Charles McGoff

Charles, aka "Charlie, McGoff died peacefully at his home near Decatur, Ga., on Dec. 15. Born in St. Louis in December 1931, he attended St. Luke's Catholic elementary school and McBride Catholic High School. He served in the Air Force from 1951 to 1955, stationed in Alaska and Arizona. Afterwards, he returned to St. Louis and attended classes at Washington University. In the summer of 1955, he met the love of his life, Dorothy, at the Castlewood swimming pool. They married in January 1957 and raised eight children.

Charlie's 35-year career as a sales engineer and manager for the Barber Colman Company took his growing family from St. Louis to Memphis and ultimately to Decatur in 1965, where they lived for nearly 60 years. His work selling industrial instruments to American manufacturers earned him the company's 1979 National Salesman of the Year award. He was the branch manager of Barber Coleman's most profitable branch and was consistently a top salesman before starting his own even more successful sales distributorship known as McGoff Pyrotech and later as McGoff-Bethune.

Civic-minded, he was involved in community efforts focused on development in the North Decatur area. His concern for people and the environment led to him co-founding the Medlock Floodplain Coalition, which fought against construction in the floodplains of central DeKalb County. He was a longtime supporter of efforts to help pregnant mothers, house homeless teens and feed the hungry. Charlie also served as Scoutmaster of a local Cub Scout troop for several years and was an officer with the Medlock Little League in the early 1970s.

He was a lifelong woodworker and a tinkerer. As a child during the Depression and WWII, he gathered scrap wood from the neighborhood, saved his pennies for nails, and picked up his grandfather's tools, making birdhouses and a tree house. As an adult, he constructed lamps, tables and a patio for the home, rocking horses for his toddlers and soap-box-derby cars for his teenagers.

He played piano, loved ragtime jazz, was a lifetime swimmer, a skipping enthusiast and an amateur poet. A good Irishman, he spun many a tall tale while enjoying a cold beer and a good cigar. But more than all these things, Charlie loved his family and sacrificed much to support them, working long hours and traveling often for his job. With a wonderful sense of humor and a penchant for silliness, he taught his children about faith, hard work and not taking the world too seriously.

He is predeceased by his son Matthew, his granddaughter Colleen, his great-grandson Everett, and his brother Paul. He leaves behind his wife of 67 years, Dorothy Burns McGoff; their children Mari McGoff Fahrner, Patrick Emmett McGoff, Michael Charles McGoff, Theresa McGoff Colcord, Kathleen McGoff, Erin McGoff Forsyth and Peggy McGoff Pusateri; 19 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

His surviving grandchildren are Brian Fahrner, Andrew Fahrner, Kevin McGoff, Amy Cheroff, Tyler McGoff, Kyle McGoff, Jacob McGoff, Mallory McGoff, Elise Colcord, Keith Colcord, Jamie McClaren, Grady McGoff, Rachel McGoff, Anna Cooper, Kerry Cooper, Eli Cooper, Megan Forsyth, Aidan Forsyth, and Anastasia Pusateri.

His surviving great-grandchildren are Charlie McGoff, Susanna McGoff, Thomas Cheroff, Cassidy Cheroff, Max Engelmaier, Brooklyn McGoff, Calla Colcord, Louisa Colcord, Liam McClaren, and Luca McGoff.

Visitation will be held Monday, December 23rd at St. Thomas More Church in Decatur from 9:30AM - 10:15AM. A funeral Mass will follow at 10:30, and burial services will be held at 1 PM at Honey Creek Woodlands burial ground: 2625 GA-212, Conyers, GA 30094.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in his honor to either Birthright (https://birthright.org/) or Covenant House (https://www.covenanthouse.org/).