Leigh A. Goff (1936-2021)

GOFF, IVERSON, YOUNG, BECKWITH, GRUVER

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 9/4/2021 at 20:18:54

Leigh A. Goff, 85, of Camanche, passed away Thursday, September 2, 2021 at Mercy One, Clinton. Services will be held at 12:00PM, Noon, Tuesday, September 7, 2021 at the Camanche Chapel Snell-Zornig Funeral Home & Crematory. Visitation will be held from 10:00AM until the service hour at the funeral home. Burial will be in the Rose Hill Cemetery, Camanche. Pallbearers will be his grandchildren, Erin, Steve (Erin), TJ (Erin), Tyler, Aspen and Sierra Goff, Nick and Brett Beckwith, Wendy Krueger, Terrin (Jon) Nasatir and Alisse (Mark) Thomas. Online condolences may be expressed at snellzornig.com.
Leigh was born August 1, 1936 in Clinton, Iowa, the son of Lewis and Helen (Iverson) Goff. He was a Clinton High School graduate and graduated from Parsons College, Fairfield, Iowa with his degree in teaching. Leigh married Vernetta Arlene Young, December 29, 1957 at Saint Paul Lutheran Church, Clinton, she died September 3, 2020.
Leigh taught biology and physiology at Camanche High School and substitute taught in the Clinton and Camanche Schools for 51years. He also coached football, track, golf, cross country and bowling at Camanche High School. He was a proud Camanche Indian. He enjoyed mentoring his students and athletes.
Leigh was inducted into the Camanche Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018. Coach Goff was a constant presence at Camanche, teaching and coaching for the Indians. As a high school athlete, Leigh lettered in Football and Track, earning a number of district and state medals. Leigh played 1 year of collegiate baseball, qualifying for the Junior college world series, and on year of basketball, playing on the Freshmen team at Iowa. He earned his BS in Science and taught and coached at Camanche from 1960-1996. He continued coaching golf after his retirement, being named the Big East golf coach of the year in 2011. He continued to enjoy golf and had two holes-in-one. Coach Goff impacted numerous lives, coaching track for 35 years. His athletes qualified for the State meet and the Drake Relays numerous times. State Championship titles with Scott Shaley and Kevin Goff were earned under Coach Goff's guidance. Coach Goff also started the boys and girls bowling teams, the first in the state to have bowling as a sport and not a club team. He served as the boys' and girls' Bowling Coach, leading the girls' team to two state championships. One year, when schools were allowed to enter two bowling teams in the state tournament, Coach Goff's teams finished 1st and 2nd in the state. Coach Goff started the Junior High football program and accumulated over 100 wins as the sophomore football coach. During his tenure, Coach Goff also served on the coaching staff for boys' basketball and cross country. Leigh started the Camanche Men's Bowling Association in the mid 1960's and was named Man of the Year. He was a top bowler in Camanche and Clinton a number of times, and has bowled two 300 games. Coach Goff was named King of Camanche Days and also served as the Homecoming Parade Grand Marshal.
He was a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church, the Clinton Moose Club, he was Secretary Emeritus of the Camanche Bowling Association and former President of the Gateway Credit Union. Leigh enjoyed the outdoors, he was an avid hunter, commercial fisherman and enjoyed gardening. Leigh also enjoyed dancing with Vernetta and being with his family.
Survivors include his children, Mark (Kelly) Goff of Camanche; Ken (Terri) Goff of Clinton; Kevin Goff of Douglas, WY and Vicki (Jeff) Beckwith of Clinton; 11 grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; a brother, Craig (Jim) Goff of Las Vegas, NV and a sister, Sandra (Ray) Gruver of Camanche, IA.
In addition to his wife, he was preceded in death by his parents.
Memorials may be made to the family for a charity of their choice.
Published on September 3, 2021