Malcolm A. Goodwin

Malcolm A. Goodwin (September 17, 1907 - March 12, 1985), formerly Malcolm A. Towle, was an insurance agent having owned and operated the Wallace B. Goodwin Company for 35 years until his retirement in 1980. Born in Somerville, Massachusets, he was the son of Lulu Cadwell and Amos L. Towle; however, he was the step-son of Wallace B. Goodwin. He was the longest living member of the Clinton Country Club, joining in 1921. He was a member of the First Church of Christ Congregational in Clinton, Connecticut. He also belonged to the National Rifle Association Ducks Unlimited, and the Deep River Gun Club.

Early Life and Career

Malcolm A. Towle was born on September 17, 1907 in Somerville, Massachusetts to Lulu Cadwell and Amos L. Towle, his mother's first husband. However, in September 1910, tensions between his mother and father resulted in an extramarital affair at the end of December 1911, when Malcolm was four years old. Indeed, his mother and father had lived in separate rooms for eighteen months before Lulu filed for divorce for improper conduct with another woman. After custody was given to Lulu, they lived in West Hartford. In 1914, his mother started a new relationship with the real estate developer, Wallace B. Goodwin, a descendant of Hartford founder, Ozias Goodwin. They were finally married on December 19, 1915, making Wallace his step-father. Therefore, in his adult life, Malcolm Towle grew up as Malcolm A. Goodwin.

Goodwin graduated from the West Hartford high school in the spring of 1925. He then was a 1929 graduate of the University of Connecticut. In April 1930, he worked on a team to raise $50,000 for the Elmwood Community Church in order to liquidate the debt and pay for work to be done. In April 1935, he bought two lots on Colonial Street from James J. McMurray and others. In September 1935, Goodwin purchased three lots on Grove Street and one on Colonial Street as part of the Wallace B. Goodwin Company. In March 1936, Goodwin purchased a building lot on the east side of Mayflower Street in Elmwood. In April 1937, Goodwin's all-electric kitchen from his home on Ridgewood Road was entered into an electric kitchen contest. On June 13, 1937, Goodwin bought the red home at 269 Ridgewood Road, designed by Norris F. Prentice of the architectural department of the company.

Goodwin (far right) inspecting sheep, Sept. 1948

In January 1944, Goodwin left from his home in Clinton for the Army to fight in World War II. After the war ended in September 1945, Goodwin came back to Connecticut and lived in Clinton permanently with his wife, Barbara. The two bred sheep to win blue ribbons in the Eastern States Exposition sheep judging in 1948 onward. The couple developed Malabar Farm in Westbrook, adjacent to Clinton, into the late 1940's and early 1950's. In March 1953, Goodwin was elected to the Republican Town Committee at the GOP Caucus. In March 1960 and March 1962, he was re-elected. By May 1962, he was on the fund committee for raising funds to recondition the Fire Department amphibious duck. In March 1964, he was re-elected to the Republican Town Committee in Clinton again. He retired as a member of the Republican Town Committee in late August 1965 due to increased business pressures. He had been a member since 1953. He continued to operate the Goodwin Company until his retirement in 1980. He lived out the rest of his life on Waterside Lane, Clinton.

Personal Life and Death

His living room on Ridgewood Road, Oct. 1942

In October 1928, Goodwin became engaged to Barbara Rohrbach while they attended the University of Connecticut. He graduated in the spring of 1929. Two years later, on November 28, 1931, he was married to Barbara. He was best man at the wedding of his friend, Marie Schrader in Darien, Connecticut. Throughout the 1930's, as he and his wife worked with his step-father's real estate and insurance company, his wife also was involved with the Wampanoag Country Club in northern West Hartford, especially in 1940. For Christmas in 1941, the couple spent the holiday at their farm in Clinton. After buying their first home on Ridgewood Road in 1937, they bought a second house on Wood Pond in May 1942. They sold the home in early March 1943. After he served in the Army in World War II, he moved permanently with his wife to Clinton, Connecticut, and raised sheep on Malabar Farm, which they developed. In January 1965, his step-father, Wallace B. Goodwin, passed away at Lawrence Memorial Hospital in New London. The funeral was held days later, with Malcolm's aunts and uncles in attendance. Months later, he resigned from the Republican Town Committee and retired to his home on Waterside Lane. In September 1976, he questioned a petition for reclassification of a resident's 1.8 acres of his wetlands property on the street, asking how the land would be used. His mother, Lulu Cadwell , died on April 13, 1980 at the age of 98, leaving him with just his wife, Barbara.

On March 12, 1985, he died after a brief illness at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, having lived at 85 Waterside Lane. He had no children and was survived by his wife, Barbara, who died in December 1995.