Claiborne Watts Gooch III

Claiborne W. Gooch, III, of St. Michaels, died at The Memorial Hospital at Easton, MD on Friday, April 15, 2005. He was 76. Born in Lynchburg, VA, November 28, 1928, he was the son of the late Claiborne W., Jr. and Cornelia Christian Gooch. He was raised in Richmond, VA where he graduated from St. Christopher’s School. After receiving a BS Degree in Commerce from Washington & Lee University in 1950, he joined the IBM Company in a sales capacity in the Camden, NJ office. During the Korean Conflict, he took a leave of absence from the company and, after graduating from Officers Candidate School in Newport, RI, received a commission in the U. S. Navy. He was then assigned to the Naval Security Group at the Naval Security Agency in Washington, DC where he served for the remainder of his enlistment. Following his release from active duty with the rank of Lieutenant, he returned to the IBM Company and served in sales positions in Norfolk, Baltimore and Washington. He resigned from IBM in the early 1970’s at which time he was the Programs Director of IBM’s Civil Program, which directed IBM’s marketing activities to the civilian agencies of the Federal Government. While with IBM in Washington, he spent time on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and fell in love with that area, enjoying the hunting and fishing. After his resignation from IBM, he and his family moved to St. Michaels where they had built a home. He formed Claiborne Resources, Inc. and High Banks Farm Associates, becoming involved in real estate and farming with farms in Talbot and Queen Anne’s Counties. On one farm in Talbot County, he and his associates developed a portion known as High Banks. Active in the community, he was a former member and Past Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the Virginia Home for Boys, a member of Christ Episcopal Church in St. Michaels where he had served as a member of the Vestry and as Chairman of the Finance Committee and a past member of the Board of the Country School in Easton where he served as Treasurer of the school. He also served as a Director of the Imperial Colliery and Milburn Colliery Companies (family companies) in Lynchburg, VA. A member of the Founding Board of the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, he was instrumental in establishing a Maryland Chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association and served as it first Chairman of the Board. Other memberships included the Talbot Country Club and the Bear’s Paw Country Club in Naples, FL where he and his wife spent many winters, Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited and the Atlantic Salmon Foundation. An enthusiastic fly-fisherman who traveled extensively all over the world in pursuit of his favorite hobby, he was a member of the Custis Fishing and Hunting Club at West Point , VA. George Washington is known to have fished in Custis Pond when it was a mill for the Custis family. Mr. Gooch is survived by his wife, the former Shirley Steele whom he married June 30, 1962; two sons, William A. Gooch and his wife, Suzanne, and Christian C. Gooch and his wife, Cynthia, all of Virginia Beach, VA; two daughters, Virginia G. Hunneke of Asheville, NC and Carter G. Bradshaw and her husband, Christopher of Glen Ellen, CA and grandchildren in Va. Beach, Asheville and Glen Ellen, CA. Memorial services will be held at Christ Church, St. Michaels, on Tuesday, April 19, 2005, at 11:00AM. A private burial will be at the Christ Church Cemetery, St. Michaels. Memorial donations may be made to the Christ Church Building Fund, P. O. Box S., St. Michaels, MD 21663 or to the Palliative Care Unit, % The Memorial Hospital Foundation, P. O. Box 1846, Easton, MD 21601. Funeral arrangements are by the Fellows, Helfenbein and Newnam Funeral Home, P.A., Easton, MD.