Cover photo for Marietta Goodloe's Obituary
Marietta Goodloe Profile Photo
1955 Marietta 2025

Marietta Goodloe

August 11, 1955 — February 3, 2025

Ocean Springs

Marietta Mae Goodloe, whose fondness for adventures was equaled only by her passion to help people she viewed as life’s underdogs, died Feb. 3 in Ocean Springs, Miss., following complications from a heart attack. She was 69 years old.

Mrs. Goodloe spent her life raising her two daughters, building and tending to her church community and living her faith: helping new immigrants, families of the incarcerated and people struggling to survive a war half a world away.

With her husband, Wallace, Mrs. Goodloe embarked on a series of adventures. Together, they built a single-engine RV-9A airplane, including assembling wings in their living room. They took it on flights across the country, including a spin past the Statue of Liberty in New York. They kayaked the Mississippi sound, the marshes of Southern Mississippi, and around Cumberland Island Georgia. Her overseas travels included trips to Europe, Honduras, Guatemala and while in Russia, she impressed locals with her ability to drive a manual transmission car in Moscow.

After completing treatments for breast cancer Mrs. Goodloe, at age 52, decided to compete in a sprint triathlon with her daughter, Sarah, despite never having learned how to swim. She took lessons at the Mississippi Gulf Coast YMCA, completed the triathlon, made swimming a part of her exercise routine and went on to enjoy snorkeling.

Born Marietta Mae Jones in Scottsburg, Ind., in 1955, to Raymond W. Jones and Lola Mae (Chanley), Mrs. Goodloe spent her small-town childhood playing with her brother and cousins. As a teenager, she was a volunteer candy striper in a local hospital and later became the first in her family to attend college, at Vanderbilt University’s School of Nursing, from which she graduated.

Mrs. Goodloe met her future husband when both were student workers in Vanderbilt University hospital’s emergency room. He asked her to be his date to a Navy ball held by the local NROTC unit, and they married in Ormond Beach, Fla., in 1977.

They settled in Ocean Springs in 1981, where Mrs. Goodloe worked as a nurse and raised their daughters, Kathryn and Sarah. In 1985, Mrs. Goodloe helped start the Wesley United Methodist Church, to which she belonged until it closed in 2023. At the time of her death, she attended the Ocean Springs United Methodist Church.

Along with her church activities, Mrs. Goodloe was active with a host of local volunteer organizations. She taught citizenship and English-language classes to new immigrants at El Pueblo in Biloxi and fed people at the Seashore Mission homeless shelter in Biloxi and The Lord is My Help in Ocean Springs.

She also served with Kairos Outside, a program to help women whose partners are incarcerated and participated in emergency response teams following a series of storms, including Hurricane Katrina. She also traveled to help victims of hurricanes, floods and tornadoes.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Mrs. Goodloe began raising funds to send to the United Methodist churches in Ukraine, whose superintendent her daughter, Sarah, knew from her time living in Moscow.

Mrs. Goodloe is survived by her husband, Wallace Goodloe, of Ocean Springs; her father, Raymond W. Jones, of Scottsburg, Ind., her brother, Gary R. Jones (and sister-in-law Sandy Jones), of Kettering, Ohio; her daughters Kathryn Goodloe (and son-in-law Oscar A. Sanchez) of La Ceiba, Honduras and Sarah Goodloe of Madison, Wis. She was preceded in death by her mother, Lola Mae(Chanley) Jones.

A visitation is scheduled for Friday evening at Woodlawn Cemetery in Nashville, Tenn. A funeral service is to be held Saturday at Belmont United Methodist in Nashville, Tenn., with a burial to follow at Woodlawn Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made in Mrs. Goodloe’s name to Ukraine and Moldova in Mission Together, the Seashore Mission in Biloxi and El Pueblo in Biloxi.

The Riemann Family Funeral Home, 13872 Lemoyne Blvd. in West Jackson County is honored to serve the Goodloe family in their time of need.  Share memories, condolences, and photos at www.riemannfamily.com 

To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Marietta Goodloe, please visit our flower store.

Service Schedule

Past Services

Visitation

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

3:00 - 4:00 pm (Central time)

Ocean Springs United Methodist Church

8900 Old Spanish Trail, Ocean Springs, MS 39564

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Funeral Service

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Starts at 4:00 pm (Central time)

Ocean Springs United Methodist Church

8900 Old Spanish Trail, Ocean Springs, MS 39564

Enter your phone number above to have directions sent via text. Standard text messaging rates apply.

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