Gloria Bledsoe Goodman kept pulse on Salem society and food during her newspaper career

Gloria Bledsoe Goodman, a long-time reporter, editor and columnist for the Capital Journal and Statesman Journal, died Jan. 12 of natural causes at a Mount Angel retirement community. She was 91.

Goodman kept a pulse on Salem with her pen and notebook for three decades and was well known in social circles and restaurant dining rooms.

"She had a big following around the valley, (with) her fans and not-so-much fans," son Dixon Bledsoe wrote in an email to the Statesman Journal. "I always joked that even people who couldn't stand her invited her to the best parties in the valley because they wanted to be in her column.

"She called it the Society Page. I called it the Gossip Column."

Goodman wrote about community events and celebrations, big and small. Her column often revealed tidbits about the lives of prominent residents, such as a stickler of a judge whose remodeling project stalled because he failed to get a building permit and a certain governor's daughter who made the rally squad at a local high school.

She launched her newspaper career in 1967 as a Silverton correspondent for the Capital Journal, Salem's afternoon publication. (The Oregon Statesman published in the mornings.) She caught an editor's eye while working as a stringer for the Silverton Appeal Tribune.

Goodman wore many hats during her 31-year career spanning the two competing newspapers, their separate sales to the Gannett Company in 1973, and eventually their merger in 1980. She was a news reporter, feature writer, section editor, food writer, columnist and restaurant critic.

"She was very popular," long-time Salem resident Shelley Burrell Lewelling said. "People still remember her. She did leave a lasting mark."

Lewelling and Goodman were colleagues and friends.

They met in 1969 when Lewelling became editor of the newly launched Capital Life section and hired Goodman as her assistant. Capital Life was a modernized replacement for the Capital Journal's women's section.

They teamed to produce an award-winning section that included a mix of news about society, women and families.

"The women's lib movement was starting to take off," Lewelling said. "We did stories that empowered women."

Goodman took over as the Capital Life editor in 1974 when Lewelling left for a job out of state. They remained close friends and often traveled together.

One memorable trip to Washington, D.C., included lunch with U.S. Sen. Mark Hatfield and his chief of staff, Gerry Frank, in the Senate dining room. Goodman wrote about how she ordered the dining room's famous bean soup, on the menu since the early 1900s, even though Frank recommended against it.

"The bean soup wasn't that great," she wrote in the March 28, 1979 edition of the Capital Journal, "but at least I could say I had it."

Later in 1979, Goodman accompanied Oregon Secretary of State Norma Paulus on a trip to New York City for an awards banquet featuring Paulus as one of 10 "Women of the Future" as recognized by Ladies Home Journal.

Goodman also made a trip to the Big Apple in 1981 to cover a release party for the second edition of Frank's guidebook "Where to Find It, Buy It, Eat It in New York."

In 1983, she and Statesman Journal photographer Gerry Lewin were guests on Charles Shulz's private jet after being invited to spend time with the Peanuts creator in Santa Rosa, California, where the cartoonist built an ice arena. Schulz had a friend in Salem who did stained glass window work for his home and the arena.

Goodman mentioned riding around town with Schulz in his "butterscotch-colored Mercedes coupe" in one of her stories.

Her travels closer to home took her to restaurants. She wrote about how that became part of her job in a 2001 story commemorating the Statesman's 150th anniversary.

The executive editor, using his editorial blue pencil like a wand, walked up to her and proclaimed: "Bledsoe, you're going to be our restaurant critic."

Although she questioned the move, it made sense because her columns focused on what was happening in and around Salem.

"I was often out on the social beat lunching and dining," she wrote. "One of the best things to come out of those years on the food beat was seeing Salem evolve from a meat and potatoes menu town to a more cosmopolitan city where almost any kind of cuisine can be found."

Her words as a restaurant critic wielded power.

She once was blamed for an owner's heart attack and subsequent closing of his restaurant, and a local tavern once put this message on its reader board: "Eat here. Gloria Bledsoe has not!"

Lewin, whose 35-year career as a photographer overlapped with Goodman's, was a frequent dining companion, and they covered countless other assignments together.

"She had a lot of charm and was a radiant woman," Lewin said. "It was always a pleasure to be around Gloria."

Goodman retired from the Statesman Journal in 1990 to pursue other interests, including writing books based in part on her experience after being divorced and remarrying.

First came "A Woman's Guide to Prime Time Dating." She interviewed 100 women in their 40s through 70s and wrote about money, sex, bars, personal ads and feminism, according to a Statesman Journal report about the book.

Lewelling said Goodman's original title for the book was "A Grandmother's Guide to Dating," but the publisher changed it.

Goodman followed up with "Keys to Living With a Retired Husband," providing practical advice in whimsical style.

Even after she retired, she continued to write monthly restaurant reviews for the Statesman Journal until 1998. Her "Dining Out" column appeared in the Weekend section.

Capi Lynn is a 33-year veteran reporter and columnist at the Statesman Journal. She can be reached at 503-399-6710 or clynn@StatesmanJournal.com, or follow her on Twitter @CapiLynn and Facebook @CapiLynnSJ.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Gloria Bledsoe Goodman kept pulse on Salem society, food during career