Constance Goble: Everything About Katherine Johnson's daughter

Constance Goble is the daughter of Katherine Johnson. Constance Goble’s mother Katherine was an American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights.

Constance Goble: Bio Summary

Constance Goble was born 27 Apr 1943 in White Sulphur Springs, Greenbrier, West Virginia, United States to her parents  Katherine Johnson and James Francis Goble. Constance was not the only child of her parents, she had two other siblings Joylette Goble and Katherine Goble. She was the second born of the family. The family lived in Newport News, Virginia, from 1953.

Constance Goble’s father, James died of an inoperable brain tumor in 1956 and, three years later, Katherine married James A. “Jim” Johnson, a United States Army officer and veteran of the Korean War; the pair were married for 60 years until his death in March 2019 at the age of 93. 

Her mother, Johnson also died at a retirement home in Newport News on February 24, 2020, at age 101. Following her death, Jim Bridenstine, NASA’s administrator, described her as “an American hero” and stated that “her pioneering legacy will never be forgotten.”

In an interview with Monitor, her sister, Joylette Goble talked about her mother and the book she wrote about her life for the new memoir “My Remarkable Journey,” with help from her two daughters, Joylette Goble Hylick and Katherine Moore.

When her sister Joylette was asked, “What did your mother think when she became famous?” The daughter of the famous Mathematician answered:

She’d say, “I was just doing my job, and I don’t know what all this is about.” Those ladies didn’t do their work to get famous. They did it because they could, because it was challenging, because they felt they were representing our community. And especially because they knew we were in a race against the Russians in the early years of the space program. They had a duty to their country.

Constance Goble Boykin Garcia died peacefully on May 4, 2010, at Mary Immaculate Hospital in Newport News, Va.

In 1951, Constance Goble’s family moved to Newport News. She graduated from Carver High School in 1961. She received her bachelor’s degree from Hampton Institute/University and spent many years as an elementary school teacher in Newport News. She also taught for five years in New Orleans, La.

Her final teaching years were spent at Crittenden Middle School (formerly Carver H.S.). An active deacon at Carver Memorial Presbyterian Church, Connie belonged to the Carver Senior Choir, the L.L. Bethel Inspirational Choir, the Leonard Tucker Bell Choir, and the Alice Rollins Circle.

Constance Goble was a member of the Lambda Omega Chapter, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., whose Ivy Beyond the Wall ceremony will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday, at Carver Memorial Presbyterian Church.

Connie is survived by three children, Katherine Michele Boykin-Sanders (Jenerio), Gregory Scott Boykin (Patricia), and Douglas James Boykin; her parents, Katherine and James Johnson; two sisters, Joylette Hylick (Lawrence), and Katherine Moore; six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

A memorial celebration was held in her honor at 10 a.m., Tuesday, May 11, 2010, at Carver Memorial Presbyterian Church, 830-25th Street, Newport News.

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