Portrait June Goodwin. IMB Photo

June Goodwin, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in South Korea, died June 5, 2026. She was 97.  

June was born June 23, 1928, in Travelers Rest, South Carolina, to the late H.L. Batson and Florence Hawkins Batson. She received the Bachelor of Arts from Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina, and the Master of Religious Education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas.  

She married J.G. Goodwin Jr. on May 18, 1952. The following year they moved to North Carolina and entered the pastorate of the First Baptist Church in Clyde.  

While seeking missionary appointment June wrote of her calling to missions, “When I entered college, only two inquiries were made as to my ‘career.’ One was if I planned to be a schoolteacher and the other, if I was going to be a missionary. To both, I answered emphatically, no! I graduated in June of 1950 with a teacher’s certificate and plans of going to the mission field, and I was supremely happy with the changes that He had made in my life.” 

In 1956, the International Mission Board appointed J.G. and June missionaries to Korea, where they served faithfully for four decades.  

June was preceded in death by her husband of 61 years, J.G. Goodwin Jr.  

She is survived by her sons, James G. Goodwin III and John H. Goodwin. 

A funeral service will be held in August at Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina.