Bill Gooch

The Reverend William Luther "Bill" Gooch passed from this life on November 25, 2014 at the age of 74 after twelve years residence at Crestwood Nursing Home.
Bill was born on May 18, 1940, in Sandersville, Georgia, Washington County, and became the son by adoption of William Adams and Christine Bunner Gooch of Valdosta. Raised in Valdosta, Bill attended public schools, graduating from Valdosta High School in June, 1958. After a period of post-graduate high school work at Darlington School, Rome, Georgia, he attended Valdosta State College where he received the A.B. Degree in June 1963 with a major in sociology. At Valdosta State he became a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity.
After college he continued his training for ministry at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University, where he earned the Bachelor of Divinity Degree in June, 1966. He then married Dawn Coursey of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and on June 20, 1968, was ordained an Elder in the North Georgia Conference of The Methodist Church. While serving as pastor in the North Georgia Conference his oldest son William Timothy Gooch was born.
From Georgia Bill moved with wife and son to Chicago, Illinois, where he joined the Ecumenical Institute, a Protestant religious order open to married persons. In Chicago his second son Dag Luther Gooch was born in 1970. Bill continued to teach and travel for the Institute until he returned to Valdosta in 1988 to assist his mother whose health was failing.
During retirement in Valdosta Bill was received into the Episcopal Church as a layman by Confirmation and became an active communing member of Christ the King Episcopal Church.
On March 2, 2003, before moving to the nursing home and to satisfy his monastic calling, Bill was received into the Ukrainian Orthodox Church USA as a non-tonsured monk under the priestly ministry of the Rev. Father Paul Emmick OSJ, who was pastor of the St. John Maximoritch Orthodox Mission of Valdosta at the time.
Bill is preceded in death by his parents and also his only sister Carolyn Gooch Moore, who died earlier this year.
He is survived by his two sons from Louisiana, one daughter-in-law, Dr. Gretchen Galliano, three grandchildren, Frederick, Mack and Malcolm Gooch and his brother-in-law Larry Moore of Valdosta.
A memorial service is planned for 3:00 p.m. Tuesday, December 30, 2014, at the First United Methodist Church Chapel. Condolences may be made online at www.mclanecares.com.





Funeral Home:
Carson McLane Funeral Home
2215 North Patterson Street
Valdosta, GA
US 31602