Annette Woodhams Gorey

Profile Updated: July 28, 2023
Annette Woodhams
Annette Woodhams

Then

Annette Woodhams

Now

Annette Woodhams

Yearbook

Yes! Attending Reunion
I Reside: LEESBURG, FL USA
Spouse/Partner: Tom Gorey
My Children: Erinn, born 1975; Joseph, born/died 1977; Shannon, born 1978; Kerry, born 1985 (plus eight grandchildren)
Occupation(s): Public Relations Specialist, ASHA (Retired)
My 50th Reunion Experience in Detail:

Couldn't attend

My Nick Name:

Marnie (my grandma name - it's a long story)

I am not planning to attend the 50th Reunion:

I hope you '69ers have a good time without me!

Why I want to come to this reunion:

So sorry to miss this. Doesn't work out this year.

Where I was born:

G.W. Hospital, Washington, DC

An Opening Statement:

After being married to fellow classmate Tom Gorey since 1973, I've discovered that time goes pretty fast after the first 20 or 30 years. Germantown has been our hometown since 1981 and we have watched it grow from under 20,000 to approximately 100,000 and still growing. All of our three daughters live in Germantown and we see them, and our six grandchildren, very frequently. Tom and I are hands-on grandparents (I don't mean we practice corporal punishment) and are involved in every aspect of their lives. Bliss and stress all wrapped up in one bundle.

My life outside the home includes working as a public relations specialist at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) in Rockville, MD. Over the years I have worked in medicine, law, education, accounting, and probably a few other fields I've forgotten about, but my PR job is by far the best. I would love to hear from any Whitmanites who are ASHA members (there are over 180,000 members who are speech language pathologists, audiologists and communication scientists). If you want to find out more about ASHA go to www.asha.org and also take a look at the press room to see what we're working on.

I'd like to add that the Washington Post ran a Health Section feature on September 30, 2008, about photographers who have formed a volunteer nonprofit group - Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep - to take memorial photos of stillborn babies for parents who otherwise would have nothing to remember their child by. Because Tom and I lost our son at birth it was particularly meaningful to me so I thought I would share the information in case there are any photographers among our classmates who might like to take part in this program. The web address is noted in the web pages section above.

Update: At the urging of the mighty webmaster, I am adding this update in December 2013.


Tom and I retired to Leesburg, FL, last year and don't miss the DC area one bit. Love the slower pace, the friendly people and the fact that Florida is so flat. Now I can take daily 2-3 mile walks without getting stuck at the bottom of a hill I can't walk up. We now have 8 grandchildren - 3 in Orlando and 5 in Maryland. They all have very busy lives but we manage to see them on occasion. Our oldest granddaughter, Devinn, graduated from the University of Pittsburgh this year and is pursuing graduate studies to ultimately become a physicians assistant.

An Opening Statement (Part 2):

This quote from the movie As Good As It Gets, seems to sum up an average day in the Gorey household:

"Go sell crazy someplace else. We're all stocked up here."

Elementary School:

Radnor

Jr. High School:

Pyle (for four miserable years)

Marital Status:

50 years on 8/18/23 and counting.

My Email address:

reeldove@aol.com (it's an Irish dance thing)

My Parents:

My dad died of pancreatic cancer in 1988, at age 80. The house my dad had built in Bethesda in 1951 was sold in 2019 and my mom passed away on August 18, 2019.

Professional Achievement(s):

Finally got a career going after working in virtually every field out there (law, medicine, education, wedding floral, and some other pretty bizarre ones that will remain unmentioned).

Three words to describe myself in 1969?

Innocent. Insecure. Inhibited. (I got over it - people who've only known me as an adult cannot believe the aforementioned description.)

A Walt Whitman Story:

Just had a flashback to lunch time at WWHS in 1969. Sat at the table with a bunch of crazy guys who always made me laugh hysterically (it didn't take much - I was always pretty giddy). The crazy guys included the infamous Tom Gorey (now my infamous spouse), Charlie Vance, and Scott Weaver.

I haven't thought about this in years, but I recall repeated after school trips to the 7-11 on River Road in Karen Lewis' mustang. It wouldn't be a big deal except it was January and very, very cold. We bought slurpees and were frozen by the time we finished them but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

I have no memories of EFFE week, which has been mentioned by several classmates, because I had surgery on my arm and missed the entire week. It's definitely left a hole in my soul...

Speaking of which - John's Home Page retrospective on Woodstock reminded me that, although the Woodstock festival began on my 18th birthday, I was totally clueless about it. Was I the only "nice girl" from Bethesda who had no idea what was going on? And do I really want to know the answer to that?

My Favorite Teacher(s):

Captain Nicewaner. He scared me to death but he had a heart of gold underneath the gruffness. He was always willing to give extra help to me even though I was hopelessly dysnumeric. In my yearbook he wrote, "Keep off the rocks and shoals of life." Good advice I've tried to stick to through the years. And, by the way, I should have known he was a Duke man - they put out some quality people and he was one of them.

What was my BEST moment at Whitman:

Junior year. Yes, the entire year.

What I loved most about Whitman:

The dome.

What was my WORST moment at Whitman:

I've given this a lot of thought - well, a little bit of thought - it was probably one of those fake fire drills where we had to stand out in the pouring rain waiting for the all clear. If you're the one who kept pulling that alarm, don't bother to come to the reunion...

What I hated most about Whitman:

The breezeway. They should have called it the "freezeway."

Family members who attended Whitman:

Siblings: Robin ('66), Charlene ('68), Debbi ('71), Keith ('74), Janice ('75), Bruce ('80), Pam ('82).

Sadly, my brother Keith took his own life in 2018.

My Interests:

History, especially WWI and WWII, music, travel in the U.S. (not much on international travel at this point except another trip to Ireland some day), gardening and landscaping, reading good fiction and nonfiction, and learning as much as I can about all sorts of things I don't know. Also love the world of Irish stepdance. When my youngest daughter was dancing and competing it brought endless new experiences into our lives. New people, places and life long friendships.

My Weakness:

Instagram reels of cats and babies

My Favorite Food:

Tex-Mex (I have to eat gluten-free and that fills the bill in most cases)

My Favorite "My Time":

Morning coffee breaks on my front porch.

My Favorite Hero(s):

As a child: Clara Barton

My Favorite Book(s):

"Mrs. Mike" - by Nancy and Benedict Freeman. Have read and reread it since I was a teen.

My Favorite Movie(s):

Dr. Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, As Good As It Gets, Napoleon Dynamite, Dodgeball, Starsky & Hutch, Silver Linings Playbook, The Yearling (can't watch it without crying).

My Favorite Musicals:

Fiddler on the Roof and just about everything Rodgers and Hammerstein ever wrote.

My Favorite Sports Teams:

Duke basketball. Pretty much done with the former Redskins/Washington/Commanders.

My Favorite Smell:

A clean litter box

My Health:

Taking a licking but still kicking

My Biggest Loser Numbers:

Are you kidding? What does this even mean?

My Giving:

ASPCA. St. Jude's.

My Bucket List:

Learn as much as I can about everything before I kick off. There is SO much information out there.

Famous or interesting people you've met?

Too many to name.

How do I relax?

Refer back to Favorite "My Time" above

What is your Biggest turn-off?

Covid.

Language(s) I speak:

Je parle un peu de français mais je le parle mal.

My Pets:

Four cats who ran our household with an iron paw but they have now all passed on. We have two furry feline sisters who took over the rule of the afore mentioned kitties. Our kids claim that we treat the cats better than we ever treated them. Tom acknowledges the truth in that.

Lost our cat Weesie on Christmas morning 2018. It was time for the big shot.

Then after losing two more cats we were down to one but inherited two young kitties from granddaughter whose roommate is allergic.

Lost the last of the four cats we brought down from MD and now have two young and crazy female felines, Alpha and Beta, who bring us a lot of joy.

I am a Veteran:

No

I was a Hippie:

No

Favorite Quotation/s:

"Go sell crazy someplace else. We're all stocked up here." - Jack Nicholson's character in the movie "As Good As it Gets."

Philosophy of life/Credo:

Life isn't fair. Get over it. And the advice I give to my grandkids is: Keep your edges sharp.

My Tombstone reads:

Technology kills.

My Song Dedications:

Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet, dedicated to my crazy but loveable husband. That was "our" song (we shared it with many other people) back in the day.

WHO I AM:

Thelma or Louise - depends on the day.

What I Need:

Some new joints - not the kind you smoke but that might be okay, too. (One knee replacement on 1/1/20 - hoping to keep it to just one.) After three back surgeries I've decided to see how long I can keep going without another one.

About My Husband:

Those who know Tom are aware that there is no one like him. He is definitely one of a kind (that's usually a good thing).

About My Children:

We, like all parents, are so very proud of our children and their children.

Annette's Latest Interactions

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Mar 12, 2024 at 12:14 PM

Posted on: Mar 11, 2024 at 11:20 AM

Bragging a bit here. Our granddaughter, Devinn, pictured in orange scrubs here, was named Physicians Assistant of the Year for all of Orlando Health across Central Florida. She has been at Winnie Palmer Hospital, working in pediatric surgery, for a year and half. We couldn't be more proud of this super accomplished young woman.

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Aug 15, 2023 at 4:33 AM
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Jul 28, 2023 at 11:19 AM

Posted on: May 31, 2023 at 10:41 AM

Annette Woodhams Gorey has left an In Memory comment for Laura Goldin.
Feb 10, 2023 at 10:25 AM

I will never forget going to Kindergarten Roundup at Radnor Elementary when I was five. A little girl stood at the chalkboard and drew a picture of a bird, then wrote the word bird. My mother had been told that we should come to school as a blank slate, don't teach anything. Teachers will do that. And yet this tiny little girl had just written a whole word! It was Laura Goldin and that was just the first time I understood just how brilliant she was. Sorry to hear she has passed on.

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Oct 23, 2022 at 7:58 PM

Posted on: Oct 20, 2022 at 11:50 AM

Loving retirement life in FL, but getting old not so much. So lucky to dodge Hurricane Ian last month which took a slight turn at the last minute saving us from major impact. So sorry for those hit in the Southeast coast - Sanibel Island may never be the same.

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Oct 20, 2022 at 11:46 AM

Posted on: Oct 20, 2022 at 11:43 AM

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Oct 20, 2022 at 11:46 AM

Posted on: Oct 20, 2022 at 11:43 AM

Aug 15, 2022 at 4:33 AM
Aug 15, 2021 at 4:33 AM
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Apr 04, 2021 at 9:44 AM
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Feb 21, 2021 at 6:55 PM

Posted on: Feb 06, 2021 at 9:54 AM

Since my birthday (August 15 - same as Lisa Gessow) never shows up I thought I'd share my celebratory pic from that day.

Jan 07, 2021 at 10:01 AM

Bill - I just love your detailed account of childhood antics shared with Howie. I was also in Mrs. Harrison's class but my memories have faded quite a bit. Thanks for taking me back to the long gone Bethesda days (Baronet Theater, Giffords., etc.). We were lucky to have a wonderful childhood with freedom from the fear and uncertainty that our own children and grandchildren are now facing. Sadly, Howie is gone too soon but I think his life was well lived.

Aug 15, 2020 at 4:33 AM
Aug 15, 2019 at 4:33 AM
Jul 22, 2019 at 11:12 AM

I just saw this post by Jan Nisewaner about her dad. I totally bombed at geometry but he was kind enough to give me some assistance in the morning before school started so I was able to pass the course, although barely. I have never forgotten what he wrote in my senior yearbook and it's something I took to heart: "Keep off the rocks and shoals of life." Good advise from a wise old sailor.

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Jun 27, 2019 at 6:14 PM

Posted on: Jun 27, 2019 at 11:38 AM

Our three daughters, Erinn (1975), Shannon (1978) and Kerry (1985). And our eight grandchildren, ages 23 to 1. Love these kids so much!

Jun 24, 2019 at 11:20 AM
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Jun 23, 2019 at 10:27 PM

Posted on: Jun 23, 2019 at 12:27 PM

1960 – Radnor Elementary School – 3rd Grade – Mrs. Harrison


1st Row: Susan Cole; Jill Jason; Deborah Schifter; Jan Lilienfield; Susan Frank.
2nd Row: Howard Gartenhaus; Freddie Punam; Robert Lehman; Glenn Younes; Jimmy Steward; Bill Cameron; Bill Talbert; Peder Paananen; Bill Rollins
3rd Row: Vickie Defries ;Biff Tucci; Scott Mason; Mimi Fauquier; ???; Paula Ginger; Nancy Gressman; Margo Gressman.
4th Row: Keith Morgan; Glenn Baruch; Linda Price; Kathleen Little; Lois Laurie; Russell Baker; Shelley Gray; Dorthy Mayo.
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