Obituary of James E. Goorahoo

On Friday April 16th at 5:35am James Goorahoo passed away. He passed away at the New Franklin Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Flushing, Queens, New York. At the time of his passing, he had been hospitalized since mid-September 2020 and moved between the Franklin Facility and Long Island Jewish Medical Center. Unfortunately, because of covid guidelines he spent far too long with just his phone to communicate with family and friends. James Edward Goorahoo (Jimmy) was born in Soesdyke Guyana on October 11th, 1939 to James Goorahoo Senior and Jaipali Goorahoo. He was the youngest of the ten of his father’s children, Lynwood, Garfield, Nelly, Ephraim, Wilfred, Greenwood, George, Jean and Doreen. He completed primary school in Soesdyke before attending High School at Central High School in Georgetown. He went on to be a Traveling Sales representative at Stokes and Bynoe, a large distribution company in Georgetown. There he met the love of his life, the late Theresa Boyce. They dated for approximately two years before they were married on February 1st, 1969. They settled in Georgetown and 1 year later, in March of 1970 they welcomed a son, James Jr. In the Spring of 1977, he brought his family to America, settling in Queens, New York. He then began a new career in retails sales at Mays Department store, quickly moving up to Sales Manager. He remained loyal to the company until they closed in 1988. He then moved on to serve as Store Manager for several different Paramount stores, often serving as a Trouble Shooter for many stores that were not performing up to par. He remained in that capacity until his retirement in 2004. By then Theresa’s health had started to decline and he lovingly devoted all of his time to caring for his wife. He took on many of the things that she used to do, even learning to cook and eventually getting to be good at it. He also took up gardening and had an impressive garden at the side of the house and back yard. Jimmy enjoyed Auto Sports, karate movies, wrestling, Yankee baseball, Indian music (which he often played quite loudly) and action movies. After Theresa passed in 2013, it was quite apparent to all that knew him that a huge part of what he was, was gone. He and James Jr. then took up the mantle of taking care of each other; whatever one needed, the other was there to supply. He will be remembered as a kind, generous and exceptional husband, father, grandfather and friend. He was known to be dependable and punctual with a wry sense of humor. A great listener but never afraid to offer his opinion to those that would listen. He maintained lifelong friendships with many of his friends from Guyana and enjoyed their company whenever possible. A man’s lasting legacy to the world is seen on the faces of family and friends when they remember and speak of him. Jimmy will be fondly remembered by his son: James Junior, brother: Ephraim, stepson: David and his wife Annie, Grandchildren: Amanda, Christopher and Kelly. Great grandchildren: Jaiden, Jacob, Noah and Cory. Nieces: Fran, Dawn, Celine, Zandra, Nadine and Diane. Nephews: Paul, Johnny, Raul, Jerry, Fenton, Kristen and Joey. Additional nieces and nephews in Canada and Guyana. In closing, “Say not in grief, he is no more, but in thankfulness that he was”.