Winona Faye (Allen) Goedeke passed on to Heaven on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025.
Winona was born Nov. 3, 1931, in West Mineral to Harry and Golda (Morris) Allen. She and her identical twin, Ramona, attended and graduated from West Mineral High School in 1949. On March 12, 1949, she married Eldon F. Goedeke in Columbus. They were married 65 years when Eldon passed on Dec. 7, 2014. Winona was active in the community. Having grown up in the Sheridan 4-H Club, she went on to be a project leader for many years and a volunteer fair judge in the Southeast Kansas area. She was a member of the Sheridan Home Extension Unit for many years.
As a member of the West Mineral Methodist Church, she put together many a Thanksgiving dinner. In the 1960s, she was an Avon lady. Winona was part of the original Big Brutus founding group. She taught ceramics in her home. Eldon and Winona enjoyed Good Sam’s Camping Club so much that they belonged to two groups. She enjoyed the Traveling Pitch Club with close friends and the Center Chapel Ladies Club. But her most important hobby was with Cherokee County genealogy. She spent days micro-filming old records at the courthouse and helping set up research and preserve old records and information, filing and many years volunteering there, an incredible task that earned her a commendation from President Clinton.
Winona was preceded in death by her husband, Eldon; a son, Sheldon Goedeke; her parents, Harry and Golda Allen; two brothers, Lloyd Allen and Gerald Allen; and three sisters, Carrie Walker, Moauna Wilson and Ramona Honn. She is survived by four children, Sharon Strahan (husband, Ronald) of Girard, Darrel Goedeke (wife, Janis) of McCune, Vickie Johnson of Parsons and Dale Goedeke (wife, Janet) of Tonganoxie; 10 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and a daughter-in-law, Donna Bennett Goedeke Mays of Dangerfield, Texas.
The service is under the direction of Derfelt Funeral Home of Columbus and will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, Sept. 22, at the funeral home. The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 10 to 11 a.m. Burial will be at McCune Cemetery. The family suggests memorials to the Cherokee County Genealogy Society of Southeast Kansas, 205 N. Kansas St., Columbus, KS, 66725; or they may be left in care of the funeral home.
