Woodworker creates new Irwin Goodman memorial after vandalism

A new memorial cross now stands near the place where Finnish singer Irwin Goodman died after someone stole the plaque from the original monument last summer, Yle reports.

The memorial is at a rest stop on Vaalimaantie road in Virolahti. The missing plaque bore Goodman’s name and his date of death, 14 January 1991.

Veikko Paronen, a woodworking hobbyist from Hamina, noticed the plaque was gone when he stopped there on his way back from a fishing trip.

“It felt awful that someone could do something like that,” Paronen said. When he returned about two weeks later and the monument had still not been repaired, he decided to make a replacement using the tools and skills in his home workshop.

Paronen made the new cross and plaque from oak, cutting the letters and numbers with a fretsaw before treating the wood. The work took a couple of days. He placed the new cross in front of the remains of the old one, of which only the upright post and a piece of wood replacing the broken crossbeam remained.

Goodman died near the rest stop on 14 January 1991, while travelling back from a performance trip to Vyborg, then in the Soviet Union. Biographer Tuomas Marjamäki said Goodman had been ill before the trip, with a fever and severe earache, and later developed chest pain and difficulty breathing.

The group set off for Finland and Hamina hospital, but was delayed for a couple of hours at the Soviet border. After they crossed into Finland, Goodman told guitarist and roadie Urpo Illikainen, who was driving: “Put your foot down, Illikainen, I’m running out of air.” Nothing could be done by the time they reached the hospital.

Paronen said he had never met Goodman or attended one of his concerts, but had often seen people stop at the memorial. Candles and other mementoes had been left at the original cross over the years, and several candles were burning at the new one when Yle visited.

Marjamäki called the theft of the plaque a mean and degrading act. He said people may want small pieces of a legend, and suggested the plaque could eventually be sold. Goodman died 35 years ago, but Marjamäki said he was glad people still remember him.

Tags: Irwin Goodman, Virolahti, memorial