Goodman was born Felicitas Daniels in Budapest, Hungary in 1914, the first of two children. Her parents immigrated to Hungary from Germany and spoke German at home. She attended college at Heidelberg University in Germany. After World War II she immigrated to Columbus, Ohio with her three children; her fourth child was born a few years later. When her children were grown, Felicitas Goodman returned to school and earned a master's degree in linguistics and a doctorate in cultural anthropology at Ohio State University. She taught at Denison University until her retirement in 1979.