James Douglas "Jim" Goode

Jim was born on the 15th of April 1944, and grew up in Freeport, Velasco and Clute on the Texas Gulf Coast. He was the youngest son of immigrant parents, John Stuckey and Emma Longoria Goode of Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico. He quit school at the age of 16, went to California, pretending to be older than he was on his application so that he could enlist in the US Navy during the Vietnam War. He became a SeaBee and was stationed in Okinawa, Japan. Once he finished his tour, he came back to Texas and with the help of his sister, he applied to art school in New York. He enrolled and attended the Milton Glaser School of Visual Arts in New York City. After completing art school, he returned to Houston and started working as a commercial graphic artist. He entertained his clients by smoking BBQ for them and they all commented on how great the food always was. After several years in the creative world where he had grown weary of working with ad executives whom would challenge his price once the work was complete, he determined that a career change was in order. He decided to either open up a bait camp (he was an avid fisherman) or a BBQ joint on the side of the road.

In 1977, he went into the local BBQ joint once known as BBQ Barn on Kirby and sat with a beer watching the employees being lazy in the kitchen. The place was empty and the lady behind the register asked him what he was doing. He said he was thinking of opening a BBQ place and she responded that it was a bad idea and that she hated the BBQ business but it had been her husband’s passion, and he had left it to her after his death. She said she couldn't wait to get out of that business. So, in his typical way, he casually asked her how much she’d take for the place. She replied, “How much have you got?” He said he had $3000 in savings and was waiting to get paid for an art job that he’d done designing the logo for Joske’s Department Store, which would be another $3000. She told him to be there the next day with his $3000 in savings and she’d give him the keys and he could just send her the rest of the money when he got the check from Joske’s.

That was the beginning of Goode Company Restaurants, his life’s dream and his life’s work. That next day he got to work with the help of his family and friends cleaning and painting the place to be ready to open in a few days. He worked there, slept there at nights with the help of his Uncle Joe Dixie, who was a cook in a Japanese prison camp during WWII, tending to the fire and the meat. People started coming to eat there and one of his happiest days was when he realized that he had 2 bags of trash to take out at the end of the day because he had served that many people. He held those bags over his head like the movie “Rocky”. In so many ways he was a real life champion for so many – his customers, his employees and his family. He continued cooking and later opened Goode Company Hamburgers & Taqueria, Goode Company Seafood, two more Goode Company BBQ’s and Goode’s Armadillo Palace. He never stopped thinking, creating, evolving and reinventing the way that Houston experienced dining. His vision for food will leave a lasting and indelible mark on Houston and the Gulf Coast. His passion was only equaled by the incredible talent and creativity that he brought to the kitchen.

He was very generous, always there to lend a hand, or help someone in need. He was very dedicated to causes of youth and education, and promoting Texas history. He was a member of the Tejas Vaqueros-No Nombres Camp, a lifetime member of Coastal Conservation Association and a Lifetime Director of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo.

Jim was larger than life, a character some would say. He loved the Texas Gulf Coast and you could always find him wade fishing the flats in Port O’Connor or Aransas Pass. He was a comedian, always telling an off-color joke and putting a smile on someone’s face or making them spit out their drink for that matter. He was an incredible storyteller, visionary and perfectionist. He loved all things Texas, music of all kinds, he loved preserving the ways of the old west and chuckwagon cooking. He loved entertaining and he definitely had his own brand of style. Mediocrity or giving up wasn’t an option for him. Even through his illness he never gave up. He taught those ways to a lot of people including his children….”demand excellence of yourself.” He was a proud man but quiet and not boastful and he never rested on his laurels. Jim Goode truly is a Texas Legend.

He is survived by his wife, Maria Cristina; his daughters, Jana Goode Reich and her husband Tex, Katie Goode & Emma Goode; and his son, Levi Goode and his wife Kelley. He is also survived and blessed by six grandchildren, Mason James Goode, Alexander James Sloan, Reese Lucille Goode, Megan Lee Sloan, Vivian Leigh Goode and James Hawkins Sloan. He is also survived by his brothers, John Goode, Joe Goode and sister Isabel Goode Deblanc. A special thanks goes out to Ann, Fernando, Eva, Berenice & Jocelyn who helped make his last days the best they could be. He will be truly missed, but his legend will never die.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from five o’clock in the afternoon until seven o’clock in the evening on Wednesday, the 10th of February, in the library and grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

A funeral service and celebration of Jim’s life is to be conducted at three o’clock in the afternoon on Thursday, the 11th of February, in the Jasek Chapel of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons.

Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception at a venue to be announced during the service.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests with gratitude that memorial contributions in honor of Jim Goode be directed to the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, 34 Washington Street, Suite 200, Wellesley Hills, MA, 02481.