John David Goodnight, 74, passed away on December 20, 2015. Visitation will be held on Tuesday, December 22, 2015 from 1:00 pm until 2:30 pm at Wright and Ferguson Funeral Home in Clinton followed by a graveside at 3:00 pm at Lakewood Memorial Park.

David was born near Sardis Lake in North Mississippi. During his teenage years he spent a lot of his time working with his family on a small cattle farm about 25 miles south of Jackson, MS. He has worked in many areas of employment including operating heavy equipment, hanging overhead doors and even baking bread in a bakery. He also hauled gasoline to farmers and service stations in small towns for Gulf Oil Company.

David worked almost 15 years at Scanlon and Taylor Architectural Millwork. There he was able to work his way up through the different areas of machine setup and assembly. After studying architectural drafting by way of home study courses, David once again worked his way up to head of the layout department and after some time he began machining and assembling church steeples and spiral staircases.
He had the desire to interact more with people thus taking a job dealing with the public. So David began working at a commercial cooking equipment company. The only job that was available was cleaning and repairing used equipment, so he decided to take it. Working his way up through the different levels of management he was eligible for the district manager job. Before assuming the duties as district manager,
David was diagnosed as legally blind. In 1986, David began working at Mississippi Industries for the Blind where he started as an assembler and all the way up to plant manager until he retired in 2013. He received the MIB's Milton J. Samuelson Career Achievement Award. He also received the Jaynes worker of the year award given by the MS Council of the Blind along with many more awards.

David and his wife, Toni, belong to Alta Woods Baptist Church in Jackson. David has served as a Mason for over 30 years as well as other civic organizations which includes: being a member of the Metropolitan Lions Club, serving on the Board of Directors of the MS Council of the Blind and a member of the Board of the Jackson Chapter of MCB where he was vice president and then became president. He also has served on the Board of Directors of the Alexander Memorial Supplemental Transportation Trust Fund.

David was preceded in death by his parents, J.D. and Gladys Goodnight; brother, James Goodnight; sisters, Shirley Berry and Katie Andrews; grandson, Justin Rogers Goodnight.

David is survived by his wife of 54 years, Martha (Toni) Goodnight; son, Eddie Goodnight (Tamela); daughter, Rita Goodnight Walls (Scotty); granddaughters, Krysti Jones, Amanda Townsend (Bubba), Kim Hughes (Darrell), and Annie Harris; grandsons, Justin Michael Goodnight, Lucas Mazyck, and Ryan Rouse; great granddaughters, Sommer McWilliams, Kylee Jones, Madison Hughes and Lexie Holmes. All of which he loved very much. Sisters, Dorothy Nelson and Patricia Smith; and numerous nieces and nephews.