Alice Yates Goode

Alice Goode died peacefully on December 2, 2020 after a period of declining health. She was 87 years old. Born July 31, 1933 in Plainview, Texas, she graduated from Texas Tech in 1955, and attended graduate school at Indiana University and UCLA. She was an alto soloist with the UCLA Performance Choir.

Alice joined the Roger Wagner Chorale and began touring with them nationally starting in the spring of 1958. In the fall of 1959, the chorale was part of President Eisenhower’s Good Will Tour of South America. Her memories and stories of those travels and performances were incredibly special to her throughout her life. In early spring of 1960, another national tour and she made her first recording as a soloist with the Chorale on Capitol Records.

She returned home to Plainview in late 1960 and married Jones Goode, a boy she had fancied since childhood. Jones worked for Mobil Oil and was transferred to Louisiana. They lived in Baton Rouge and started their family. In her “spare time” as the mother to four children under the age of 6, Alice taught voice at Louisiana College.

The family moved to Raleigh, North Carolina in 1967, calling the Laurel Hills neighborhood home for the next 50 years. Both Alice and Jones were very active, long-time members of Ridge Road Baptist Church. Alice embraced community outreach at RRBC, most recently sponsoring a Karen family relocated from a refugee camp in Thailand. The family lovingly referred to her as “Grandma” and she spent many happy hours helping them acclimate.

In 1974, Alice joined the faculty at Meredith College teaching voice. She loved mentoring her students and helping them to reach their potential. Many of those relationships continued throughout the years.

She will be remembered for her love of family, friends and dogs. She loved music, birdwatching, bad jokes, and laughter.

Alice was preceded in death by her husband of 27 years, Jones Goode; her parents Archie Farrell and Margaret Wynn Yates, and her brother, Glenn Yates. Left to cherish her memory are her children Jay (Laura), Julie Driggers (Bud), Lane (Joan), and Matt (Bev); grandchildren Maddie Driggers, Rachel, Dillon and Daniel Goode, and her sister-in-law Barbara Baker (Frank).

A virtual memorial service can be streamed beginning at 4pm on Thursday, December 10, 2020. A video slideshow will begin at 3:45pm. Alice will be laid to rest next to Jones in Texas at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Baptist Children’s Homes of NC, P. O. Box 338, Thomasville, NC 27361.

Arrangements by Brown-Wynne, 300 Saint Mary's Street, Raleigh.