Willamette Valley Down Syndrome Association
Mike Moore: WVDSA Co-founder & Webmaster
Mike co-founded The WVDSA in 1999 with his wife, Laurie, and his good friends, Mike & Dana Roberts. Megan was born at the end of Mike's first year of MBA School at Brigham Young University. Megan's diagnosis of Down syndrome came just 2 hours her birth in 1992 and was a life changing surprise to Mike and Laurie. That experience inspired their desire to help other parents in similar circumstances. Professionally, Mike began his career in hi-tech marketing (IBM, AT&T & HP). Then he became an entrepreneur co-founding a "dot com", growing a bio-tech company and lastly building a residential construction company, Chateau Construction, as a general contractor. Mike and Laurie have 4 children.
Jeff Howell: Secretary
Jeff has been married to his wife for 30 years and we have 3 children, 2 boys and 1 girl. We have been involved with the Willamette Valley Down Syndrome group since late 2002, when we found out that we were going to have a very special girl with an extra chromosome. WVDSA was able to help us prepare for Madison who was born on 3-4-2003. We were going for 3/3/03 but if you know Madison she does things on her own time frame. She has been a blessing to our family, and is the number 1 cheerleader for her brothers. I graduated from OSU in Construction Engineer Management (Go Beavs), and am currently the President of a Heavy Highway/ Marine Construction Company named Legacy Contracting Inc.
Patie Taylor: President
Patie is the mother of eight children, including her daughter, Kimberly, who was diagnosed with Down syndrome after her birth in 2000. Learning how to give Kimberly opportunities has been very motivational for Patie. She has provided caring leadership to the WVDSA for many years and is passionate about connecting families with the supports they need. She is a 4H leader, AWANA leader, community partner, and serves on other boards. Patie works for Marion County as a peer support. She enjoys crewing for a hot air balloon with Kimberly joining her.
WVDSA Leadership Team
Cory Wingett: Vice President
Placeholder: Students with Down syndrome are included in typical academic classrooms in schools across the country. The current trend in education is for full inclusion in social and educational settings. Sometimes students with Down syndrome are included in specific courses, while in other situations students are fully included in the typical classroom for all subjects. Increasingly, individuals with Down syndrome graduate from high school with diplomas, and participate in postsecondary academic and college programs.
Mark Miedema: Treasurer, CPA
Placeholder: Students with Down syndrome are included in typical academic classrooms in schools across the country. The current trend in education is for full inclusion in social and educational settings. Sometimes students with Down syndrome are included in specific courses, while in other situations students are fully included in the typical classroom for all subjects. Increasingly, individuals with Down syndrome graduate from high school with diplomas, and participate in postsecondary academic and college programs.