Goding was born in
Skagway, Alaska. He graduated from
Yankton College in
South Dakota in 1933. In the 1930s, he taught public school in South Dakota and Alaska and served as an inspector for the
U.S. Customs Service in Alaska. He served on staff for Congressman
A.J. Dimond from 1940 to 1942. During
World War II he served on the
Board of Economic Warfare. In 1944 he was appointed Assistant Chief (and Acting Chief) Alaska Branch, Division of Territories and Island Possessions, for the Office of the Secretary of the
United States Department of the Interior. He became involved in further development of American interests in the Pacific after the war. Goding earned a law degree from
George Washington University in 1950. He continued in staff positions with the Department of the Interior until he was appointed United States High Commissioner, Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands by President
John F. Kennedy. His work focused on developing education, transportation, and a new central legislative body, the
Congress of Micronesia. Goding retired in 1966 and received an honorary Doctors of Laws degree from the
University of Alaska in 1968. He later moved to
Stuttgart, Arkansas, where he died of pneumonia in 1998. ==References==