Baylor Mourns Passing of Professor Emeritus of English

January 26, 2023
Dr. Clement T. Goode Jr.

Dr. Clement T. Goode Jr.

WACO, Texas (Jan. 26, 2023) – Baylor University is mourning the death of Clement T. Goode Jr., Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of English who taught at Baylor for 40 years until his retirement in 1997. Dr. Goode died peacefully Jan. 24, 2023, at the age of 93.

A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, at First Baptist Church, Waco, with Matt Snowden and Alan Lefever co-officiating. A reception will follow in the Fellowship Hall.

Dr. Goode’s obituary is available on the Wilkerson-Hatch-Bailey website.

He was a graduate of Hendrix College and earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University before joining Baylor and the Department of English faculty in 1957. He also served as the department’s Director of Graduate Studies for 40 years. He was a scholar of Lord Byron, publishing numerous book reviews and articles as well as two books on Byron, the second of which was awarded the Daingerfield Prize. He was the first professor to teach in an exchange program between Baylor and Seinan Gakuin University in Fukuoka, Japan (1972-1973).

Throughout his teaching career, Dr. Goode received a number of teaching honors from students and fellow faculty. He was a sponsor of Pi Alpha Lamda (Chi Omega) for 11 years and founding sponsor of the Phoenix Literary Magazine and of the Baylor Film Society.

His daughter, Sara Goode Lefever, B.A. ’84, M.S.Ed. ’87, wrote that teaching was not only her father's profession but his life: "For him, the job was not simply to open up the joys of poetry and literature for the student but to teach the student how to think and read. By giving the student the tools of analysis—both the rational and the intuitive, the ability to find order and to read between the lines—the student could utilize these skills across the spectrum from the arts to the daily paper, from literature to the Bible. The whole idea of education was to get the student to discover for himself.”

Dr. Goode was a member of First Baptist Church of Waco for 66 years where he served as a deacon, Sunday School teacher and sponsor of the College Training Union.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 65 years, Jane. He is survived by his daughter, Sara Goode Lefever, B.A. ’84, M.S.Ed. ’87, and husband, Alan, of Waco; and son, Robert Goode, B.A. '88, of Seattle, Washington.

Memorials may be made to the Goode Family Endowed Scholarship Fund at Baylor University, Baylor Gift Office, One Bear Place #97050, Waco, TX 76798

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked Research 1 institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 20,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.