Dr. Jimmy Goodson

Dr. Jimmy Goodson passed away on October 27, 2026. Known for his integrity and leadership, he lived a life that inspired others to higher levels of achievement with each and every challenge.

Jimmy was born in Pinehurst, Texas, to Melton E. Goodson and Ella Scherer. He liked to tell people about being born in a one-room house and learning to read well by reading the newspaper aloud to his dad, who could not read. He probably developed his interest in politics and world affairs through that same experience. He honed his people skills by waiting tables in his mother’s café from about third grade through college.

After graduation from high school, Jimmy went to work in the mail room of a utility company in Houston. He quickly decided he needed to go to college and started his college career at Sam Houston State University. He married his high school sweetheart Michelle before his senior year of college.

After graduation, Jimmy began his teaching career at Highlands Junior High School in the Goose Creek Independent School District in Baytown. Michelle and Jimmy’s daughter Kristen, was born there, and they returned to Sam Houston when she was about nine months old for him to complete his Master’s Degree.

With his Master’s Degree completed, Jimmy and his little family moved to Uvalde, Texas, where he taught government and history at Southwest Texas Junior College. Their daughter Meredith was born a few months after they moved there. During his tenure at SWTJC, Jimmy took a two-year leave of absence from the college and moved his family to Commerce, Texas, where he completed his doctorate in Educational Administration at East Texas State University. On his return to SWTJC, he served as Dean of Administrative Services and then President until he was selected as president of Victoria College.

Jimmy and Michelle moved to Victoria where he became the third president of Victoria College. He served as President until he retired. When he retired, an article in The Victoria Advocate noted that Jimmy “expanded student services and [built] numerous additional buildings, including The Victoria College Student Center and the Technology Center.” During his time in Victoria, he was proud to serve as a commissioner for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and chaired many accreditation teams for community colleges across the south. He was also proud of his tenure as president of the Texas Association of Community Colleges.

Throughout his adult life, Jimmy worked tirelessly for many organizations in Uvalde and Victoria to support their missions and raise funds for their causes. He was a faithful Christian and held numerous positions in the church from Sunday School teacher and deacon to leading a successful church-wide effort to renovate a 100-year old sanctuary building.

During retirement, he and Michelle traveled extensively throughout the United States, Canada, and abroad. Retirement provided Jimmy many opportunities to read, enjoy time with family and friends, and spend hours on end in his flower garden. He took a seven-month leave from retirement to serve as interim president at Coastal Bend College in Beeville while they searched for a new president.

Jimmy and Michelle ultimately moved to Yoakum, Texas, near their daughter Meredith and her family. The last few months of his life were spent battling glioblastoma.

During his tenure at Victoria College, Jimmy was interviewed by The Victoria Advocate and asked about new year’s resolutions. He responded, “…I just take each day as it comes and try to live it to the fullest and welcome each year as a new opportunity to do the best that I can to serve my family and community and profession.” And that’s what he did.

Jimmy is survived by his wife, Michelle; his children Kristen and Todd Clark and Meredith and Walt Ellis Hairell; four grandchildren and two great grandchildren; and many other family members, colleagues, and friends they made and stayed in touch with everywhere they lived and traveled. He is preceded in death by his parents and his brothers Melton, Jr., Leroy and wife Virginia, and Bobby and wife Johnnye.

A graveside service will be held at the family cemetery at a later time. Memorials may be given to the Goodson-Coe Endowed Scholarship Fund at Sam Houston State University, the Jimmy and Michelle Goodson Endowed Scholarship Fund at Victoria College, the scholarship fund at Southwest Texas College (formerly SWTCJ), Hospice of South Texas, or the cause of the donor’s choosing. The family would like to thank his caregivers from Hospice of South Texas and Home Instead for their compassionate care.

Arrangements by Thiele-Cooper Funeral Home in Yoakum and Klein Funeral Home in Tomball.