Ray Goodwin's earliest connection with the firm came shortly before his birth when his mother worked as secretary of the Greene County chapter of the Red Cross. Mr. Cathey was chairman of the Red Cross at that time, but gave Mrs. Helen Goodwin a sufficient amount of time off from her duties to deliver her oldest son, Ray Allen, on February 12, 1938.

Goodwin began his undergraduate career at the University of the South (Sewanee) upon completion of six months of active military service with the United States Army following his high school graduation in 1956. Later he transferred to and received his undergraduate degree from Hendrix College. He attended law school at Southern Methodist University where he served as editor in chief of the Journal of Air Law and Commerce and was a member of Delta Theta Phi legal fraternity and the Barristers. His practice with the firm began August 15, 1965. He assumed many of the firm's managerial duties sooner than anticipated when Brown ascended to the bench in 1975.

During his long tenure with the firm, he probably had the most "general" practice of any of members of the firm and holds the firm record for the largest recoveries in personal injury litigation and commercial litigation.

He served the community as president of the Rotary Club, chairman of the Northeast Arkansas Regional Library Board, chairman of the Greene County Library Board during the planning, construction, and opening of the present public library facility, chairman of the board and Sunday school teacher at First United Methodist Church, a member of the Arkansas Methodist Hospital Association, and a member of the judicial and legal advisory committee for the design and construction of the present Greene County Courthouse. He served on the Arkansas State Library Commission by appointment of then-Governor David Pryor and was a member of the board of governors of the Hendrix College Alumni Association.  In 1994, Goodwin received the lifetime achievement award from the Paragould Rotary Club.  He is a Paul Harris Fellow.

Ray served as a member of many committees of the Arkansas Bar Association over the years, including a stint as chairman of the Committee for Legal Services to the Deaf for which he received the Association's Golden Gavel Award in 1986. He was instrumental in changing the bylaws of the Association to permit lay people to serve on bar committees. He served as a member of the trial practice committee for the Second Judicial District and was a member of the board of directors of Legal Services of Northeast Arkansas. By gubernatorial appointment, he  served as a special justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Arkansas.

Paragould.