Edith Goodwin Van Arsdale, (Mom, Vammy, Bubba, Edie, Miss Edith) age 100 of Bordentown, NJ, passed away on Monday, December 23, at St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton, NJ, with members of her family by her side.

One hundred years ago on September 23, 1919, a baby girl was born in a second-floor bedroom of a home that her grandfather, William Wallace Goodwin, had purchased at a sheriff's sale in 1883.  The home was then known as No. 1 Farnsworth Avenue, Bordentown, New Jersey.  That property on the Bordentown Hilltop also included a very large horse barn and several vacant properties, extending almost down to the end of the block at Second Street.  Eventually, the properties were sold off and homes were built.  What is now known as "Hilltop Park" was also part of the original Goodwin property.

Although Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin raised their three boys in the large Italianate home that overlooked the Crosswicks Creek where it reached the Delaware River at Bordentown, Mr. Goodwin traveled by train daily into Philadelphia where he owned and managed the Goodwin Gas Company.  Each one of their three boys had his own private suite on the second floor.

In 1901 Mr. Goodwin passed away and his son, William Wallace Goodwin, Jr., continued to reside there with his mother until she died.  In 1918 William W. Goodwin, Jr. married Ida Stults Pennypacker and they were blessed with baby Edith, born September 23, 1919.  Over the years the home changed roles which included a private dining room, a boarding home, a men's social club, furnished apartments, and finally unfurnished apartments.

Edith and her husband, Marvin, raised their three boys, William, Glenn, and Darryl there on the first floor and they rented out the four apartments upstairs.  In 1956 Edith began working in the cafeteria at the Clara Barton Elementary School at the rate of $1 per hour.

Marvin passed away in 1972 and Edith continued living in the entire downstairs area until she sold the home in 1984.  At that time, Edith, who was then 65 years old, moved upstairs and rented one of the apartments on the second floor.  That apartment was formerly one of the suites of one of her uncles.  Edith by then had become the cashier in the school cafeteria and in 1994 she retired from that position.  The house on the Hilltop is now an apartment house containing six apartments.

Then, in 2014 at the age of 94, Edith left the No. 1 Farnsworth Avenue home (the post office changed the address to 2 Hilltop Street in 2008) and moved to the other end of town to an assisted living facility called "The Clare Estate".  She could often be seen sitting there in the lobby doing her crossword puzzles and being the unofficial greeter.  Her lovely small apartment at "The Clare Estate" looked out onto Crosswicks Street, which is one of the main streets of her beloved Bordentown.

Edith was predeceased by her parents, Ida and Will Goodwin; her husband, Marvin; and her sons, Glenn, Darryl and William.  She is survived by her cousins  Harriett O'Rourke and Margaret Copner; her second cousin Colleen Spencer; half-nephew John Imlay; daughters-in-law Ellen and Margaret; grandchildren Marnie and husband Mike, Caleb and wife Becky, Jeff and wife Diana, Abby and husband Randy; and several great grandchildren. Also by special friends Anne and Steven Fithian.

Friends may visit the family at the Peppler Funeral Home, 122 Crosswicks Street, Bordentown, on Saturday, January 4 from 3-4:30 pm after which there will be a memorial service. If desired, donations may be sent to the First Presbyterian Church, 420 Farnsworth Avenue, Bordentown, NJ, 08505.