Although Massachusetts is home base for William H. Godson III ’51, he has spent much of his life seeing the world far beyond New England’s borders. His wanderlust began when he was very young, and his father, an officer in the U.S. Navy, took his family to spend summers in Turkey.
Godson’s travels have taken him throughout Europe, Africa, and Central America. His academic interests are similarly international: he earned a doctorate in Latin American Studies from American University, and has visited nearly every country on that continent.
He includes Princeton among his favorite destinations. He and his wife, Juliet H. Godson, have returned for his 50th, 55th, and—this past May—his 60th Reunion.
Over the years Godson has supported Old Nassau in a number of ways. He gave an ancient Greek coin—originally a gift to his parents from a Greek family—to the Princeton University Art Museum. And he contributed to the Class of 1951 Seminar Room. Most recently, he and Juliet created two Princeton charitable gift annuities. They will receive fixed payments for life that are not dependent on investment performance. Their gifts will then be added to the Class of 1951 Annual Giving Endowment.
“I’m interested in supporting the University and in favor of contributing to academic studies,” Godson said. “The memories I have of Princeton are good ones.”
When they are not on the move, Juliet Godson coaches tennis at an independent school for girls in grades 6 through 12. Originally from Oxford, England, she has a special fondness for Princeton, which she first saw many years ago while visiting friends of her family. “I feel extraordinarily lucky to have married a Princetonian and have the chance to come ‘home’ when we visit,” she said.
