GOLDWIN (GOLDY) SMITH POLLARD ’41
The Reverend Goldwin (Goldy) Smith Pollard died at age 88 on Dec. 1, 2008, after a long battle with cancer. His family celebrated his birthday early in mid-November. A memorial service was held on Jan. 10, 2009, at Grace Presbyterian Church in Jenkintown, Pa.
Goldy came to Amherst from New Braintree, Mass. At college he majored in history and received the Bancroft prize. He was a member of the Lord Jeff Club and of the Speakers’ Club. Goldy was also very active in the Christian Association and served as its secretary during his junior and senior years. As a loyal Amherst alumnus, Goldy attended many Class Reunions and Homecoming weekends.
During the summer of 1940, I had the privilege of serving with Goldy at “Amherst-in-Holyoke” where four Amherst students conducted a vacation bible school for a working class Congregational church. In 1948, Goldy earned a B.D. in Theology from Oberlin College and in 1954, an Ed.D. in Religion from Columbia Univ.
From 1942 to 1946, Goldy served in the U.S. Army. His pastoral work was mainly in the field of religious education for several Presbyterian churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois. In his later years, he served from 1981-1989 as chaplain at the Woodhaven Center for the Retarded in Philadelphia, Pa., and was a volunteer from 1979-1989 at the Philadelphia State Hospital.
Goldy was married in 1949 to Mary Ellsberg. After her death, he was married in 1984 to Rita Barbera. He leaves a son, Edward E. Pollard, and a daughter, Ann P. Heilakka.
—Dave Johnson ’41