Radford Goodloe Sr

Covington, Washing-Radford Reams Goodloe Sr., a genealogist, engineer and traveler, died January 6, 2018, at his home in Covington, Washington. He was 97 years old.

Born June 14, 1920, in McMinnville, Tennessee, Mr. Goodloe was raised in Tennessee homes during years without indoor plumbing. He helped develop communicatin systems used by NASA's space program. By the time of his death, Mr. Goodloe had visited five continents and 49 of the 50 states.

In 1941, when Mr. Goodloe was 21 years old and working as an engineer at WPAD-AM radio station in Paducah, Kentucky, a woman came to the station to play the piano on air. A few days later, he walked past the office where she worked - and she waved. By 1943 Mr. Goodloe married the woman, Virginia Margaret Smith. Their union lasted 65 years and produced four sons, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

During World War II, Mr. Goodloe joined the United States Marinetime Service and traveled the world with the Merchant Marines as a radio operator. He sailed to Asia and Africa, delivering supplies for the Armican was effort. Mr. Goodloe crossed the Equator eight times and made five trips through the Panama Canal.

After the war, Mr. and Mrs. Goodloe returned to Tennessee, where they helped start the GReen Hills United Methodist Church in Nashville and the Donelson Heights United Methodist Church in Donelson.

The family later moved to Maryland, where Mr. Goodice worked for the Glenn L. Martin Company near Baltimore. They lived for several years in Virginia, near Langley Field, where Mr. Goodloe worked for LTV, a NASA contractor.

Later Mr. and Mrs. Goodloe moved to Florida, living in Titusville and then steeling in Ormond Beach, Florida. Mr. Goodloe worked for NASA contractors at Cape Canaveral, and was the first named inventor on a U.S. Patent for work on one of his projects. In Ormond Beach, the two were charter members of the Tomoka United Methodist Church of Ormond Beach.

As an amateur radio operator, Mr. Goodloe obtained the Amateur Extra Class license with the U.S. FCC, holding the call sign N14D. He patricipated in local emergency radio activities in Volusia County, Florida. And, having the "universal donor" type O negative blood, he donated blood for many years.

For years, Mr. and Mrs. Goodloe would take road trips across the United States to visit their grandchildren, friends and other family. They drovea circuits through Ocean Springs, Mississippi, Webster Groves, Missouri, and Kent, Washington, with Virginia making cookies with the grandchildren and "Mr. Whiz" as she called him, testing the results.

An avid genealogist, Mr. Goodloe documented hundreds of years of his family's history, including some of the first English settlers at Jamestown and 13th century Welsh royalty. To his grandchildren, he passed along hundreds of pages of ancestry research and chess skills he taught in hard-gought matches into his final years.

Mr. Goodloe was preceded in death by his wife, Virginia Margaret Smith Goodloe; his parents, James C. Goodloe II and Mary Morford Reems Goodloe; brothers, Samuel Ross Goodloe and James C. Goodloe III; and sisters, Jessie C. Wilson and Mary Kate Moore.

He is survived by his sons, R. Reams Goodloe Jr. of Kent, Washington, James C. Goodloe of Rapid City, South Dakota, Wallace C. Goodloe of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and John W. Goodloe of Wataugs Texas; brother, Thomas S. Goodloe of Evansville, Indiana; sisters, Faith Goodloe of LaVergne, Tennessee, and Evelyn Williams of Niota, Tennessee; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

A funeral service was held January 13, 2018, at Trinity United Methodist Church in Paducah, Kentucky, the same church at which he was married. He is buried next to his wife at Maplelawn Cemetery in Paducah.