John Green (Gene) Goodner, 89 of Friona, formerly of Houston passed peacefully Saturday, January 13, 2018 in Friona. There will be no services. Cremation by Blackwell-Mullins Funeral Home of Friona.
Gene was preceded in death by his parents Monte H. (M.H.) Goodner and Myrle Wigington Goodner and, sisters LaNez Elam and Nancy Burkhalter, all of Tulia, Texas and, grandson Michael W. Goodner of Houston, Texas.  Gene is survived by his wife, Mary Johnston Goodner of Friona, Texas; sister Judy Newton of Howardwick, Texas; sons Monte C. and John A. Goodner of Hockley, Texas and Sealy, Texas respectively; daughter Regina of Denver, Colorado and a host of grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Gene left high school in Tulia to attend the U.S. Maritime Academy in Pass Christian, Mississippi shortly after the end of WWII. He sailed as a Steamship Mate in the Merchant Marine, then entered the U.S. Army to serve two combat tours in Korea, earning the Army Commendation, Bronze Star and Purple Heart Decorations.  He went-on to become an Army Officer and Army pilot of both fixed-wing airplanes and helicopters.  His piloting skills were later put to crop dusting in Swisher and surrounding Texas Counties; airmail and supply service during the Glen Canyon Dam project in Arizona (Lake Powell) and passenger and cargo flying in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming.

Goodner operated cabinet shops in Tulia, as well as in LaPorte, Texas, then went-on to become a home builder in Atlanta, Georgia and Houston, followed by 14 years of service as a City of Houston Council member.  He retired for a time in Tomball, Texas, but returned to The Panhandle in 2010 to marry high school Sweetheart, Mary Johnston and to live-out his remaining years with her in Friona.

Gene left The Edwards Plateau as a youth to sail and to seek things more stimulating and exotic than farming dryland cotton and wheat.  He worked as a Roughneck in the oilfields under Brother-In-Law J.D. Elam throughout the Mountain States; he panned for gold in The Yukon with Brother-In-Law Jim Burkhalter and built hundreds of homes, townhouses and duplexes.  He loved to fly; he loved The Army and he devoted himself to Houston politics and management, but in the end, he was drawn back to his Panhandle roots and back to Mary and Friona, where the wind is ceaseless and the distant sound of train wheels clicking against the rails is as endless as the Panhandle sky and The Great Plains themselves and, where kin and neighbors celebrate life and share the burden of mourning the loss of one of their own.