Ronald K. (Ron) Gilbert
Ron was a kind, quiet, gentle person. He was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, and friend, with a great smile he gave away freely. He had three children and two grandchildren.
Retired from the Army, he had been an Aviation Planner with Timco in Greensboro, NC, where he worked for the past ten years.
NASCAR racing, sports of all kinds and rock and roll music were Ron’s favorite pastimes. He really enjoyed going to the races with his racing buddies, as he called them, and going to concerts. He especially liked the music of Pink Floyd.
Born in Hawaii, Ron grew up in California, the wine country. Therefore, he was a connoisseur of fine wines and enjoyed touring the local wineries. He dearly loved great barbequed ribs.
Ron was and always will be a strong force in our family. He is loved and missed very much.
Gary Ray Goad
Gary was born March 26, 1959, and died November 11, 2003. He was a good person.
He worked in construction as a pipe fitter. He liked to watch ball games and car racing on television. He liked to deer hunt and to fish.
Gary loved small children, and always had a dollar for them.
John Franklin Goins
John Franklin Goins was born on August 17, 1936. He passed away unexpectedly in his sleep on May 14, 2003.
John enlisted in the Air Force at a young age, and served his country for ten years. After getting out of the Air Force, he was hired as a policeman. He served his town and community for five years. He later decided to work in retail, and became manager of several discount stores, including Wal-Mart. Due to his failing health, he retired in 1999.
During his lifetime he enjoyed many hobbies. He enjoyed fishing at the coast, and building things with his hands out of wood. This 6’ 4” man enjoyed cooking and baking. He would bake cakes and give them away. He would always make sure the children in the neighborhood had a birthday cake on their special day.
John taught himself to cross stitch, which he loved with a passion. Prior to his death he had finished several pictures, and framed them himself. He was going to try and sell them down at the coast during Fall Festival. He didn’t get to do this. Maybe this was meant to be, because now his family members have these beautiful pictures, along with great memories.
Victoria Golden
Victoria, a long time resident of the Wood River Valley in Sun Valley, Idaho, passed away 8/8/03 in Raleigh, NC, the victim of a brief and unfair fight with cancer.
An extraordinary friend, great listener, voracious reader, and eternal optimist, Victoria was always interesting – and interested in people and the world around her. Her passions ranged from Scotty dogs to politics to professional rodeo and, most recently, the Carolina Hurricanes. Her emails and conversations sparkled with her intelligence and wit.
Born 11/30/50, she grew up in a military family, moving often enough to make her at ease meeting new people and new situations. Her travels continued in her professional life as a producer of television commercials and documentary films. At home, she loved long walks, movies, books and the company of her many friends. In particular, she “adopted” a group of teenage boys dubbed The Home Work Posse, mentoring them through many years of school, hormones and life.
It was this generous and open spirit that most defined Victoria. She believed in and brought out the best in people. She was the first to celebrate our joys and achievements and there, too, to hold our hands in difficult times. In a word, Victoria shined.
She is survived by her father, Cal, her mother, Jean, stepmother, Sharon, sisters Debi and Shirl, brother, Calvin, Jr., brother-in-law, Gil, nephew Dakota, and niece, Terra.
Victoria, our hearts are broken. We will always love and miss you.
The Golden Family
Robert L. (Bob) Goodrick
Bob was an Environmental Biologist in South Florida for twenty-five years. He cherished the Everglades and the ocean along the Atlantic Coast where we reared our children, fished, and appreciated nature. As retirement time approached, he eagerly looked forward to our move to North Carolina. We had vacationed there for many years. Also, he had fished there with his longtime buddy from college days in Florida.
Bob wanted to have his dream house built on a wooded lot which featured beautiful native dogwood trees, pine trees, and hardwoods of many different types. Part of his new life centered on his interest and love for the birds. He spent a lot of time observing bluebirds, flycatchers, hummingbirds and his greatly admired hawks. He put much thought and planning into the construction and placement of birdhouses to entice some of these friends to our new yard.
He also enjoyed sports, particularly college football, and he was an avid fan of the University of Miami “Hurricanes.” Bob was first aware his sight was giving him problems when he had difficulty reading the newspaper, and following his team on TV. As it turned out, there was nothing wrong with his eyes, but he did have a vicious brain tumor growing inside his head. Eventually, his vision all but left him, depriving him of even the simplest enjoyment of the things he loved.
I think he would exult in the possibility that his eye donation might help someone else see the beauty in our world that he was no longer able to see.
James (Jimmy) Thomas GordonJames T. Gordon was born at Fort Mead, MD. Raised in a military family, he traveled around the country and really did not call any place home. He graduated from high school in Mississippi, moved to Virginia and became a cook in a 5-Star restaurant. After several years he decided that a change of career was in order, so he moved to Jacksonville, NC and became an HVAC installer, and remained there until his death.
Raised in a large family of 17 sisters and 1 brother, he learned to get along with people. Those he met liked him at once, and no one ever had an unkind word to say about him. He was giving to a fault, and would go out of his way to help anyone that asked.
Jimmy loved to cook, and you could find him at the grill at any party he attended. He played horse shoes like a champ and with his step-father at his side, would beat all comers. He was also a great pool player, and played in several pool leagues in the county, and always placed in the top half of the league.
Jimmy was well liked in the community and will be missed by all who knew him.
William O. (Bill) Green
Bill held many jobs in his life. As a kid, he was a paperboy and mowed lawns with his brother, Art. He was a postman, a roofer, an ice cream man, a box stapler, stock boy, boilermaker, and an asphalt worker. He ran a hunting and fishing lodge in Canada. Later, he worked for 25 years at Blue Bell, then Wrangler, then VF Corporation. He ended up as a corporate vice president, a position about which he sometimes wondered “what was I thinking?” Still, he rarely waxed nostalgic about the smell of asphalt.
He was an amazing guy. For one thing, he was funny. Real funny. Shoot-milk-out-of-your-nose funny. Bill was always the first person in the room to find the comedy in a situation. He could tell straight jokes pretty well, but his best humor snuck up behind you when you weren’t looking. He was a funny guy on paper, too, writing hilarious short stories and the best vacation letters you ever read. He drew silly cartoons for his friends and wrote great poetry when nobody was looking. When we remember Bill, we remember laughter.
He was the smartest guy many of us ever knew. He found great pleasure in music – beach music, blues, jazz, Meat Loaf, Jimmy Buffett – he loved them all. He was modest about his own musicianship, playing banjo, keyboard and piano with reckless enthusiasm. He will always be his son’s favorite pianist, which suggests that the family’s musical talent is continuing its joyful decline.
Bill loved his brothers and sisters dearly and brought his family together time and again for wonderful reunions. When Christmas rolled around he had a special talent for finding the quirkiest gifts imaginable. Who could forget the nose flutes?
Despite his illness, Bill felt his last two years were the best of his life. He re-discovered the spirit of God within him and kindled faith in countless friends, both old and new. Bill shared his experience with cancer in a way that was both funny and true. Courageous and honest, he spoke openly of his relationship with God, and knew that none of us would ever walk alone.
He was a loving husband and father. Always. His family will
never forget him.
Wilbur Greene
Our father loved to fly. He loved to create beautiful things and taught us to appreciate nature’s beauty and would often take us in the forest, and taught us of her wonders. He encouraged and taught us in ways no readily apparent. He taught us by example. He showed me through his devotion to our mother, Pam, how to be a husband and father. Words cannot convey all that he meant to us – only that he will be always missed, truly loved, and that he is, was and forever will be our Dad.
Kelly, Kim, Shawn and Vicki.
High Flight
by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings. Sunward I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds – and done a hundred things you have not dreamed of. Wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there, I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air…up, up the long, delirious, burning blue. I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace where never lark or even eagle flew…and while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod the high un-trespassed sanctity of space, put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
Wilbur Lee Groome
This is Lee at a Field Day Amateur Radio Club meeting during September 2002. He is wearing his well-known blue hat in this photo, and is talking to other “ham radio” people in other countries. Lee was well known as a ham radio operator. He was a member of the Tri-County Amateur Radio Club, High Point Radio Club, A.R.R.L. (American Radio Relay League), M.A.R.S. (Military Affiliate Radio Systems) at Fort Bragg, and W.4.V.E.C. (Volunteer Examiners Club).
Lee was a licensed commercial pilot, and was a medic in the U.S. Air Force from 1958 until 1962, serving in Japan. He was a graduate of High Point University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. He lived and worked for many years in Chapel Hill, and returned to High Point in 1987.
A Scottish Rite 32-degree Mason, he was a member of Acacia Lodge #674 A.F. & A.M., and was a member of the High Point Shrine Club.
Randy Scott Gross
Scott was a special person. He had such a giving heart. He worked at a hosiery mill, dyeing socks, and loved his job and friends. He would take food to them. His hobby was fishing with his two brothers.
Towards the end of his life, he gave his heart and soul to God. His body he gave to man.
Now two people can see.
