King Arthur expert, Vermont native, dies at 89


CLAREMONT, Calif. -- Norma Lorre Goodrich, a prolific author and former
professor who unearthed what she called the true story behind the legend
of King Arthur, died Sept. 19, her longtime assistant told the Los
Angeles Times. She was 89.
Goodrich, a native of Huntington, Vt., died of natural causes at her
home in Claremont, Darin Stewart told the newspaper.

The author spent many years researching books on King Arthur, Merlin,
Guinevere and the Holy Grail, traveling to Scotland with John Hereford
Howard, following routes in ancient maps, and studying clues gathered
from artifacts and writings.
Goodrich determined that King Arthur was a real person who once lived in
Scotland, not a mythical hero in southwestern England or Wales as others
had thought, while Guinevere was a Pictish queen and Lancelot a Scottish
king.

Goodrich graduated from the University of Vermont in 1938 with a
bachelor's degree. She later earned doctoral degrees in French and Roman
philology from Columbia University.
In 1964, Goodrich married Howard and began teaching French and
comparative literature at the University of Southern California. She
became dean of the faculty at Scripps College in Claremont seven years
later.