Jimmy Harold Goacher

November 17, 1940 — May 6, 2024

Durham

Jimmy Harold Goacher died May 6, 2024, at the age of 83 due to complications of heart and vascular disease. He was born November 17, 1940, in Booneville, Arkansas to Edyth Etta and Harold Goacher. Jimmy and his brother Randy spent their youth working the farmland of Arkansas County, raised together by their parents and their Aunt and Uncle Junior and Dororthy Jones. Jimmy graduated from Stuttgart High School where he played football for the Rice Birds and attended Tulane University, Arkansas Tech and Arkansas State. Jimmy’s gift for analysis led him to banking. While working as a Cobol programmer for Cook Industries, he was recruited to join Systematics Incorporated in 1976, where he rose through the ranks quickly from programmer to manager. At the time he left Systematics in 1990, he had successfully implemented the Systematics brand of data processing in banks across the country, relocating his young family to Pine Bluff, AR, Casper, WY, Evanston, IL, Minneapolis, MN, Birmingham, AL and Albany NY. But home was always Stuttgart and Jimmy returned there in 1991, where together with his wife Claudia he owned and operated two IGA grocery stores.

The impending Y2K computing threats and need for Cobol programmers got him back into data processing where he worked for EDS in San Francisco while Claudia ran the stores. When the stores closed and Y2K wrapped up, his independent spirit and love of the road led him to a third career as a professional trucker in 2003. When Claudia retired from Producers Rice Mill in 2011, they relocated to Durham, NC. In June 2020, he suffered a life altering heart attack during a stopover in Wyoming. Despite the limitations of heart and vascular disease, he continued to drive whenever he had the chance but stepped down from the road in 2022.

Jimmy is survived by his wife of 59 years, Claudia Henderson Goacher and their children Elizabeth (Lori Hilliard), Rebecca (Alex Yaggy) and Katherine; grandchildren Braeden Hilliard, Owen Yaggy, Darwin Hilliard, and Corbett Yaggy; his beloved brother Randy Goacher (Alicia) and their children Laura Spears (Michael Clint), Richard Goacher (Laurie), and Amy Goacher; great nephew Garrett Spears and great niece Kelsey Mullen (Cody).

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, June 8, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. at Epworth United Methodist Church, Durham. In lieu of flowers the family requests a donation be made to the Freedom School Gifts funds at Give Now (onrealm.org). Please select Freedom Schools Gifts from the funds selection menu.

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Service Schedule

Past Services

Celebration of Life

Saturday, June 8, 2024

11:00am - 12:00 pm (Eastern time)

Epworth United Methodist Church

3002 Hope Valley Road, Durham, NC 27707

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