Dash Between: Paul Goode, 58, father, fisherman, hunter, coach

Paul Goode, silhouetted against the waters of the St. Lawrence Seaway in the Thousand Islands area of Canada, where he fished since childhood. (Photo courtesy of the family.)

Paul E. Goode's children say he was more than just a father to them.

"He was like my best friend," his son Gordon said. "We hunted, we fished, we camped. He treated us like equals sometimes. He always viewed us as his friends and not (as) his kids.”

When his four kids were young, Goode served as an adult volunteer/advisor/coach for their various activities, including baseball, softball, 4-H and Boy Scouts.

The auto mechanic from North Ridgeville, Ohio, who died of complications from cancer May 11, 2011, at age 58, also taught his kids, “Never give up on anything. Remember that life’s too short to worry about the little things.”

Click here to read Goode's Dash Between, which appropriately was published in the Father's Day 2011 edition (June 19, 2011) of the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram, and here to view his photo gallery.

Little Paul Eugene Goode and his father, Paul Edward Goode, show off the fish they caught in Canada in 1956. (Photo courtesy of the family.)