DATE: Tuesday, June 17, 1997                TAG: 9706170352

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   80 lines

WITH THE HELP OF A $100 STRADIVARIUS, FAMILY FOUND GOODWILL IN 1925 NORFOLK

The late Charles Goodwin didn't know how to play the violin he bought on a whim at a Lynchburg auction house in the early 1900s.

Years after Goodwin let it go for $100, he would learn that what he'd sold for a song was a circa-1700s Stradivarius.

But the silent violin made music of a sort for Goodwin's family. In the summer of 1925, the Goodwins had packed their belongings into the back of a truck and headed for Florida, hoping to find work. They ran out of money after a month - and the $100 from the Strad's sale paid their way back to Norfolk.

Today, Goodwin's daughter, 83-year-old Kathern Moore of Norfolk, says she'll always be grateful for the help her family received in Norfolk from Goodwill Industries.

And tonight, she will be guest of honor at the 72nd annual Goodwill Industries anniversary and awards dinner at the Hampton Radisson Hotel.

Once they returned to Norfolk, Charles Goodwin and his wife, Beatrice, eked out a living by working for the then-fledgling Goodwill Industries for $1 a day. He chopped kindling, and she repaired donated clothing. Eventually, the Goodwins thrived and opened a rooming house in Norfolk's downtown.

It's this kind of help Goodwill officials hope to give Hampton Roads citizens about to come off welfare.

In January, Goodwill opened its Career Resource Center on Tidewater Drive. In 1995, the training program, then housed behind the thrift shop, placed 68 of its 327 graduates in jobs.

Awards for community service to be presented tonight go to a public Peninsula agency and four individuals:

Gladys Little of Norfolk is Volunteer of the Year. Using scraps of material and notions, she outfits donated dolls that need repair.

Charlie Hoffman of Norfolk is Employee of the Year. He has worked for Goodwill almost 15 years.

Cliff Reid of Hampton is Graduate of the Year. The single father and veteran attended Goodwill's computer skills training class while holding down two jobs and has already received a promotion in his new job.

Ruverta Holms is Rehabilitation Counselor of the Year. She works for a Peninsula agency that serves veterans and was involved in Goodwill's employment services program.

Newport News' Office of Human Affairs is Employer of the Year. The agency recently hired two Goodwill graduates who in their work will, in turn, help direct others to programs and services that promote self-sufficiency.

Fred Grandy, president of Goodwill Industries International, will be guest speaker at tonight's celebration. Best known for his role on the long-running television series, ``The Love Boat,'' he became an outspoken advocate for the rights of the disabled during his four terms as an Iowa congressman.

Goodwill operates the world's largest network of private vocational rehabilitation programs and is the world's largest private employer of people with disabilities and other barriers to employment.

In 1925, A.J. Hollingsworth, social services director of the Wesleymen Bible Class at Epworth United Methodist Church in Norfolk, became Hampton Roads' first Goodwill director. The group had worked to establish the organization here.

Back then, no disability benefits were paid by the government.

Charles Goodwin - ``C.D.,'' as he was known to all but his wife, who ``always referred to him as Mister Goodwin,'' says Moore - was disabled as a result of a train wreck and walked with a cane.

Looking through some Goodwill photo albums recently, Kathern Moore came across a picture, possibly taken during the Great Depression, of the Norfolk Goodwill store.

``There!'' she exclaimed, pointing to an upper-story window. ``That's where Mama did the sewing - up there.''

She doesn't know what became of the rare Stradivarius. But whoever finally realized its value was probably set for life, she guesses.

Yet Moore thinks her family was set for life in another sense - for without that $100, she says, who knows what would have become of the Goodwin family? ILLUSTRATION: Photos

Kathern Moore, 83, will be the guest of honor at tonight's Goodwill

Industries program.

Photo courtesy of Goodwill Industries

Goodwill stores looked like this when they started in 1925. Charles

Goodwin chopped kindling here, and his wife, Beatrice, repaired

donated clothing.

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