8/31/2023 0 Comments Ray g force plumbingGoodson is a founding member of the Ut Prosim Society. He also established a professorship within the department that is now held by Dan Inman, director of the Center for Intelligent Material Systems and Structures. This center is specially equipped with an area for students to study with computer terminals, an office for the ASME student group, and a place to relax. He recently funded the Goodson Learning Center in the mechanical engineering department. He supplies continuing support to Virginia Tech. “To this day, I have great respect for the working man and the skill he brings to the job,” Mr. I liked working with my hands, and the combination of my college education and field experience served me well in managing the company. “I was fortunate to be able to work in the field. In the early years, he worked in the field as a foreman and later as an estimator and project manager. Upon his discharge, he decided to return to Virginia, and in 1953 started his career with the company he now chairs. After a year in electronics school studying radar, he did not have enough time to go to Korea, and so he spent the remainder of his time in Montana. With an Air Force Reserve commission, he was called by Uncle Sam to serve 21 months. ![]() He stayed for two years until the Korean War interrupted his life. He began working in Pennsylvania for the Philadelphia Gear Works as a sales engineer. “It was a pretty scary time,” he recalls. Goodson received his bachelor’s degree and had to find a job. I could also get excused from classes on occasion!” I enjoyed being able to get outside for the Blacksburg springtime. “We had good teams and a good coach in Red Laird. ![]() He was the treasurer of his class of 1949, and he volunteered as manager of the baseball team for three years. His other activities at Virginia Tech included membership in Omicron Delta Kappa, Pi Tau Sigma, Phi Delta Epsilon, and the German Club. ![]() “The Corps taught me discipline and regimentation which I needed. As a student, he was a member of the Corps of Cadets, achieving the status of Distinguished Military Graduate. Goodson’s fascination with engineering led him to Virginia Tech in 1945. To this day, he remembers a granite monument in the shipyard engraved with the words: “We shall always build good ships, at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always good ships.” It is a principle he has applied throughout his career with his construction contracts. During summer breaks from Virginia Tech, he was able to work in the shipyard on hydraulic engineering and engineering technology projects. The older Goodson would often take his son, an aspiring engineer, to the massive facility where he was fascinated by the ship construction. In 1989, the company was named to the distinguished list of Top 10 suppliers by Newport News Shipbuilding.īorn in Newport News, Virginia, George’s father worked for the Newport News Shipyard. The range of mechanical contracts extends from churches, schools, and hospitals to piping systems for water treatment plants, paper mills, high pressure air systems for NASA, and nuclear clean piping systems for Newport News Shipbuilding. The Goodson team has witnessed its company grow to become one of the largest mechanical contracting firms in Virginia, grossing upwards of $50 million annually. Speegle subsequently owned until his retirement. Goodson was associated with another Virginia Tech mechanical engineering graduate, Hobart Speegle, Jr., when they founded Warwick Air Conditioning in 1958, a company Mr. His second son, Pax, a graduate of MIT, is the Executive Vice President. He continues to hold this position and his son Royden, also a Hokie with a civil engineering degree, serves as President. In 1983, the Virginia Tech mechanical engineering graduate was named President, and six years later, Chairman. ![]() Goodson, Jr., started his career with Warwick Plumbing and Heating, and quickly climbed into the executive ranks.
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