John Goodnight was a 2002 OCWS President’s Award recipient, an exceptional volunteer, a dedicated member, and a remarkable financial expert. This July 2026, the Orange County Wine Society lost one of its most passionate and valued gentlemen.
John was undoubtedly one of OCWS’s pioneers and visionaries. In 1986 John first ran for the Board of Directors and was elected as Treasurer, his first mandate was to obtain a computerized financial program. At this time, the OCWS financials were prepared by an outside accounting service. John stated, “All we used was the check register and a cigar box!” After researching, John found a shareware program that did the trick. John also influenced the Board of Director decision that there was a need for a full-time Office Administrator. Prior to this time, the Office Administrator was in a part-time position being considered as an independent contractor. John had the unenviable position of setting up and complying with all the state and federal requirements for full-time employees. John continued to function as the OCWS Treasurer for nine of his twelve years on the Board, two of those years he served as the OCWS President.
The OC Fair
John worked the OC Fair night shifts and locked up daily. He instituted Cashier Procedures by creating forms, accounting sheets, and cash controls. He also assisted in organizing shift controls. John was the OCWS President when Norb Bartosik, the General Manager of the OC Fair, approached the OCWS with the idea of providing the OCWS with a new venue during the Fair. Originally, the Wine Garden and later called Wine Pavillion and now called Wine Courtyard, was relocated. Despite this relocation, the then-called Wine Pavilion enjoyed a 35% increase in gross revenue during its first year and has been our primary source of revenue since then.
Newsletter
Prior to John managing The Wine Press, the newsletter was not printed consistently. John wanted to make sure The Wine Press was printed once a month.
Preparing The Wine Press was a monumental task. Articles would be prepared using a Word file then cut and pasted on to “paste-up boards.” They kept the Newsletter to about 8 to 12 pages. Later, John started utilizing Microsoft Publisher, a desktop publishing software. He did this monthly for 17 years. Jane Goodnight would edit the final version. They would then take The Wine Press to the printer to print and collate about 600 to 700 copies since that was the amount of the membership at that time. They would then have to print labels and postage then take the newsletter to the post office for mailing. A herculean task, to say the least!
John jokes that he included a joke page in the newsletter which was comprised of cartoons and light humor sourced from the web. One person complained to the Board, so they printed that a vote was taken resulting in a landslide for keeping the joke page.
Under John’s leadership, graphics from the Wine Press won numerous OC Fair ribbons including the Blue Ribbon First Place for the Wine Press and a Best of Show award for the Extraordinaire program.
Jane
Around 1979, is when Jane McGrath met John Goodnight. They met at a piano bar at the Rose and Crown in South Coast Village in Cost Mesa. Jane was, and still is, a member of the OCWS Commercial Wine Competition Steering Committee, and she invited John to OCWS events. Jane remembers their first Valentine where John stated, “I like RC, you like wine, won’t you be my Valentine?” Jane started inviting John to OCWS wine events and he quickly got heavily involved in volunteering and leadership at OCWS all happily leading to a 1983 wedding.
Jane has fond memories of her and John participating in one of the most popular OCWS events, The Chili Cook-off! She remembers one year they won for the mildest chili, but they were a little disappointed in that award label so the following year they made a really hot chili, and they won for the hottest chili and felt a lot better about that award!
Membership Chairperson
In 1987 and 1988, while serving as OCWS Treasurer and Membership Chairperson, John estimated there were about 350 members. Membership information was stored on an Excel spreadsheet. The OCWS would do a mass mailing for dues collection in November and December using mail merge. However, John remembers the Board of Directors discussed their promise to the membership to always look after the membership and operate on a break-even basis, not on a “for profit” basis. As a result, the Board felt this process was not fair to the members who joined late in the calendar year, so they started an annual membership renewal. Membership renewal would commence on the anniversary of when the member joined.
John remembers that the Orange County Fair (OC Fair) was always the best recruitment time for new members. The number of new members joining would be about 40 to 50. There used to be a dual $10 family membership offering.
Times have changed, but one thing remains certain: OCWS is fortunate to have dedicated, enthusiastic and passionate members, yet few have matched the leadership, vision, and valuable contributions John brought to the organization.
–Linda Flemins