Sandy Withrow Whiting

Profile Updated: April 19, 2020
Sandy Withrow
(City) State or Country Lake Oswego, OR USA
Spouse/Partner Widow
Children, grandchildren Timothy Robert Whiting. born 1979
Sean Kyle Whiting, born 1981
Yes! Attending Reunion
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After teaching at Harding my first year after OSU graduation, I drove across America with a friend and lived in downtown Boston. I taught first grade in Hingham Bay on the Cape. I loved Boston and snooping around the East Coast. Then I moved to Northwest Portland and worked for the Director of Medical Education at Good Samaritan Hospital. Part of my job was to put on medical meetings and conferences for the doctors. Meeting and visiting with Gloria Steinem and Margaret Mead remain two favorite memories from that job..
The following year, Dr. James Schimschock,a pediatric neurologist in the Portland, asked me to help him start a clinic at the hospital for children with special needs from birth to school age, most of which had severe seizure disorders. This was before school districts were mandated to provide schooling for special needs children. As Administrative Director, I set up and ran classrooms on site for children birth to age 3, ages 3 to 5, and age 6 through high school. I headed up a team of specialists and ran a multidisciplinary clinic which provided full evaluations for about 200 children per year. The information was used to initiate educational and medical programs for these children. At this time, this was the only program of it's kind in the nation. We had visitors from all over the United States observing our program. Our team also traveled to medical centers to present our program data. We did a great deal of lobbying at the legislature and helped to push through the law 94-142 which mandated public school districts provide services for special needs children.
To help fund the Clinic programs, I wrote grants and organized the first wine tasting benefit held in Portland with Al Guisti (New Italian Importing Wine Co.) and Arlene Schnitzer, owner of the Fountain Gallery. Mr. Guisti donated 12 wine tasting stations and Mrs. Schnitzer covered the walls with art of which a percentage of each sale was donated to the Clinic. It became a fun annual event which other organizations soon replicated.
In July of 1975 I married. On Christmas Eve, 1979, I had my first son who happened to be Down Syndrome and was diagnosed by Dr. Schimschock. Timothy attended and benefited from my Child Neurology Clinic program for a couple of years. He then entered public kindergarten which was a result of the passage of the new law 94-192. Timothy loved school and graduated in 2000 with his younger brother. He has worked at Safeway for 15 years. He loves his job. He has a girlfriend that he is crazy about and they have been together for 13 years. He is now moving into a group home in Beaverton run by Edwards Center and is very excited.
After leaving the Child Neurology Clinic, I worked for the Washington County Education Service District and started a program called Early In which is still operating today.
For the next 20 plus years, I taught kindergarten through third grade in the Beaverton School District.
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School Memories

When I was in Mr. Thetford's class in Junior High, we decorated his door when he had his last child - a baby girl named Tina. My senior year at Oregon State, I student taught at Harding Elementary and Mrs. Edwards hired me to teach first grade at Harding the following year after graduation in 1966. I was very excited to have my own classroom and was surprised and thrilled when Mr. Thetford knocked on my classroom door the first day of school to congratulate me. He also introduced me to one of my new first grade students - his Tina!! We had a wonderful year and many years later, I attended Tina's wedding!!

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Jan 10, 2024 at 4:33 AM
Jan 10, 2023 at 4:33 AM
Sep 05, 2022 at 7:22 PM
Sandy Withrow Whiting has a birthday today. New comment added.
Jan 18, 2022 at 3:41 AM

Posted on: Jan 10, 2022 at 4:33 AM

Jan 10, 2021 at 4:33 AM
Jan 10, 2020 at 4:35 AM
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May 22, 2019 at 11:00 AM

Posted on: Sep 22, 2015 at 2:10 AM

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Apr 14, 2017 at 11:28 AM

Posted on: Sep 16, 2015 at 3:30 AM

Hi Bobby, such a treat to get to chat with you at the reunion and meet Dawn. She is wonderful and I loved seeing the pictures of your family - beautiful! I am hoping to be able to travel to your area and get my first glimpse of the South. If I get to New Orleans I would love to give both of you a call and get the inside scoop on that area. You can tell Dawn that I am on Facebook. I forgot to ask her if she does that. I have to admit I don't often put anything on there, but it does give me a chance to keep up with my extended family.
Take care of yourself and give Dawn a hug from me,
Sandy

Sandy Withrow Whiting added a comment on her Profile.
Aug 13, 2015 at 4:04 PM
Aug 11, 2015 at 4:47 PM

Such fun to giggle at Reunion. Loved seeing you and wish you lived closer. Keep in touch and take care of you.

Aug 11, 2015 at 4:44 PM

Hey Missy Quilter,
Such fun at the H Hour and Reunion and will follow up w Mentor Program and get back to you. If you ever come up to the big city, you have a free room. Also, I'm surrounded by Happy Hours. I live 5 minutes from Bridgeport. Think of the trouble we could get into.....
Talk soon

Aug 07, 2015 at 2:49 AM

Hey Gary, I am down in Corvallis looking for you to be at the reunion. I am going for the first time and I dont see your name on the list. I will be so disappointed if you don't come down for something- Friday night social , Sat brunch. There will b about 200 of us old geezers there. Bring your wife and jump in that car!! See you soon, Sandy

Jul 27, 2015 at 5:32 PM

Posted on: Jul 27, 2015 at 1:30 PM

Sandy, are you able to come to Happy Hour at Big River on Thrs.? No plan for this, just word of mouth and I have no idea who or how many gals will be there, but do come if you can. Ask any CHS gals you know and let me know as I am going to see if we need a special area. Looking forward to seeing you.

Jul 27, 2015 at 1:20 PM

Hi Sally, Friday and Saturday picnic are free. There may also be a place still for Sat. Dinner. If you can get there on Thrs. Come to the HH. Can't wait to see you. It will be fun.

Jul 26, 2015 at 3:10 AM

Hi Bill, found your profile fascinating. My brother, Dan (CHS and OSU), lives in Eugene and was a CSD caseworker for over 30 years. He tells many of the same stories and I suspect had the same or similar caseload. Thank you for your work. I taught primary for 30 years and was in the most impacted school in Beaverton. I was constantly making referrals to CSD and found it so sad. Those little ones would keep me up at night.
So glad you are now enjoying retirement. It is wonderful for sure. Looking forward to seeing you at the reunion and meeting your wife. We can share travel stories - that is my passion after my family. See you soon, Sandy

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Jul 26, 2015 at 10:23 PM

Posted on: Jul 26, 2015 at 2:47 AM

Hi Cynthia, on Thursday evening there is a group from the class of 65 that is meeting for Happy Hour at Big River. No planned event, just some gals that casually started talking on line and decided to go for chat and giggle. I don't know if there will be 6 or 26, but it should be fun. Would love for you to come and invite any other gals from 65 that you want. Hope to see you there and let me know if you are coming so I know how much space to reserve. 50 years - yikes!! Sandy Whiting

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Jul 26, 2015 at 2:16 AM
Jul 24, 2015 at 1:17 PM
Jun 04, 2015 at 1:59 AM

Interesting read, Richard. At Beaverton Christian did you happen to know the Gary Dahl family - Aaron was an Eagle Scout. Also, did you ever run across Dr. Jim Schimschock, child neurologist, or Dr. Chris Hauge, plastic surgeon involved in hand surgery and rehab.? I started a clinic at Good Sam in Portland for children with nerve and brain damage and ran it in the 70's. I had doctors from OHSU support the children we saw in our program as well as refer patients. My oldest son was born in 79 and is Downs Syndrome. He attended classes at OHSU as well as the program I started at Good Sam. Just curious. See you in August as I am attending for the first time.

Jun 04, 2015 at 1:11 AM

Looking forward to catching up in August. Last I saw you I was checking out places to move my folks into and they ended up moving into Stoney Brook and loved it. Twin granddaughters sounds wonderful to me....I'm going to have to rent grandbabies at the rate my sons are going! Take care