Luckily, she wanted to be a teacher and so began a lifelong commitment to education, which culminated in her being awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia.
The award also acknowledges service to the Anglican Church ” she is a member of the church’s General Synod and Perth Diocesan Synod and a long-time worshipper at Christ Church in Claremont.
Mrs Godwin’s 40-year working life began as an English teacher in the Bahamas in 1962 and finished in Hillarys in 2002, after 17 years as foundation principal at St Mark’s Anglican Community School.
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READ NOWShe is still busy with education and church commitments, including chairing the Anglican Schools Commission.
Mrs Godwin said St Mark’s was a ‘bold new venture’ in Anglican education when it opened in 1986, offering high-quality, low-fee education to those who could not afford the older established Anglican schools.
‘I’m very proud that I was the one to pioneer that. We had no model to use and had to devise strategies as we went along,’ she said.
‘Because it was such a success, the Anglican Schools Commission opened more schools so there are now 10 (including Mindarie, Beechboro and Mirrabooka campuses) with an 11th to open in Alkimos next year.’
n Duncraig’s Andrew Beadle was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the civil aviation industry, particularly air traffic management.
An air traffic controller for Airservices Australia from 1978 to 2006, he wrote an International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers Association’s statement on future air-traffic management. He is a life member of the Civil Air Operations Officers Association of Australia.