Park Dixon Goist

Park Dixon Goist, PhD, died peacefully January 12, 2024, at Windsor Heights Memory Care in Beachwood, Ohio, under the care of Miracle City Hospice.

Beloved husband of Sarah May, and devoted stepdad of Joanna May (Hunkins) Cullinan, Park was born September 7, 1936, in Seattle, Washington. He was preceded in death by his parents Clarence and Helen Hunter Goist, sisters Anne Kinnear and Phyllis Askren, nephews Patrick and Michael Kinnear, great-nephew John Diaz, and his beloved son-in-law Tom Cullinan.

Park was a loving uncle to his surviving nieces Marilyn Russell, Betty Ann Lopez (Julian), Merle Askren, and Phyllis Chinn (Rick), his nephew Park Kinnear, and their extended families. He enjoyed his “honorary” role as stepdad to Serge Hunkins (Chandra) and Alain Hunkins (Mary) and the “grands” Theodore, Lucas, Kaia, Alexander, and Miranda!

A proud descendent of Oregon Trail pioneer Elizabeth Dixon Smith, Park loved the Pacific Northwest. He attended Queen Anne High School in Seattle, and graduated from The University of Washington in 1958 before moving east to earn his PhD in American History from The University of Rochester. Park joined the faculty of Case Western Reserve University in 1967 teaching for 35 years in the unique Department of Interdisciplinary Studies and serving as Director of the American Studies Program. He mentored a vast array of gifted students whose scholarship contributed to our understanding of The American Story.

In 1996 Park won Northern Ohio Live Magazine’s Award of Achievement for producing Hard Travelin’: The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie, the first of many American Masters’ Symposiums; annual celebratory collaborations between CWRU’s American Studies Program and The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

A lifelong writer Park produced academic books and papers, daily poems, bad jokes, frequent letters to the editor, and, later in life, plays. Park was an original member of the Playwrights Unit at the Cleveland Play House, and his work was produced on many stages locally as well as internationally. Together with Donald Bianchi, Park founded Ensemble Theatre’s Stagewrights program, which continues to flourish as it develops and supports the work of new playwrights. Park spent his last years at CWRU teaching dramatic history and literature for the Theatre Department where he helped launch The Cleveland Shakespeare Festival and the CWRU/CPH MFA Acting Program.

After his retirement Park served for many years on the boards of The Cleveland Shakespeare Festival and Ensemble Theatre, volunteered for the ACLU and devoted his energy to political action, voter registration and gun control.

Park is remembered as a friend to many, an energetic guy who lived life to the fullest. On campus he was active in fundraising drives, admissions recruiting trips, faculty talent shows, and played on the faculty softball team (The Mary’s Grindups.) Off campus he was part of more legendary groups: his poker buddies, the former Heights YMCA basketball team (The Aging Gym-rats,) the Phoenix Phellows Coffee Group, his Heights book club, and the Somerton Road Neighbors.

A true dynamic duo, Park and Sarah met and became friends in 1968 while campaigning for the peace candidate Eugene McCarthy, and both were married to other partners. They finally connected in 1984, marrying in 1987 (so Joanna could be a flower girl.) They enjoyed 37 years of marriage, often collaborating on theatre productions, and later supporting Joanna’s directorial projects. They loved travelling together, making numerous cross-country journeys to Seattle, often retracing the Oregon Trail. They took frequent theatre trips to London, had assorted adventures in Europe, and annual pilgrimages to the Stratford and Shaw Festivals in Canada. They rarely missed a Cleveland theatre event and enjoyed frequent dates to local independent restaurants, music events at the “old” Nighttown, museums, dance concerts, films, the farmer’s market, and Cleveland baseball games!

Friends will gather for a celebration of life on Sunday, August 25 at The Nature Center at Shaker Lakes, 2600 South Park Blvd in Shaker Heights at 12:30pm, with a program starting at 1:00. If you would like to bring a brunch dish to share, please contact Sarah at Maysie929@aol.com.

Contributions in Park’s name can be made to Ensemble Theatre, P.O. Box 181309, Cleveland Heights, OH 44118 or the ACLU of Ohio, 4506 Chester Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44103. PLEASE VOTE!

ARRANGEMENTS BY MAHER-MELBOURNE FUNERAL HOME OF NORTHEAST OHIO www.MaherMelbourne.com