Theron Hulan Goynes

Theron Hulan Goynes succumbed peacefully, Monday, January 27, 2025, while surrounded by his family in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was born August 20, 1929 to the late Willie Mae Harrison and Hulan Edwin Goynes in Texarkana, Texas. He was the fifth of six children.

In 1952, he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Administration from Prairie View A&M University. Later that year, he entered the United States Air Force and served for four years. After an honorable discharge, he began his teaching career in 1956. In that same year, he and Naomi Delores Jackson were each hired, just months apart, for their first teaching jobs in Nashville, Arkansas. He asked to walk her to the faculty social and the rest is history. The couple married two years later. From 1960

-1964, Mr. and Mrs. Goynes taught students on the Navajo Indian Reservation in San Juan county. The pair moved to Las Vegas in 1964 with their young children and signed teaching contracts with the Clark County School District. They resided in North Las Vegas ever since and were married 66 years. Mr. Goynes served as a teacher, counselor, adult education coordinator, elementary assistant principal, and principal during his twenty-seven year career with the district. Theron H. and Naomi D. Goynes Elementary STEM Academy opened in 2005 to honor their devotedness to education.

Mr. Goynes also served twenty years on the North Las Vegas City Council. Twelve of those years he was Mayor Pro Tempore. On September 18, 1981, he chaired the North Las Vegas City Council meeting in the absence of the mayor, thus becoming the first Black elected representative to officially head a government body in Nevada’s 117-year history. He received numerous awards and appointments for his involvement in local, state, and national activities. He was honored as “Public Official of the Year” in 1992. He’s a lifetime member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, Inc.

He was loved by all who knew him for his genuine kindness, his dedication, and his sense of humor. He was preceded in death by his wife Naomi Delores Jackson Goynes. He is survived by his three children Kimberly Goynes, Byron (Lydia) Goynes and Pamela (Romero) Goynes-Brown; five grandchildren, Bobby Owens III, Mahlia Posey, Joi Goynes, Michael Owens and Joshua Goynes and one great-grandchild, Ember Owens. He was blessed with a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

A visitation for Theron will be held Friday, February 7, 2025 from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Palm Mortuary - Downtown, 1325 North Main St, Las Vegas, NV 89101. A funeral service will occur Saturday, February 8, 2025 from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM at Second Baptist Church, 500 Madison Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89106. A committal service will occur Saturday, February 8, 2025 from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM at Palm Downtown Mortuary & Cemetery, 1325 N Main St, Las Vegas, NV 89101.