Betty Leaver Goff

Betty Leaver Goff of Riverside joined her loving husband in heaven on September 28, 2021. She passed after a brief illness at Tockwotton on the Waterfront in East Providence, RI.

Born in Cranston, she was the daughter of the late Idabelle (Ramsden) and Harold E. Leaver, the sister of the late Harold Gardner Leaver and survived by nieces, nephews, and close friends.

Betty was a 1953 graduate of Pembroke College where she served as class secretary and continued to be a fund-raising alumni member in support of women scholarships at Brown University.

In 1957, she married her soul mate Luther Merrick Goff, residing in Riverside for most of their 62 years together until his passing in 2019. Betty and Luther were inseparable, very much in love and best friends who loved to dress alike. They often traveled to Jensen Beach, Florida, Elbow Beach, Bermuda and spent time on their boat the “Anna Brown” in Narragansett Bay.

The Goffs ventured into a lifetime business as co-owners of the Goff Marine Company, designing electrical systems for yachts located at mariners on the northeast coast and Bermuda.

In addition to Betty’s career, she was passionate about collecting teddy bears, a hobby she shared with Pembroke friends. She organized many fundraising events for local charities. In 2001 after surviving lung cancer, she was instrumental in forming a women’s survivor's support group entitled “Out of the Shadows” at Women and Brigham's Hospital. The support group continues to assist lung cancer survivors and cancer research at Mass General Hospital. Betty remained active with the groups’ quarterly educational meetings until she encountered an illness this past May.

A celebration of life mass and her burial will be held Saturday, October 30th at 1:00 pm at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 191 County Road, Barrington, RI. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Betty’s memory to: Hope Health Hospice, 1085 North Main Street, Providence, RI 02904.