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What a wonderful group of people that I have the pleasure to work with.  This has been a hard time for me and my family, as you can imagine, and being held in love from each of you wonderful caring souls has lifted the burden for me.  I am so grateful for each of you!

We are making our way back from Houston, where we laid John to rest a little over a week ago.  The loss of John was simply stunning - I never imagined it might happen, even when the pneumonia continued to persist.  John battled cancer for a year and had it licked - it was a virus that went to pneumonia and a system weakened by all he went through that took him.  I was not prepared at all.  He was the consummate fighter who always beat the odds. 

But, I had 30 years of being cherished by a wonderful man, a first generation student himself who made it all work.  He would have been a GEAR UP kid, had the program been available, He grew up with 7 brothers and sisters in a 2 bedroom shotgun house in a community ravaged by narcotics today.  He turned adversity into success and shared it with me, our children and now our granddaughter.  He held the education system accountable for the American Dream.  He studied hard,, graduated, used the GI Bill, and gave back for all he had received.  I am so grateful to have shared our life with him.  It was shorter than I had imagined, but worth every moment.  Good things come in small packages and if John's time was going to be relatively small - it is very fitting that he did so much with it.  I am glad many of you got to meet him when we went out for BBQ in Houston!

Thanks everyone for your kindnesses.  You are good for my soul!  Shelley

On Mon, Jul 27, 2015 at 3:00 PM, Taylor, Tracey (WDA) <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Dear Colleagues~ Please forgive my delay in sending this message as it is bittersweet.  After a long illness, Mr. John Wooley, MI GEAR UP Coordinator Shelley Wooley’s husband passed away on Tuesday, July 14, 2015.  I spoke with Shelley on the day he passed prior to leaving for the NCCEP conference and she was surrounded with love and support from her sons and friends. I had the pleasure of meeting John and he was truly Shelley’s soulmate. He was an incredible person with an amazing life journey.  Shelley has shared his obituary below.

http://www.csmulder.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=3248538&fh_id=10287

Shelley~ May you find comfort in your cherished memories.  Our prayers are with you and your family.

 

Be well,

 

Tracey

 

Tracey D. Taylor, Ed. D., LPC

Higher Education Consultant

King-Chavez-Parks Initiative

Workforce Development Agency

201 N. Washington Square| Victor Office Center, 2nd floor| Lansing, MI 48913

Office: (517) 335-5846

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This message contains information which may be confidential and privileged. Unless you are the intended recipient (or authorized to receive this message for the intended recipient), you may not use, copy, disseminate or disclose to anyone the message or any information contained in the message.  If you have received the message in error, please advise the sender by reply e-mail, and delete the message.  Thank you very much.

 

 

 

 

Thanks Tracey!!


--

Shelley Wooley, Ed.S.
Doctoral Candidate
Title III Program Director

MI GEAR UP Program Director
LSSU College Positive Volunteerism
Eskoonwid Endaad Native American Center

Lake Superior State University

650 W. Easterday Avenue

Sault Sainte Marie, MI  49783




--
Shelley Wooley, Ed.S.
Doctoral Candidate
Title III Program Director
MI GEAR UP Program Director
LSSU College Positive Volunteerism
Eskoonwid Endaad Native American Center
Lake Superior State University
650 W. Easterday Avenue
Sault Sainte Marie, MI  49783
(906) 635-2664 office
(906) 635-2848 fax