Barbara Sue Goodin

Barbara Sue Goodin (Susie to her family), age 85, of Greasy Creek, KY, went to her Home in Glory on August 8th, 2025. She was well-known in her community for her business pursuits and her involvement in local Baptist churches. As a young lady, Susie earned her GED and attended a bookkeeping school while living in Florida. Later in life, she operated a family-run grocery/gas store, followed by creating and running Goodin Sanitation. This was the first garbage pickup business in her rural community. She also visited nearby schools to educate the children about recycling. Later pursuits included working as a bank teller and managing a convenience store in Pineville, as well as cooking for the Pineville Senior Citizens’ Center. In her spare time, she enjoyed attending auctions and scouring bargains at yard sales, then sharing her treasures with family members and visitors to her home. She was an active member of White Church and Ebenezer (Buckeye) Missionary Baptist Church. A cheerful giver, she enjoyed contributing to the needs of children in foster care and of unwed mothers/babies.

Susie spent much of her free time knitting, crocheting, embroidering, and quilting. Since her mother was left-handed, Glessie Green was called in to teach Barbara how to do the handiwork.

Each of her children and grandchildren was gifted at least one quilt and several crocheted dish cloths made by her loving hands. A big squabble was had over her much-loved crocheted dishcloths; a recent bride-to-be almost didn’t get her gifts back after they were passed around amongst the shower participants. When her children were growing up, Susie baked and decorated unique cakes for her children and also sold some to friends and neighbors for their celebrations.

Susie enjoyed cooking, baking, and candy making, and she was sure to make whatever a loved one sweetly requested. Her family and especially her grandchildren will fondly remember these foods that she made: gravy and biscuits, roast, sweet tea, pancakes, creamed corn, fudge (peanut butter, chocolate, and creamsicle), meatloaf, iron skillet-fried hamburgers and home fries, yeast rolls, and oatmeal “Garrett Bread.” She rarely used a recipe, and whatever she made was terrific. Her sisters said that Susie’s cooking was very close to that of their mother’s, which was a high compliment.

Susie also enjoyed visiting with family members, looking at family photos, and passing on family history and stories. She loved to talk about days gone by of berry picking, wash day, and canning of the family’s large garden that fed her family of 13-16 people through very lean years. She said of herself and her siblings, “We didn’t know we were poor. We always had good food to eat and clothes on our backs. We had a good mommy and daddy.” According to her, she was raised by two very loving parents, and she raised “perfick” sons. She often said, “I won’t take a million dollars for any of my sons or grandchildren, and I’ll not give you a penny for a nother’n.”

Barbara Sue was born to Charles Calloway Thompson and Nannie Lee Littrell Thompson in Harlan, KY. She lived in Indiana, Ohio, Florida, and Kentucky, but she lived most of her life on Greasy Creek. She married Perry Ray Goodin on April 26th, 1958, and they had four sons.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her son Jamie Lee Goodin, her grandsons Michael Ray Goodin and Christopher Keith Goodin; daughter-in-law Jennifer Graham Goodin; brothers Herbert DewayneThompson; Charles Danny Thompson, Billy Winston Thompson, and Ernest Millard Thompson; sisters Nora Edna Thompson Greene, Charlene Gayle Thompson Dalton and Nevada Ann Thompson Partin.

Susie is survived by 3 sons, Garold Ray (Terri) Goodin of Corryton, TN, Ricky Kenneth (Luann) Goodin of Elizabethtown, PA, Keith Herschel Goodin of Winchester, KY; grandchildren, Lindsey Rae Goodin (Chase) Ferrell of Knoxville, TN, Garrett Goodin of Knoxville, TN, Elisabeth Sueann Goodin(Andrew) Pyle of Tucson, AZ, and Phyllis Scroggy of Pineville KY. She also leaves behind her brother Johnny (Jeannene) Thompson of Abingdon, VA; sisters Patricia Lee (Jack) Thompson Jackson of Crittenden, KY, and Lois Alma (Jim) Thompson Lawson of Richmond, KY; and a host of nieces, nephews, and friends who will mourn her passing.

Memorial services for Barbara Sue Thompson Goodin will be Saturday, August 16, 2025, at Brooks & Durham Funeral Home in Pineville, KY. Receiving of Friends will be 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon, followed by a Celebration of Life at the funeral home led by Rev. Danny Neal with music by Thomas Golden. A brief graveside service will be held afterward at the family cemetery on Highway 92. In place of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation or the Bell County Animal Shelter.