Johnny Goering is a blonde, blue-eyed, 12-year-old in my seventh grade classroom. The day I unwittingly sit on a whoopee cushion, he laughs harder than any other kid in class.
Nearly 30 years later he performs my colonoscopy. My husband calls this the definition of "perfect irony". I call it "really super awkward".
Except it's not. I am snoozing on the gurney just before my procedure at the Surgery Center when I feel a reassuring hand on my own. I glance up to see not the laughing 12-year-old I taught so many years ago but the kind, gentle eyes of my doctor. Doctor John Goering. In that moment I am suddenly proud. Our roles are reversed. This boy-turned-man now takes care of me.
My husband says John Goering was born to do great things. He remembers teaching and coaching Johnny more than a quarter of a century ago at Grand Island Central Catholic. Whether he is competing in football, basketball or track, my husband recalls, John Goering works as hard as he can and is humbly grateful for his older teammates who take him under wing and demand his best.
But there is something else about Johnny.
At Central Catholic, Eric Kayl is Johnny's best friend. Pat and Julie Kayl, not only Eric's parents but John's teachers, invite John out to their family farm in Hemingford, Nebraska. One day, John and Eric, small 12-year-old boys, are helping to herd cattle when Johnny spies a small crippled calf struggling to keep up. John jumps out of the pickup, runs to the calf, and half coaxes and half carries it all the rest of the long way home.
"He couldn't leave that lovely animal out there alone," Julie Kayl says. "I knew then he'd be a doctor."
Now Dr. John Goering and his beautiful Katie send their own daughter and sons to Central Catholic. Sadie, the oldest, is a senior. She is the stuff made of high school beauties - homecoming queen, captain of the volleyball team, editor of the school paper.
But like her father, Sadie Goering is so much more.
"Sadie is the most positive and nicest person I know, and she never refers to us as 'the freshmen'," Megan Woods, a young volleyball teammate says. "Whenever I need help or advice, I know I can go to Sadie."
It's no accident that Sadie is kind. It is what she admires most about her dad. "Wherever we go, people love my dad," she says. "Even my friends who are quiet and shy feel comfortable around him. He gets them to talk."
And he makes them feel safe, she says. "I want to be like him," Sadie says.
Central Catholic means everything to Sadie and her father. Sadie remembers the first day of middle school. She doesn't know anybody, but she wears a shirt emblazoned with "GOERING" across the back. It comforts her to know her dad once wandered these same infinite hallways.
My husband, who is 6 ft. 8 and frightens small children, stops her when he sees the name on her shirt. Sadie stares open mouthed at the huge man whose head hovers somewhere around the ceiling.
"I'm Mr. Howard," the man booms, "and I coached your dad in track." Then he leads her to a window. "See that tree out there?" he points. "I made your dad throw up by that tree."
Sadie is enveloped in the same loving school community but carves her own path at Central Catholic. She is not a track runner but a championship tennis player like her mother Katie, a three time state runner-up tennis champ from Grand Island Senior High. Sadie also plays for the state bound volleyball team, writes a student column for the Grand Island Independent, and works as hard as she can at school. Next year, she plans to study journalism and pre-law in college. Sadie Goering has "success" written all over her.
She is not at Central Catholic, however, to build her resume. John and Katie Goering choose Grand Island Central Catholic for Sadie, Jack and Will for more important reasons.
"Their spiritual development is important to us," John explains. "Whenever you walk through the doors of GICC, you walk into that family feeling. Sadie's been able to participate in art, journalism, volleyball and tennis. It's opened up so many opportunities for her."
But his children's faith lives are most important. John remembers how significant the priests and religion teachers were in his own life as a student. He remembers particularly Miss Mary Wiles."She was so sweet. We talked about our faith and our lives in her class."
Sadie enjoys Father Scott Harter, the GICC chaplain, and his unique talent for teaching students of all ages about their faith with his humor and wisdom. But she credits Mary Wiles - just like her dad - with starting her out on on her faith journey. The kids can talk to Miss Wiles about anything, Sadie says, and her classroom is a haven.
In seventh grade, when Sadie's grandfather, Dr. Bill Fowles dies suddenly, Sadie seeks the refuge of Mary Wiles.
"She gave me a great big Miss Wiles' hug," Sadie recalls.
Her grandfather's death is very difficult. That her healthy, golf playing, Husker loving grandfather can be gone in an instant is too much to absorb. For the first time Sadie questions her faith. "Where's he gone?" she thinks. But she is comforted by all that she has learned from Miss Wiles and her other religion teachers at Grand Island Central Catholic.
Her grieving grandmother tells her that one day she walks into her room to discover a golf tee and a cross lying on the dresser together. Sadie understands it is a sign for all of them. "We have a guardian angel," she says simply.
Sadie will leave Central Catholic after graduation to pursue her own adult dreams. But growing up at GICC has given her a strong faith, life long friendships with students and teachers, and a unique connection to the father she adores.
In November, she plays her very last home volleyball game in the old gym at Central Catholic. She thinks, "My dad played his very last basketball game in this gym."
Like her father, she has absorbed her Central Catholic roots and will carry them wherever she goes for the rest of her life. She will make a difference in the world and make her old teachers proud.
But I hope she never performs my colonoscopy.
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| Sadie Goering and her father, Dr. John Goering |
My husband says John Goering was born to do great things. He remembers teaching and coaching Johnny more than a quarter of a century ago at Grand Island Central Catholic. Whether he is competing in football, basketball or track, my husband recalls, John Goering works as hard as he can and is humbly grateful for his older teammates who take him under wing and demand his best.
But there is something else about Johnny.
At Central Catholic, Eric Kayl is Johnny's best friend. Pat and Julie Kayl, not only Eric's parents but John's teachers, invite John out to their family farm in Hemingford, Nebraska. One day, John and Eric, small 12-year-old boys, are helping to herd cattle when Johnny spies a small crippled calf struggling to keep up. John jumps out of the pickup, runs to the calf, and half coaxes and half carries it all the rest of the long way home.
"He couldn't leave that lovely animal out there alone," Julie Kayl says. "I knew then he'd be a doctor."
Now Dr. John Goering and his beautiful Katie send their own daughter and sons to Central Catholic. Sadie, the oldest, is a senior. She is the stuff made of high school beauties - homecoming queen, captain of the volleyball team, editor of the school paper.
But like her father, Sadie Goering is so much more.
"Sadie is the most positive and nicest person I know, and she never refers to us as 'the freshmen'," Megan Woods, a young volleyball teammate says. "Whenever I need help or advice, I know I can go to Sadie."
It's no accident that Sadie is kind. It is what she admires most about her dad. "Wherever we go, people love my dad," she says. "Even my friends who are quiet and shy feel comfortable around him. He gets them to talk."
And he makes them feel safe, she says. "I want to be like him," Sadie says.
Central Catholic means everything to Sadie and her father. Sadie remembers the first day of middle school. She doesn't know anybody, but she wears a shirt emblazoned with "GOERING" across the back. It comforts her to know her dad once wandered these same infinite hallways.
My husband, who is 6 ft. 8 and frightens small children, stops her when he sees the name on her shirt. Sadie stares open mouthed at the huge man whose head hovers somewhere around the ceiling.
"I'm Mr. Howard," the man booms, "and I coached your dad in track." Then he leads her to a window. "See that tree out there?" he points. "I made your dad throw up by that tree."
Sadie is enveloped in the same loving school community but carves her own path at Central Catholic. She is not a track runner but a championship tennis player like her mother Katie, a three time state runner-up tennis champ from Grand Island Senior High. Sadie also plays for the state bound volleyball team, writes a student column for the Grand Island Independent, and works as hard as she can at school. Next year, she plans to study journalism and pre-law in college. Sadie Goering has "success" written all over her.
She is not at Central Catholic, however, to build her resume. John and Katie Goering choose Grand Island Central Catholic for Sadie, Jack and Will for more important reasons.
"Their spiritual development is important to us," John explains. "Whenever you walk through the doors of GICC, you walk into that family feeling. Sadie's been able to participate in art, journalism, volleyball and tennis. It's opened up so many opportunities for her."
But his children's faith lives are most important. John remembers how significant the priests and religion teachers were in his own life as a student. He remembers particularly Miss Mary Wiles."She was so sweet. We talked about our faith and our lives in her class."
Sadie enjoys Father Scott Harter, the GICC chaplain, and his unique talent for teaching students of all ages about their faith with his humor and wisdom. But she credits Mary Wiles - just like her dad - with starting her out on on her faith journey. The kids can talk to Miss Wiles about anything, Sadie says, and her classroom is a haven.
In seventh grade, when Sadie's grandfather, Dr. Bill Fowles dies suddenly, Sadie seeks the refuge of Mary Wiles.
"She gave me a great big Miss Wiles' hug," Sadie recalls.
Her grandfather's death is very difficult. That her healthy, golf playing, Husker loving grandfather can be gone in an instant is too much to absorb. For the first time Sadie questions her faith. "Where's he gone?" she thinks. But she is comforted by all that she has learned from Miss Wiles and her other religion teachers at Grand Island Central Catholic.
Her grieving grandmother tells her that one day she walks into her room to discover a golf tee and a cross lying on the dresser together. Sadie understands it is a sign for all of them. "We have a guardian angel," she says simply.
Sadie will leave Central Catholic after graduation to pursue her own adult dreams. But growing up at GICC has given her a strong faith, life long friendships with students and teachers, and a unique connection to the father she adores.
In November, she plays her very last home volleyball game in the old gym at Central Catholic. She thinks, "My dad played his very last basketball game in this gym."
Like her father, she has absorbed her Central Catholic roots and will carry them wherever she goes for the rest of her life. She will make a difference in the world and make her old teachers proud.
But I hope she never performs my colonoscopy.
