After St Patrick's College, Godfrey Goodson qualified from Otago in 1943, did house jobs in Wellington, and then went to England for postgraduate surgical training, passing the FRCS in 1950. He returned to New Zealand in 1951 as resident surgeon at the Hutt Hospital and was elected to the visiting staff in 1958, practising also at Calvary Hospital and Home of Compassion, Island Bay. He was a keen member of the Royal New Zealand Naval Voluntary Reserve with whom he joined the New Zealand team at Qui Non during the Vietnam war. He died on 2 August 1996, survived by his wife, one son and one daughter.