The Graduate!

Matt and Sharon were in Oklahoma City on Saturday to see Matt's brother Will graduate from OU Law School. As anyone who follows this blog is aware, the Gosneys are die-hard OU fans. So is Lauri's (Will's wife's) family. Despite the devoted fandom, Will is actually the only individual in the two families who has a degree from OU. Both Will's undergrad and now law degree is from OU. Matt's dad started out at OU but then transfered to the University of Central Oklahoma (then known as Central State) after his military service. Then he went to law school at Oklahoma City University. Matt's mom went to Oklahoma City Community College for her Associates then went on to get two bachelors degrees from the University of Central Oklahoma. Matt did his undergrad at BYU (Will actually started at BYU then transfered to OU mid-way) got his masters at UCO, and is now working on a doctorate at the University of Arkansas. Matt's mom is academic super-star out of the group, as she was top of her class in junior college and graduated Magna Cum Laude for one of her bachelors (in computer science) and Summa Cum Laude in the other (secondary education.) Matt is definitely bringing up the rear having spent a semester on academic probation at BYU (a bit too focused on having fun and not as much on actually attending class) although he is pulling a 4.0 in his doctoral program right now. All of that could come crashing down this summer as Matt tackles what he hopes to be the last statistics class he ever is required to take for the rest of his life. Thoughts and prayers are appreciated. (It should also be noted that Sharon actually graduated as the valedictorian of her high school class and was on scholarship at the College of Eastern Utah before finishing up her degree in Accounting at the University of Phoenix. Apart from being a wonderful wife, Sharon fills a critical math deficiency in the Gosney household.) Sharon and Matt are extremely proud of the tradition of education in their families. Sharon's dad was a teacher (as was Matt's mom), so education was always an absolute priority at home. During the time spent in Salt Lake for Christmas Sharon looked through her mother's personal effects and found a consistent record of enrolling in school as soon as she moved to any new location (first Canada from Peru and then in the U.S.), as well as countless report cards and academic citations. What a great tradition upon which to build a family!

Will's graduation itself was blessedly short. Will's daughter Lucy, pictured here, entertained herself by chewing on some keys.


A poor photo below, but the recessional was played by a bag-pipe band. Sharon and Matt resisted the urge to shout out "Attention please, we have a downed piper! Repeat, a piper is down!" (See the movie "So I Married an Ax Murderer" for the quote reference. That movie is actually responsible for Matt and Sharon's marriage, but that's a story for another day.)


The president of Will's law school class was a bit of a flaming liberal and her speech was met with many "hurumphs" from the Gosney row. It's possible the reason Will's son Talmage (below) was hiding under the chairs is because of fear of what might happen to the nation should wacko lawyers like the one who spoke actually run the country. Wait a minute, one already is.


Finally, after all of the pomp and circumstance (and more bag-pipe playing) everyone took some pictures and then had lunch. Below is a picture of Will and Lauri's very cute family (Talmage is screaming "cheeseburgers!" which he believes should be shouted at the top of one's lungs anytime one gets a picture taken) followed by a picture of Matt, Will and Tagger. (Readers of the blog also know that Tag has a strong affinity for his Uncle Matt due to their similar ornery natures. Tag is at least cute and so his orneryness is endearing. Matt doesn't have that going for him.)


It was a great time spent with family and Matt and Sharon are grateful to have at least one side of the family relatively close by. They're also grateful Will will now actually be gainfully employed.