Teresa and David Gooley
When I first met David, I was a single mother of two young children. I told him we were a “package deal.” He still laughs at that. We connected right away and I remember during our courtship we felt we could talk to each other about anything for hours. Our values, politics and goals were all very similar, even though we had very different upbringings.
Our first date was to see Ghostbusters and we had a fun time. He asked me if I wanted to drive to the beach that weekend for a picnic. When he took me home I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek and ran into the house. David had planned a very romantic picnic with a bottle of wine, some gourmet food and we played Backgammon. I found out later he let me win. I also got so sleepy from the wine that I fell asleep. This happened several times while we were dating (I was tired, remember I was a single mother and working fulltime). David also managed to blister the bottom of his feet, because it was so hot and he must have forgotten his flip-flops, but he didn’t tell me until later. I guess he had to be tough.
At the time I was working as an adjuster at Allstate and felt trapped. It was a very dysfunctional work place to say the least. David encouraged me to leave and find a job somewhere else. I got a job within a few weeks of applying for Aetna Commercial Claims. It was a much nicer atmosphere and the claims were much more interesting.
We were married and within a year I was pregnant with Jonathan, our youngest. Jon was a scheduled C-section and I remember that morning being a little irritated that David got up and made himself a nice breakfast of eggs, bacon, coffee and juice, when I couldn’t eat. It smelled so good. On the way to the hospital I realized that David had missed the exit to Good Samaritan. We had been there many times. I asked him what was going on and told me he was just so nervous he forgot where he was going. We managed to get to the hospital and Jon entered the world. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a happier father. He was always at the hospital visiting us. My father even commented on how happy David looked, like he was on cloud nine. When he went home the first few nights he wrote a song called “Jonathan.” It was actually very good and recently Jon asked him to play it for him on the piano and they were both in tears, so was I watching them.
One of the things that I love about David is that he has always been there for me no matter what has been going on; work stress, the loss of my sister, loss of my ex-husband, who was the father of Meghan and Doug and stresses with my elderly parents. He finds ways to make things better for me and is always on my side. We are always a team.
He has always been so hard-working, both in his career and at home. I have always admired his character, honesty and his willingness to do the right thing while he worked for the City of Portland, despite political pressure from the politicians’ to do otherwise at times. He has also done some amazing things through the years for our family, including remodeling several houses, including our beach house, building decks, building patios, built-ins for our home and many other things too numerous to mention.
He is also one of the best fathers that I know, always there to support and counsel our children and encourage them in their careers and in their personal lives. As part of the “package deal” I mentioned earlier, he became an incredible grandfather to Logan and Rylee. He has regular “grandpa days” with Logan, and to Rylee he is simply Prince Charming! She is in the princess mode right now at age 3 ½.
I feel very lucky to have met and married such a wonderful man. I’m always very proud of him and so grateful for all of the wonderful things we have done together through the years with and for our family. I don’t think my life would have been the same if I hadn’t met David and fallen in love with him. We will be celebrating our 30th anniversary next April.
