Three-term Tennessee state assemblyman Volta Francis Goddard was for over forty years at the forefront of athletic and political matters in his home county of Blount. A school superintendent in Alcoa for over three decades, Goddard had previously been a rural school teacher and gained wide repute for his decades-long involvement in state athletics. A past president of the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association, Goddard would serve over twenty years on that organization's board of governors. Born on February 15, 1891, in Blount County, Volta Francis "V.F." Goddard was the son of Nathaniel and Dorcas (Morton) Goddard.
Bestowed the curious first name Volta, the reasons behind Nathaniel and Dorcas Goddard giving this name to their son are unknown, and the name remains unique, being the only such instance of it this author has found. A student at Maryville College in Tennessee, Goddard graduated in 1913 and continued schooling at the University of Michigan from 1925-26. He received his master's degree from that institution and did post-graduate work at the University of Chicago.
Goddard's career in education began shortly after his graduation from Maryville in 1913. Chosen as principal of schools in Chassell, Michigan, he was later elected as city superintendent of schools and continued in that post until at least 1916. In July 1914 he married Elizabeth Irene Funk, about whom little is known. Remarked as a member "of one of Michigan's prominent families", she and Goddard separated sometime prior to 1921, as he remarried in June of that year to Ruth Lassfolk (1886-1974). The couple was wed for fifty-three years and had at least two daughters, Ruth Goddard Proffitt (1917-1993) and Barbara J. Goddard (born ca. 1927).
In the early 1920s, Goddard is recorded as a school superintendent in South Dakota, and sometime later removed back to Alcoa, Tennessee. In 1924 he began a thirty-three-year stint as Alcoa city school superintendent, and that long tenure saw Goddard elected as secretary of the County and City Superintendents of East Tennessee for the 1927-28 year. Additionally, Goddard was long active in Tennessee school athletics, being a member of the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association. In 1935 he was elected to that organization's board of governors, where he served until 1957. He served as TSSAA secretary for East Tennessee beginning in the late 1930s, and by 1942 had become chairman of the TSSAA East Tennessee Board of Control. Eight years later he was named chairman of the TSSAA, succeeding Chattanooga High School principal S.E. Nelson.
From the Knoxville News Sentinel, May 27, 1948.
Volta Goddard's time as chairman extended from 1950-1957 when he retired, and in 1964 had the Alcoa High School football field named in his honor. In April 1956 Goddard announced that he'd be retiring as Alcoa school superintendent at the end of the year, and within three years of his retirement entered into a new phase of his life--political service. In 1960 he entered into the race for the Republican nomination for the Tennessee state assembly and in August won the primary. In the general election, Goddard defeated Democrat Maggie Love by a vote of 11,072 to 6,547, and took his seat in January 1961. Nearly seventy years old at the start of the 1961-63 session, Goddard was named to three committees, Education, Highways and Safety, and Local Government.
Reelected in 1962, Goddard again served on the Highways and Safety and Local Government committees and in 1964 won a third term. During the 1965-67 session, Goddard co-chaired the committee on Agriculture and was named to two new committees, those being Labor, and Welfare and Employment Security. Goddard's final term also saw him introduce legislation that would "allow Tennesseeans 65 years of age and older to fish, trap or hunt without buying a license."
Following the conclusion of his term Goddard continued residence in Blount County, and in August 1974 suffered the death of his wife of fifty-three years, Laura. He survived her by nearly one year, dying on August 8, 1975, aged 84. Both he and his wife were interred at the Grandview Cemetery in Maryville, Blount County.
From the 1963-65 Tennessee legislative composite photo.
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