Anne Marie Gurney was born on a military base to an Air Force officer. She spent most of her childhood living in Colorado Springs, CO, which is the home of four military installations.
Colorado Springs has a deep appreciation for the military and how it affects families. She counts it a privilege to have grown up in such a special place. Anne Marie attributes her work ethic, love of country, appreciation for the military, and love of public service to her dad.
Anne Marie moved to Oregon for college, where she graduated from Multnomah University in NE Portland in the mid 90’s. During this period, she met and married her husband, Mike. He is a homegrown Oregonian, and her in-laws are deeply rooted in generations of Oregon loggers. She saw first-hand the way the logging industry was affected in the mid 90’s as her father-in-law’s wood mill was shut down. Hard-working Americans lost their jobs and the town’s economy sank.
After college, Anne Marie and her husband temporarily relocated to southern California so Mike could attend graduate school. But they missed Oregon….a lot. Mike graduated on a Friday night, and they were in the rental van on the road by Sunday. Mike is now a Ph.D. candidate and very close to finishing his degree. He has been a professor at Multnomah University since their return from California over 10 years ago.
Anne Marie worked for a non-profit organization in Portland that provides help and services to women who find themselves in crisis pregnancies. While working there, she and Mike pursued their own family. In the spring of 2001, they received the answer to many years of prayer: they adopted their first child. In 2005, they adopted their second.
When it came time to find a solid education for their oldest son, Mike and Anne Marie were disappointed with what our local public school offered. They started looking for alternatives. They enrolled him in Connections Academy, one of Oregon’s online virtual schools. After their first year, they were convinced this was an effective method for teaching their son. He got caught up on those math skills where he had fallen behind. Next fall will be their third year of online schooling and their youngest son will start kindergarten in the fall using the same program.
