Willie Freeman Godwin - People of the Ocklawaha Traditional Cache

Willie Freeman Godwin

W.F. Godwin was born in the community of Lacota, not far from the Ocklawaha River. He quit school at the age of 12 to provide for his family. He served in the US Navy, participating in over a dozen combat landings in the Pacific theater. He worked as a laborer for the filming of The Yearling. He and his wife settled in the community of Connor, and had property bordering the river, before the cross FL barge canal project. He was in charge of heavy equipment firefighting for the SE region of the US Forest Service, 2nd in command to the ranger for the ONF. After retirement, he ran a sawmill and sugar cane production. In later years he built a replica of the house he was raised in and a one-room church/school and donated them to the Silver River State Park. They became the cornerstone of the cracker village there. He died at age 86 and is burried in the Ocklawaha Bridge Baptist Church cemetary.