Michael Ross Goulding

GOULDING, Michael Ross, 78, of St. Pete Beach, FL passed away in his Vina del Mar home with family at his side on Friday, October 6, 2017. Mike was born January 25, 1939 in his parents', Harry and Reba, home on Retta Esplanade in Punta Gorda, FL. He was a third generation Floridian born into the commercial fishing industry. Mike was the youngest of three children with siblings, Joe and Ann. Mike spent his youth involved in sports and 'down the bay' in Charlotte Harbor. He was a 1957 graduate of Charlotte County High School where he was a three-sport captain earning a school record sixteen varsity letters. Mike was an all-state, all-classification football quarterback, seven year starter and all-Tamiami Conference baseball catcher, and was the CHS basketball career scoring record holder leading the Tarpons to their only FHSAA final four appearance as a senior. Mike is enshrined in the Tarpon Athletic Hall of Fame. Mike received his Bachelors of Marketing from the University of Florida in 1961. He was a long time Gator football season ticket holder and often attended road and national championship games. Mike spend his career as salesman, starting with Pillsbury in the early 1960s and retiring in 1998 after 30 years as the National Sales Manager for Houghton-Mifflin's college textbook division. Mike was an active youth sports volunteer as a coach and administrator in the 1970s and 1980s at Davis Field in Pinellas Park. He led the Pinellas Park T-Birds Midgets to their first Pinellas County title in 1988. Mike loved the outdoors spending much of his time with family and friends at his Creek House on Shell Creek in Punta Gorda and at his Fish Camp on Bull Bay in Charlotte Harbor. Mike is preceded in death by his parents, Harry and Reba; his loving wife of 40 years, Sherry (McBryar); and his brother Joe. Mike is survived by his sister Ann Bobo of Punta Gorda, FL; three children, Reid of Atlanta/St. Pete Beach, Jason of St. Petersburg, and Amber (Jason) Plourde of Sanford, FL; and seven grandchildren, Carson, Preston, Michael Paige, Sloan, Wyatt, Boone, and Tatum. A celebration of Mike's life will be held Saturday, October 14, 2017 at 1:00pm at the Anderson-McQueen Funeral Home on 2201 MLK St. N, St. Petersburg, FL 33704 followed by a reception at the Goulding house on Vina del Mar. Mike will be interned with his wife, Sherry, at the Royal Palms Cemetery in St. Petersburg.