co-op. Mr. Goodwin filled out the application and was accepted to the program. Mr. Goodwin started out living in Cloudman Hall, but later moved into the new Techwood Dorms. At Tech, the boys studied most of the time. Freshmen had to wear their RAT Caps everywhere. After Tech won a football game, the students would parade through the city stopping traffic and interrupting plays. Mr. Goodwin also went through initiation for the co-op club when he was a junior. While at Tech, Mr. Goodwin noticed that most of the professors really cared about the students. He specifically remembered Professors Ajax, Stamy, and Johns. At graduation, Mr. Goodwin did not receive his diploma because he had not finished his ROTC requirements, so he went to Aberdeen to finish getting his commission. After getting his army commission, Mr. Goodwin stayed on at Aberdeen working on research and development. He did not want to work in maintenance (which he would have if he had been shipped overseas), so he became a civilian and continued to work on testing at Aberdeen. He was there the day Pearl Harbor was attacked, and has recently started giving talks about why the United States was not more prepared. When he was sixty-five, Mr. Goodwin retired from research and development work. He continued to stay busy, and moved back to Spartanburg. He has had a wonderful life, and would not do anything differently. Mr. Goodwin talks about his children and grandchildren, and then mentions how he recently got re-married. He knew his wife growing up, and both of them had lost their spouses, so they became re-acquainted. Mr. Goodwin thinks that his Tech education was a great way to start out his career, and it has helped him all through life.