2022 WSDA Citizen of the Year: Dr. Burt Goodman
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"A GREAT RIDE!"
It’s a given that anyone in their mid-90s has seen a lot along the way. But few of those reaching that milestone have done as much as Burt Goodman, DDS. Even fewer have had the lasting impact on their profession and their community that he has had. In recognition of this life of accomplishment and his amazing professional and personal legacy, Goodman has been honored with the 2022 WSDA Citizen of the Year award.His is an inspiring story and, as with all stories, it’s best to start at the very beginning. Born in 1928 in Tacoma, Goodman was a child of the Great Depression. His childhood memories of his neighbors struggling with economic hardship helped instill a lasting commitment to helping those in need.
“We lived in a nice part of town, but up and down the neighborhood, folks were out of work. So many had been laid off and there were no jobs out there. Most took whatever odd jobs they could find and lived hand-to-mouth,” he recalls. “There were no social safety nets back then; only the so-called ‘county poor house.’ Somehow, we never lost our house or missed a meal, like so many others did.”
“It made me quite sensitive to the plight of others and defined my future life and ambitions.”
Goodman attended St. Patrick’s parochial school and Bellarmine Preparatory School, institutions that reinforced his inclinations to serve others. He then went on to attend Seattle University before enrolling at the University of Washington School of Dentistry.
That Goodman’s interest in serving others would manifest itself through dentistry – a goal that he says was formed in his teenage years – can be attributed in large part to the inspiration provided by his family dentist, Joe McLaughlin, DDS. McLaughlin served as a role model and mentor to the young Goodman, including taking him to the WSDA annual meeting held at Seattle’s Olympic Hotel (now the Seattle Fairmont).
McLaughlin, like Goodman, was Catholic, and part of his practice was treating Pierce County’s priests and nuns for free, because they had no dental benefits back then. It was a service that Goodman would take over when he was in private practice and McLaughlin retired. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves; there are other good parts of this story before then.
THE “MEET CUTE”
The “meet cute” is a plot tool used by Hollywood screenwriters to bring together – often in amusing, clever, or improbable ways – two characters who are meant for each other.
In Goodman’s case, his meet cute happened at a Christmas Eve midnight mass at Saint Patrick’s, his grade school alma mater. It was a crowded service, and the Goodman family was forced to join other celebrants standing in an overflow area in a vestibule at the rear of the church.
The featured soloist was famous – or perhaps infamous – for having a pronounced warble in her voice, and Burt’s parents made him promise not to laugh when he heard it. But sure enough, when the singer cranked up her rendition of “Adeste Fideles,” he found himself having a hard time containing himself. This situation wasn’t helped when Goodman looked at his mother and saw that she, too, was struggling not to laugh.
But beyond his mother, he caught the eye of Miss Edna Lou Enright, a young woman who had been one year behind him in elementary school. Now working as a medical technician at Harborview Hospital, Edna Lou’s laughter was also simmering just below the surface. Burt glanced at her finger and noticed she wasn’t wearing a ring. Brought together by their shared moment of illicit near-laughter, he decided to ask her out.
It worked out well; they’ve been married for 68 years.
THE FAMILY MAN
Together, the Goodmans had five children, daughters Jane and Ann, and sons Paul, Marty, and Bob. They, in turn, have produced six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, with another on the way. All settled locally.
As their young family grew, the Goodmans enjoyed ski trips to White Pass and Whistler. In the summer, they were likely to be found visiting their good friends, the Brachvogels, on Hood Canal and staying at the nearby Siskan resort.
“Both families had five children, so we could overwhelm small local restaurants,” recalls Goodman’s son Paul. “One time, all 14 of us – 10 kids and four parents – descended on a small restaurant for breakfast. Shortly after we sat down, we saw the cook run outside. About 10 minutes later, we saw him hurriedly return with what looked to be several cartons of newly purchased eggs!”
Hood Canal visits weren’t the family’s only aquatic adventures. Much to his children’s excitement, Goodman one year began talking about buying a boat. One morning, he and Edna Lou called the children into their room for a major announcement.
When the kids learned that the big news was that they’d be getting a new baby sister, Marty Goodman was so disappointed that he cried out, “Why you would have another baby instead of a boat?”
Much to Marty’s relief, the family subsequently bought a 32-foot Fairliner and enjoyed it for a few years before Burt declared that he had to “get it off the payroll.”
Where there is love, there can also be loss. In 2007, the Goodmans’ daughter Ann died at age 44 of a rare cancer called Ewing’s Sarcoma.
“Ann was a total sweetheart, and we all loved her, none more than dad. He spent night after night with her in her hospice room in her final days,” Paul Goodman says. “She died on Father’s Day. As you can imagine, Father’s Day has been a bittersweet occasion ever since.”
Always one to share credit, Goodman cites his family’s support as being instrumental in his many accomplishments.
“My precious family, and especially the love of my life, my wife of 68 years, Edna Lou, but also our five kids and their spouses – nothing could have happened without their indulgence, understanding, and encouragement,” he says. “I’d like to think I’m receiving this coveted award on behalf of all of them.”
“LITTLE CAESAR”
Goodman began his contributions to the care of those in need shortly after graduating dental school at age 26. “At U-Dub, we were taught quality, sophisticated dentistry, but also professional ethics as a vital part of total health care – for all living souls,” he recalls.
“We’ve always been challenged by factors that have kept patients from seeking medical and dental care, fear and economic barriers getting top billing.”
In his case, overcoming those barriers to care for “all living souls” meant going beyond the private practice he was establishing in Tacoma to also create a dental clinic to provide care for needy patients. The clinic was located at Pierce County Hospital, a facility that no longer exists. Despite his youth and relative inexperience, he was named Chief of Dental Services for the hospital.
Pierce County Hospital was a place where people went when they were in desperate straits and out of options. Many suffered from mental illnesses and all were hurting and in dire need of help. Over time, many of the doctors responsible for dealing with this steady stream of desperation became “case hardened,” a condition where they developed a degree of numbness to the suffering of those around them.
Goodman wouldn’t accept that attitude, and he worked diligently to create an environment in which everyone was treated with compassion. This required running the dental clinic like a tight ship. Behind his back, the staff sometimes called him “Little Caesar,” a moniker that remained secret until one day when he overheard one of the staff referring to him that way. Later, as he was about to leave the facility, a staff member asked him where he was going.
“Little Caesar is going to lunch,” he replied.
Under Goodman’s watchful eye, the low-income clinic he founded eventually became one of the first in the state to offer regular internships for young dental school graduates. In addition to influencing the careers and serving as a mentor to many young dentists, Goodman led local efforts to secure hospital staff privileges for qualified dentists. He himself held such privileges at four major local hospitals, where he saw many patients at no charge.
Today, organized dentistry is again pursuing partnerships with hospitals to serve those patients who end up in emergency rooms for dental emergencies, often due to a lack of routine preventative care. Goodman was ahead of his time in recognizing and responding to this challenge.
“MY BABY”
As he continued building his practice, it didn’t take long for Goodman to become involved in organized dentistry. He joined the Tacoma/Pierce County Dental Society and began serving on various committees within WSDA.
In that capacity, Goodman was a founding member of the Washington State Dental Service Corporation (WSDSC), the dental benefits organization created by WSDA and that would go on to first become Washington Dental Service and later Delta Dental of Washington. He recalls that the initial funding for the organization came in the form of a $25,000 grant and a $25,000 loan from WSDA.
“As things developed, I had to make a choice,” he recalls. “I chose to go with the new ‘Service Corp.’ as it was called then. At the time, the officers of WSDA constituted the ‘Service Corp.’ executive committee and called the shots. We were just the workers in the field as there was no money to hire staff.”
Over time, WSDSC grew big enough that it broke off from WSDA. But that separation did not spell the end of Goodman’s involvement with WSDSC. He went on to serve as its associate dental director and eventually as its president. Along the way, he was also a founding member and the first president of the Washington Dental Service Foundation (now known as the Arcora Foundation), and a founding member and eventual president of the Delta Dental Plans Association.
As meaningful as those positions were, it was another foundation project that remains one of Goodman’s proudest accomplishments. He is credited with being the driving force – no pun intended – behind the creation of the foundation’s SmileMobile, a mobile dental office that serves communities in need.
“That was my baby,” Goodman says. “We realized that when people are in need, sometimes you have to bring the care to them.”
Not that personal accolades were ever his motivation, but Goodman’s efforts were recognized by the Foundation when it created the Burton H. Goodman Presidential Scholarship at the UW School of Dentistry. The scholarship award is focused on increasing diversity in the dental school student body, another example of where Goodman’s influence was ahead of its time. For its part, WSDA also honored Goodman’s SmileMobile efforts with its President’s Award in 1996.
BUILDING A STRONGER COMMUNITY
Goodman’s commitment to service went beyond ensuring that those in the greatest need received quality care. He was also intent on helping the entire dental community become as strong as possible.
In addition to his involvement with the Pierce County Dental Society and Washington State Dental Association, he was also a Fellow of both the American College of Dentists and the International College of Dentists, two by-invitation organizations that focus on ethics in the profession.
Over the years he also assumed many leadership roles with state and federal agencies. This included serving as a member of the Washington State Board of Health when it was in its infancy, as a founding member and eventual chairperson of the Washington State Dental Disciplinary Board (now known as the Dental Quality Assurance Commission), and as an examining agent for the Washington State Board of Dental Examiners.
He also served on important advisory boards for the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
But Goodman’s volunteer and philanthropic contributions have reached far beyond oral health. They were felt throughout the Tacoma and Pierce County community. (See sidebar for a small sampling of Goodman’s local involvements.)
“Not only were our families close, but he was also my childhood dentist, a role model, a mentor,” says Ted Baer, DDS. “I had a front row seat in watching Burt make positive differences in people’s lives through dentistry. If not for his encouragement and support, I would not have pursued dentistry as a career. It’s a very special relationship with an amazingly humble and authentic man.”
“To me, he is ‘Uncle Burt,’ even though he is not my real uncle; and he calls me his ‘godson,’ even though I’m not really his godson,” Baer adds. “Of course, he calls other ‘younger’ dentists in Tacoma – we’re all in our 60s! – his godsons, too. At 94, he is a ‘fully formed human being,’ the kind of person we all can aspire to be like.”
The always self-effacing Goodman puts it simply, “Dentistry opened many doors of opportunity for me and was my lifetime avocation. Throughout my professional lifetime, I found many opportunities – volunteering for roles in religious, philanthropic charities, educational, professional, military, and civic or community organizations.”
“If my life’s efforts have helped in any way, then I’m a happy man indeed. It’s been a great ride!”
See scenes from a remarkable career and life through snapshots, courtesy of the Goodman family, available here in the original article.
This article originally appeared in 2022, Issue 4 of WSDA News.
