Colonel Joseph Perry Goodson, USMC (Ret.)

Colonel Joseph Perry Goodson, United States Marine Corps (Ret.), 94, of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, husband of Nancy Hefner Goodson entered into eternal rest Sunday, February 11, 2024. His funeral service will be held Sunday, February 18, 2024, in the J. Henry Stuhr, Inc., Mt. Pleasant Chapel, at 3:00 pm. The family will receive friends before the service from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. Interment with military honors will be held Monday, February 19, 2024 in Beaufort National Cemetery at 11:00 am. Arrangements by J. Henry Stuhr, Inc., Mt. Pleasant Chapel.

Joseph P. Goodson, son of George W. Goodson and Audrey B. Goodson, was born in McBee, SC on January 23, 1930. In 1947, he graduated from St. John’s High in Darlington, SC and, in 1951, from The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, where he served as a company commander and as a member of the Summerall Guards. He was then commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. After attending basic school at Marine Corps Base Quantico, VA, he served at MCB Camp Lejeune, NC and later in Korea. Other overseas assignments included Okinawa and Vietnam. While in Okinawa, his unit operated from an aircraft carrier and he spent three months with a battalion landing team afloat. Before his tour in Vietnam, he served with the 5th Marine Corps District headquartered in Raleigh, NC as Inspector Instructor for the 4th Marine Corps 155 mm Howitzer Battery. During his tour in Vietnam, he served as an operations officer with the III Marine Amphibious Corps, headquartered at Da Nang. Upon returning to the United States, he attended the Marine Corps school in Quantico, VA, serving as director for the Basic Artillery Officers Orientation Course. During this tour, then Colonel Leonard F. Chapman, Jr., USMC, selected him to be adjutant at the Sunset Parades at Eight and I Barracks, Washington, D.C., and then served as Aide-de-Camp to General Chapman, the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps. Upon retiring from the Marine Corps in 1975, he served in various administrative positions at The Citadel including Executive Assistant to the President and Secretary to the Board of Visitors.

A member of Providence Baptist Church on Daniel Island, SC, Colonel Goodson will be remembered for the way he loved God, his country, and his family.  He is predeceased by his son Major Brian G. Goodson, USMC. He is survived by his wife of 68 years, and love of his life, Nancy; daughter, Jennifer Lackey (Keith) of Johns Island, SC; son, Jeffrey J. Goodson of San Diego, CA; and three grandchildren, Caitlin Goodson White (Erik), Meredith Lackey Johnson (Jonathan), and Madison Lackey. 

Memorial Gifts: Lutheran Hospice Lowcountry, Mt. Pleasant, SC; Providence Baptist Church, Daniel Island, SC; and Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, Alexandria, VA.