Leamington homicide victim remembered as woman of faith, kindness

The friends of an 83-year-old homicide victim in Leamington are remembering her as a woman of faith, kindness and generosity. 

Anita Goodings was found dead in her Sherk Street apartment last week when officers responded to a well-being check, the OPP said. 

"She was a loving person, a quiet person," longtime friend Louise Waggott said Monday. "I'm going to miss her terrible." 

Carolina Hummel, another close friend, said Goodings was giving and unselfish.

"If you needed anything, she would give you the shirt off her back," Hummel said. 

On Saturday, officers arrested and charged 61-year-old Kevin Goodings with second-degree murder, the OPP said. 

Waggott and Hummel confirmed that Kevin is one of Anita's two sons and had been living with her since around December.

Kevin is a bodybuilder who also worked as a bouncer, Hummel said.

"She asked him to move in because he didn't have a house, he didn't have a car," she said.

Taking him in was "what a mother would do," Waggott said.  

Goodings was from northern Ontario and didn't have much family locally, the women said. But she had her friends, a boyfriend and her church community.

Friends mourn elderly Leamington homicide victim as woman of faith, kindness

1 day ago

Duration 1:45

Leamington homicide victim Anita Goodings, 83, is being remembered as a someone who always put others before herself. CBC's Dalson Chen spoke with Carol Hummel and Louise Waggott - two Leamington seniors who met Goodings through church, and maintained their friendship for more than 30 years.

"She was well liked in church," Waggott said. "She was the first one to do anything."

The trio of women had been friends for at least three decades, Waggott said, and attended Seventh Day Adventist Church in Leamington together. Goodings loved "anything to do with the Bible." 

"If you found her Bible you could tell it was well used," Waggott said. 

The friends also enjoyed playing games like rummikub and euchre together every week. 

"She was a very easy person to get along with, with cards or anything," Waggott said. "She's a very, very nice person."

Waggott said she'd like the community to remember her friend for "how good she was, how thoughtful she was, how religious she was."

"I just thought, when she died, her last breath here on earth is the first one in heaven," she said, her voice cracking.

"She died way too soon," Hummel said, shaking her head. "She didn't deserve what happened to her."

Police say the investigation is ongoing.