One of Our Own, Great Peace Activist Jim Goodnow Is Dead

From Odessa American:

BREWSTER COUNTY A 72-year-old Terlingua man known for his history of protests, including driving an anti-war bus across the country, died Sunday evening after a rollover in his passenger vehicle 24 miles outside of Alpine.

Jim Edward Goodnow was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a preliminary report by Department of Public Safety trooper David Miller. Miller’s report gave his name as James Goodnow and age as 74, however previous newspaper articles and public records placed his age at 72.

Around 10:45 p.m., Goodnow was driving a 1993 Mitsubishi Diamante north on Texas State Highway 118, 24 miles outside of Alpine, when his vehicle drifted to the right and he overcorrected, a DPS spokeswoman said. The vehicle then went into a side skid and rolled over an undetermined amount of times, ejecting Goodnow, who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, the spokeswoman said.

Friends of Goodnow met Monday at the High Sierra Bar and Grill in Terlingua to honor his memory, however, no one wished to speak for an interview Monday afternoon, saying next of kin had not yet been notified.

Goodnow was also the driver for a protest bus that called to bring U.S. troops home from the war in Iraq and the impeachment of then-President George W. Bush.

“For every one finger salute we get, we get 15 people giving us the peace sign,” Goodnow told the Odessa American after making a stop in November 2007, one of numerous interviews and photos Goodnow managed to appear in throughout his life.

The “Yellow Rose of Texas Peace Bus” — with its signature “Don’t attack Iran/Impeach Bush” back logos — burned in January 2008 in New Jersey, however Goodnow continued to be involved in protests, appearing at demonstrations in Washington, D.C, in December 2008 and participating apparently most recently in an “Occupy” event in the capital in October 2011.

In March 2010, the Miami New Times reported Goodnow, described as an “old hippie lifeguard turned hero” was trying to bring supplies to Haiti following the earthquake there, referencing Goodnow’s Coast Guard service near Miami Beach from 1959 to ’61. His success in the endeavor was unknown, however.

Goodnow found his way into newspapers as early as October 1973 when an Associated Press article identified a James E. Goodnow of Baltimore standing “in front of the Treasury Building with two large cartons filled with imitation straw hats bearing an ‘Impeach Nixon’ label.”