Wayne Paul Goodnature

I was born November 28, 1945, in Albert Lea, Minnesota. I left behind my beloved Cate, as well as the family and friends I held so dear, on August 29, 2026. Our family settled in Austin where I went to school and grew up. My parents, Dave and Eileen Goodnature, were amazing people and role models in every way possible. They were both influenced by the “Great Depression” and “World War II”.

I was the second of four boys; I was generally a happy kid growing up. As a little boy I often announced I was running away from home, and my mom always packed me a lunch and kissed me goodbye. By late afternoon I always made my way back home for supper.

I grew up near Woodson School until about 6th grade and then we moved to a new home near Neveln School. Both locations provided kids with loads of friends, adventures, fishing, building forts, engaging in practical jokes, and doing stuff we were not supposed to be doing. I distinctly remember my friend and I riding our sock horses to the neighborhood market and tying them up to the store railing. We walked into the store in full cowboy outfits creating considerable laughter among those seeing the ordeal.

After graduating from high school, I enlisted in the military. I was 17 and one of thousands entering service during the Vietnam War. I served aboard the Ballistic Missile Submarine Stonewall Jackson. Our missions were in the Pacific Ocean, the consequences of which are still classified as top secret to this day. I spent an entire year under the ocean over the course of four separate missions. Service in the military stayed with me as a strong point of personal pride throughout my life, along with an ample number of nightmares.

I left the military in the late 1960s and was hired by the Mower County Sheriff’s Department in 1969. I worked as a jailer and then as a patrol officer. In 1979 and in my early 30s I was elected Sheriff. I was one of the younger sheriffs in Minnesota at the time. During my career I completed a four-year college degree majoring in criminal justice. I graduated from the FBI Academy in 1986, an incredible honor for me and our community. I helped organize the Southeastern Drug Task Force which went on to help curtail drug trafficking in southeastern Minnesota. I was Sheriff during the Hormel P-9 strike and also led several complicated murder investigations during my 16-year tenure as Sheriff. It was a great honor to have served as Mower County’s elected Sheriff.

There were four boys born into our family, Steven, Greg, James, and me. My oldest brother Steven died in an accidental electrocution shortly after he retired from 20 years in the Air Force. Greg and Jim both enjoyed lengthy and successful careers in the telecommunications industry. We all remained great friends throughout our lives, never once uttering a harsh word to one another, a feat requiring some considerable restraint as Jim and Greg were always diehard Republicans, me not so much! I loved them both and could not have asked for better siblings.

I had a colorful personal life marrying four times total. Although my chosen mates were exceptional women, I was not able to get things right until I met Catherine Earl whom I married and was madly in love with from the moment we met until my life was over. There is no way that I could find the adequate words to describe how wonderful it was to have had her as my wife and partner in life. The key was that I never gave up looking for the right person. I was so blessed to have finally found her.

I had two biological children and three adopted children. My oldest daughter, Susan, took her own life in 2013, a tragedy I struggled with daily.

My youngest daughter, Heidi, whom I love dearly, provided me with a life of laughter that kept me and many others interested in her every move. She too immersed herself in a military carrier that somehow she was able to turn into her own SNL (Saturday Night Live) performance. She served honorably in an active combat zone during the Iraq War as a Combat Medic. Her daughter, Kennedy, also completed a very honorable military career of her own as a Military Police Officer and spending just short of a year at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. I do not know if they were following me, but I am going to take some credit anyway. If her daughter, my great-granddaughter Myra, chooses to serve, I will take credit for that one too.

Catherine and I raised our granddaughter from the age of nine. I saw her as my own daughter and loved her with all my heart. I have the highest of hopes for her and endless pride in who she is becoming.

Late in my life I published my first book, a memoir covering the majority of my life. This book was a very special accomplishment that helped my aging go a little smoother. I am currently editing my second book which I intend to be a part fiction part nonfiction thriller.

Throughout my life many things became critically important to me. But in the end, it was my life with Catherine that mattered the most. We never once said, “I wish we would have.” We were both moved by adventure and adventure we did. When I became older and eventually disabled, she kept me going on endless escapades making memories as we went. I cannot describe in words what it was like to love her and to know that she loved me too. It was the relationship I always dreamed of.

“Wayne, you not only love me in the way I always wanted, but you love me in the ways I never knew I needed. Good night, Sweetie! Love, Cate”

“My dad will forever be missed by those of us who truly knew and loved him. He was the kindest, gentlest person who loved all of his girls so deeply. He had an adventurous spirit and was always down for anything and everything. A couple years ago, as we drove from Austin to San Diego with our only real plan being to see the Redwoods, we were masters at “Just Winging It.” He often suggested that we should climb one mountain or another, to which Catherine and I always let him know that we would wait for him at the bottom because we had a very strict no-hiking policy.

My dad and Cate raised their granddaughter Finn, whom I affectionately refer to as my little sister. All of us traveled together when we could. Having been my father’s daughter, it was a unique perspective to watch him raise Finn from the outside looking in. His gentleness, kindness, undying loyalty, and fierce protection of her were exactly the qualities of the dad he had always been to me. Finn is on a path that will set her up for greatness, and I know that my dad, her Ganka, is so proud of her and the woman she has become.

A couple weeks ago, when he was hospitalized, we were chatting about his love for Cate and how he could never be able to put into words how much he loved her. I told him that he didn’t need to, because she has always known. I told him that it was important for me, as his daughter, to tell him that I have never doubted for one second the love that she has for him. They had a relationship that most people only dream of.

I will end with this. My papa and I communicated sometimes on an almost daily basis using Facebook Messenger. We thought we were both the most hilarious people we had ever known. Our messaging thread would probably get us banished. In the condolences today, my cousin Michelle summed it up perfectly when she said that I am amazing, kind, and unapologetically wonderful, and that is because of my dad. I couldn’t agree more.

My dad is survived by all of the people who showed up for him.

I Love You Papa! Heidi”

Friends and family will hold a celebration of Wayne Goodnature’s life as a Sheriff, Navy Veteran, family legend, and serial traveler. Since Wayne was never big on being fussed over, we're gathering to do what he'd wanted: tell the best stories, laugh, and toast to a legendary life well-lived. This celebration will be held at a later date.

Wayne lived a life full of big service, bigger adventures, and enough wild stories to make a room full of deputies question their line of work. He wore many hats - husband, dad, grandfather, lawman, submariner - and usually wore them while planning his next grand escape with Cate.

Worlein-Hoff Funeral Homes of Austin are assisting the family with arrangements.