Sandy Gordon-Ghormley:
CLASS OF 1960
Whitefish Bay High SchoolClass of 1960
Whitefish bay, WI
St. Louis University - NursingClass of 1976
St. louis, MO
Saint Olaf CollegeClass of 1964
Northfield, MN
Chaffey High SchoolClass of 1958
Ontario, CA
Sandy's Story
My Life:
Hi from St. Louis via Nurthfield and Minneapolis, Minnesota, where I attended St. Olaf College, earning a degree in nursing in 1964. I had a Navy scholarship for my last year so I embarked on a career as an officer and gentle-woman. After an idyllic summer in Newport, Rhode Island, for officer indoctrination, I was stationed at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.
It was there that I met Dr. Rex Ghormley who was going through orientation for the Optometry Corps of the Navy while staying in the Bachelor Officers' Quarters. I also lived there and we met at a party in the recreation room. Since he had to report to San Diego Naval Hospital and I was on permanent orders at Bethesda, we decided to get married on March 20,1965. Why not?
Eventually he was transferred to D.C. For his last year he requested a military base so we were sent to Cherry Point, North Carolina, where our son Scott was born on October 4, 1966.
Just after Scott's first birthday we drove across country to the charming little town of Arroyo Grande, California, in the central coast. After three years there, we flew to Milwaukee for our tenth high school reunion. I was pregnant with our daughter Erin.
By the end of that year we had decided to move to St. Louis, I had the baby, sold the house and packed up a U-Haul for the move. Rex was already working in St. Louis by the time I could travel.
St. Louis has been good to both of us. Our daughter Kerry was born here in 1972. Rex started Vision Care Consultants, one of the largest practices of its kind in the U.S. and I returned to graduate school at St. Louis University from 1974-1976. I taught there for five years after that. I retired to raise my three active children but started a health promotion/consulting business that I could do from home.
After Kerry left for Valparaiso University in 1990, I decided to attend Parish Nurse Preparation at Concordia University in Mequon and volunteered at our Lutheran Church for five years.
Then we decided to move to Eureka, just outside St. Louis, and build a smaller home on the golf course. We joined Most Sacred Heart Catholic Church, which effectively terminated my parish nurse position at our former Lutheran church.
My son Scott and Lisa live in Eureka so I enjoy babysitting Kylie, my granddaugher who was born on May 18, 2003, and twin grandsons, Caden and Logan, born on August 16, 2006. Scott sells contact lens solutions to eye doctors. My daughter Kerry also lives in St. Louis and is an independent insurance agent with Mutual of Omaha while Erin lives in Kansas City where she works for Hallmark.
My beloved husband Rex succumbed to lung cancer (non-smoker's type) on November 4, 2009, so I will not be able to introduce you to him at the 50th. I was focused on taking care of him for the past three years and my nursing experience came in very handy.
When Ken Cook offered to take over the 50th Reunion committee, Rex was in the midst of treatment. I was grateful to have time to spend with him. I am getting accustomed to my new-found independence and autonomy and look forward to seeing everyone at the reunion.
I recenetly started a coffee business, Javafit Coffee with vitamins, so I am looking forward to direct sales and also using it to raise money for charities. I will bring samples to share.
I have also joined the team that is preparing for an ACTS Retreat at our church. The impact of my weekend on the retreat was life-changing, and I hope to help other women experience the same joy and peace on their retreat. The acronym stands for Adoration, Community, Theology and Service.
I hope to be remembered as a kind, compassionate person who loved to help others, and who had leadership potential that was not apparent to me when I was in high school. The Navy brought that out and I was able to use it effectively from then on.
For relaxation, I like to lounge on the couch and turn on a good movie or read a good book. The only problem is that I cannot put the book down if it is really compelling, so I must not allow myself to start a good book unless I have time to spare.
I also enjoy classical music, opera, the symphony and theater.
If I'm going to work somewhere, I need to have a computer, phone, and email to be able to deal with day-to-day communications.
My current hero is my late husband. He was such a good, kind person, who fought cancer without complaining and who never gave up hope that he could beat it.
I share a Lhasa Apso dog with my daughter and he is such a loving companion, along with my...Expand for more
grandchildren.
If I could improve my home, I'd remodel the kitchen and dining area and add on an all-season room. I live in my dream home, but they always say you should build two homes -- one to make all the mistakes on, and one to correct them. I decided to forget about the second one and enjoy the one I have.
My kids have become my parents, and are giving me good advice on how to proceed into my new life without a companion. I appreciate their support, but I am taking quite good care of myself.
If I won $100 million, I'd give most of it to charity, then spend the rest on Scott, Erin and Kerry.
In college, I was tired of all the girls waiting around for someone to ask them out so I started a dating service. Guys would come to me for a date and I would find them one. On many occasions, I had to go on the date because everyone else was studying, or something boring like that. Luckily I managed to get passing grades because I had a lot of trouble squeezing study time into my social life.
My current age is 67. When I was 12, I thought that people my age now would be "old.". I was so completely wrong..
I love my new career as a professional fund raiser and I am so excited to be doing something useful at this stage of my life.
My best friend would tell you I'm very outgoing, and people who don't know me very well would probably describe me as the same. i am a compulsive networker and sometimes give too much advice on how someone should meet someone else, or go someplace where they could...., etc.
i like classic clothes that don't go out of style easily because I buy good quality clothes that will last. My favorite "fix" is a trick that my dressmaker does. She takes out shoulder pads and remakes shoulder seams to update a jacket or dress. She also inserts elastic into the back of a waistband to cinch it up, while giving it plenty of room to stretch in case of a bout of over-indulgence.
In 10 years, I hope to be healthy and happy, as i am today. I'm going to get there by working hard and taking care of myself..
My oldest friend is Linda Jansen Eckl. We met because our parents were friends, when we were two years old. I remember when her brother Peter died of cancer as a child and it was so sad for all of us. Now she is fighting that same battle. She has always been fun to be around, upbeat, etc. She has a great attitude. She is always making something like sweaters, needlepoint Christmas ornaments, etc.
My first job besides babysitting was at Pig & Whistle, where I got paid 50 cents per hour to wait on tables. What I remember most about it is that I almost let an order of ice cream sundaes melt on my first night of work. When I confessed that it was my first night on the job, the customer still gave me a tip. I don't think I brought them new desserts either!
I can remember when I first got glasses. I could see the leaves on trees, and the blackboard from the back of the room. I thought everyone saw like I did so I didn't realize how near-sighted I was. In high school I didn't like my glasses so I would take them off a lot. If I saw someone in the distance and couldn't recognize them, I would say Hi without too much enthusiasm, just in case they were a someone I really didn't know. Unfortunately, I may have seemed unfriendly or aloof if the person was really a friend!
The summer after graduation I worked for Harold Hiken at Camp Sidney Hill in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin. It was like working while on vacation. The camp was for Jewish boys, so girls were in the vast minority. I was Harold's secretary since I knew shorthand and typing ( my mother insisted that I take the class at WFB), and the rest of the girls worked in the kitchen. John Allen was a counselor that year, and he was such a nice person. I had not known him well in high school, but we became friends up there. I was so sad to hear of his untimely death a few years later. I met another counselor who was three years older, and ended up dating him until my senior year at St. Olaf. That is when I began to get the yen to travel, and the Navy was making me an offer I couldn't refuse. The rest is history, as I said above.
I am looking forward to attending our 50th reunion. The past reunions were so much fun. People didn't care what we did, as long as they could hang out together. I am sorry that we have two hotels because that is where the hanging out occurred, but we will make the best of it. Come over to LaQuinta because they have free breakfast and a big open area for networking.
Sandy Gordon Ghormley
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