March 12 1944 August 5 2022
Obituary Charles (Charlie) Howard Goodspeed III passed away on August 5, 2022, after a compounding series of health complications. Charlie was born in Braintree, Massachusetts in 1944, the son of loving parents Edith Marjorie Beck Goodspeed and Charles Howard Goodspeed Jr. He lived in Braintree through grade school before moving to Portland, Maine, where he graduated from Deering High School in 1962. He went on to complete a post-graduate year at Bridgton Academy before attending Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He played on the football teams at Deering, Bridgton, and WPI. After graduating with a master’s degree in Civil Engineering, he headed to the University of Cincinnati with his then wife, Margaret Cummings, and their two small children, where he earned a Ph.D.in Civil Engineering in 1972. A dedicated teacher, Charlie touched the lives of numerous students both at Carnegie Mellon University, where he taught for six years, and at University of New Hampshire, where he worked from 1979 through his retirement in 2018. His interactions with students throughout his teaching career were often described as life-changing. At CMU, he took students on trips to Bangladesh and Guatemala to build low-cost refugee housing and supervised his civil engineering students as they designed and constructed concrete canoes that they raced in annual college competitions. While at UNH, Charlie created the Technology Transfer Center. He advised countless graduate students toward their PhD defense. He also enjoyed the senior project courses he taught, giving students hands-on practical experience while local towns benefitted from their work. He and his wife, Sandy, even took students in their motorhome to out-of-state steel bridge competitions when they could not secure funding for travel. His expertise in road and bridge designs gave him opportunities to travel around the world, lecturing and consulting. He spent two sabbaticals living in Washington D.C. working for the Federal Highway Department. In addition, Charlie also developed, designed, and built numerous homes in Epping and Exeter. While still working at UNH and after retiring, Charlie enjoyed sharing his engineering expertise. He was the 2004 Municipal Volunteer Award Recipient for helping his students add a stairwell in the Epping Town Hall. He served as an Epping Fire Ward, donating back his stipend annually to purchase new radios for the firefighters. He provided oversight of the construction of a multimillion-dollar safety facility, as well as the purchase of brand new fire trucks and apparatuses. He contributed to many Epping town projects including rebuilding the Mill Street bridge and renovating the Epping Memorial Library, Watson Academy, and the Rockingham Grange. Most recently, he served on the Epping Water and Sewer Commission. The basement workshops he built in every house he lived in brought him great enjoyment. He could fix almost anything and completed impressive projects including the construction of a catamaran, rebuilding a jeep, and building playhouses and even a climbing wall. At the request of his children and grandchildren, he created numerous pieces of gorgeous, hand-crafted furniture. Nothing was more important to Charlie than his friends, family, and students, and his generous heart always had room for more of each. He was a favorite grandparent babysitter, and his lack of rules provided great adventures for all those kids lucky enough to spend time with their beloved “Pappy.” Whether cruising on his motorcycle to Alaska with his son, son-in-law, and grandsons, driving his motorhome out west or to Key West with Sandy, skiing locally and abroad, riding his dirt bike, windsurfing, cruising the lake in his motorboat, or simply hanging out lakeside in Norway, Maine playing cards, he was always happiest when with his family. His charisma, humor, generosity, support, and unconditional love have been a constant to his entire extended family and all who knew him. He will be greatly missed, but never forgotten. He leaves behind his wife, Sandy, his two children Charles H Goodspeed IV (and spouse Tamara Ortega Goodspeed) and Christine Goodspeed Coffin (and spouse David Coffin III), and four grandchildren–Gage Goodspeed Coffin, Alex Goodspeed Coffin, Ellie Goodspeed, and Ian Goodspeed. He also predeceases his two brothers Greg Goodspeed and Ron Goodspeed and their wives, as well as many nieces, nephews, and step-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the LAON, Lakes Association of Norway Maine (norwaylakes.org/) or the Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire (seltnh.org/). A wake will be held Wednesday, August 10, 2022, 3:00-5:00pm and 6:00-8:00pm at Brewitt Funeral Home, 9 Pleasant Street, Epping, NH. There will be a private burial service in Maine. To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Charles, please visit our floral store. Read more
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Charles Howard Goodspeed III March 12 1944 August 5 2022.
Death notice for the town of: Epping, state: New Hampshire