Mill owner was a lifelong writer, poet and cultural maven in Lubbock
Carlton Mark Godbold passed away at home at Buffalo Lake outside of Lubbock, Texas, on March 15, 2026, at the age of 69. Son of Pat (Mildred) Godbold and Happy Godbold, Carlton began his life a month early, being born in Dr. Stover’s clinic in his hometown of Marfa, Texas.
Being premature, he was rushed with his mom and twin sister to Alpine, Texas, 30 miles away where the closest hospital was. To prevent a grass fire, Happy, following the ambulance, stopped to put out a burning yucca struck by lightning. Dr. Stover gave Pat his own blood. As such, Carlton started his life in the loving community of Marfa, where neighbors helped neighbors.
Carlton grew up helping his father ranch at the OT Ranch southeast of Marfa leased from Teeny Crosson and later ranched on two properties south of Marfa down Casa Piedra Road. He spent a large amount of time at his uncle Carlton’s ranch in Leakey, Texas, raising prize-winning angora goats and quarter horses. Carlton skipped a grade in third grade and continued his undergraduate education and played football at Marfa School and the New Mexico Military Institute, graduating from Marfa High in 1974.
Even though life for Carlton started as a very tiny baby, he grew into a 6-foot-4-inch-tall man. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, earning a double major in Spanish and English. After college Carlton lived, studied, and taught English at Quernavaca and San Miguel de Allende in Mexico where he lived with a family who only spoke Spanish. Carlton was fluent in Spanish––reading, writing, and speaking. Carlton was always interested in geology/gemology, history, and travel. He wrote poetry (Crepuscular Ontogenesis, published in 1987) and stories. He traveled to Spain, Scotland, and Iceland.
When Carlton’s father was looking to retire, Carlton bought the two animal feed mills, one in Lubbock, Texas, and one in Marfa, Texas, from his father, Happy Godbold. Happy had produced supplemental feed in pellet and block form for cattle and horses and pioneered quail and deer blocks. Carlton continued to run the mills and expanded the feed markets more into goats and sheep, successfully continuing his father’s businesses.
Carlton eventually sold the mills to Friona Industries. During his life in Lubbock (1993), Carlton owned and renovated an early hospital across from Texas Tech, originally Plains Hospital and Clinic and later St. Mary’s Hospital dating from 1936 and 1940—located at the 2600 block of 19th street. He hosted many, cultural, art, and music events there using it as a cultural/arts space. At one time he also had a restaurant and coffee shop in the building. He renamed the roughly 50,000-square-foot building the Godbold Cultural Center. Later he leased part of it out to two businesses, Café J and Chrome. Shortly before he died he sold the building.
Carlton Mark Godbold is preceded in death by his parents, Happy and Pat Godbold, and his brother Paul Godbold (wife Georgia). He is survived by: three sisters, Janet Lancaster (husband Steve), Susan Nelson (husband Stephen), and Patti Godbold; godchild Darcey Achin and her child Jade; ex-wife and friend Adrian Henry; Marfa cousins Ike and Mike Livingston, and their spouses Valda and Gina.
Carlton has many other loving relatives and friends across the globe. Please share your memories of Carlton at Dignity Memorial in the care of Resthaven Funeral Home and Memorial Park.