Most of Port O’Connor’s “old timers” probably remember Mr. Raymond Northcutt, but perhaps not by his real name. After settling in Port O’Connor around 1961, he became known as “The Goat Man”.
Raymond Northcutt was born in Indianapolis on November 6, 1906, the son of a railroad man and science teacher. During his youth, Indianapolis was the hub of the nation’s auto industry, and Mr. Northcutt was involved in it. He knew a lot about automobiles and could usually figure out what was wrong with a car just by listening to it. He fixed many cars and other engines in Port O’Connor, often at no charge. Many times he had the needed parts right on his own property in one of his many junk cars. The junk cars served two purposes: spare parts and homes for his goats. In December of 1976, according to an article in the Victoria Advocate, he had 13 well-fed goats living on his property.
Mr. Northcutt’s home was a metal shed located on about a half-acre owned by Mr. Ira Corbin. His residence had a dirt floor and a wood-burning stove he had made from an old bouy. Scattered about were various auto parts and tools, lawnmowers, and other items brought to him for repair or being saved for future projects. His bedroom furniture consisted of a mattress on the floor.
Although he had traveled much of the world, working in many different occupations (metallurgy, mechanics, electronics, welding, industrial chemistry, business management, and demolition, to name a few), he was happy living a simple, independent life in Port O’Connor. “This hole in the wall is about the only thing I have anything to do with,” he told the Advocate reporter. Offering the reporter a cup of coffee, he volunteered, “I have only two vices – smoking and coffee. I am proud of my life.”
Mr. Northcutt’s granddaughter, Vicky Noland of California, remembers visiting her grandfather around 1979, staying in a motel, since his home was short on accommodations. “He came to pick up my mother and me from the motel, but we were not the only passengers. Along with him, were several chickens. ‘Just scoot them over,’ he said. Although he was a reclusive man, there was a steady stream of visitors to his little shed,” Vicky recalls. “Many were bringing lawnmowers and other such items for repair.”
“Grandpa made his life plans and wasn’t accountable to anyone,” Vicky said. Somehow word got around that despite his meager living conditions, this reclusive fellow was actually rich. Some despicable scoundrel decided he could get Mr. Northcutt’s money by “beating it out of him”. It is not known whether or not that criminal took away any riches, but he did take away Raymond Northcutt’s independent life. Mr. Northcutt spent the remaining year-and-a-half of his life in a Port Lavaca nursing home. “When we came to see him, he was happy to see us, but didn’t really know who we were,” remembers Vicky. “He did, however, remember his friend Ira Corbin.
Raymond Northcutt passed away in 1989. His friend Ira Corbin arranged for his burial in Port O’Connor Cemetery and a headstone was ordered for his grave.
Fast forward to August, 2012, when Vicky Noland, while working on her family’s genealogy, searched findagrave.com to see her grandfather’s grave site. Instead of seeing a headstone, she saw only a cross made of pvc pipe. “I was horrified to discover there was no headstone,” Vicky said. “I was told it had been ordered, paid for, and installed 23 years ago.”
Searching more on the internet, Vicky found a Dolphin Talk article about the historical designation of Port O’Connor Cemetery. In the article Bob Allen was mentioned as the historian/caretaker of the cemetery. Bob Allen had installed the pvc cross as part of his vast undertaking to locate and mark all the graves in the cemetery a few years ago. Vicky contacted Bob and he was able to put her in contact with the funeral home that had been in charge of her grandfather’s service. Although the home had changed owners and the paperwork on her grandfather’s service was incomplete, the new owners graciously honored the order of 23 years ago, providing a headstone and installing it in late November.
“I’m so grateful to so many people,” Vicky said. “We lost track of my grandfather for several years before finding him in Port O’Connor in the 70’s, and then there was no headstone to mark his passing, so it was such a relief to know his headstone is now there. This could not have happened without the help of so many wonderful people.”
