What does the small town of Grand Falls-Windsor Newfoundland have in common with the Madawaska Valley? According to Stephen (Steve) Goodyear it’s 100 per cent the people.
“While I wouldn’t trade the experience of growing up in Newfoundland for anything, I can say there is one thing I have found to be the same here in the Valley, and that’s the people. Honest, hard-working, genuine, friendly, kind people, who would do anything to help you. Celeste and I felt this similarity between Newfoundland and the Madawaska Valley right from the start and although we miss the unique beauty of Newfoundland, the people here make us feel like we never really left home at all.”
Born in 1974 to Baxter Goodyear, a mechanic who worked at the local pulp and paper mill, and Barbara, a medical receptionist for Regional Health Care, Steve remains grateful for a childhood filled with adventure and the traditions of The Rock. “My father was born and raised in the tiny coastal community of Ladle Cove, and as was true of so many men in Newfoundland years ago, my father’s father, provided for his family in many ways. My Pop Goodyear was primarily a fisherman, but he was also a logger, hunter, farmer, cooper, carpenter, and sealer. I used to love visiting my grandparents in Ladle Cove. Pop would wake us up at the crack of dawn to head down to the wharf to prepare for a day of fishing. Depending on what part of the fishing season it was, we would haul lobster pots, check fishing nets, or jig codfish.
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