Meet your county coordinator: Shannon Gorman

My earliest Marion County ancestor was Rodolphus Willoughby, who arrived with Benjamin Hammond before 1820, when the first Marion County record of Rodolphus was his marrigage to Katherine Cooper. I was born in Columbia, and I return to Marion County as often as possible to visit my brother. My father is retired Navy, and I was very fortunate to grow up living and visiting many other places. I say fortunate because all the traveling made me treasure my home roots more. Both my parents are from Mississippi, and their ancestors have been in Southern Mississippi for 150-200 years. My fathers family was from McComb and Centreville, and my mothers family from Goss and Morgantown.
I married a Navy man, and lived in Hawaii for 18 years before moving to Tennessee. I finished my Masters of Science degree at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2000. I taught infomation technology courses in a local high school until this year, when I felt it was time for me to try something new. I hope one day to move back home to Marion County and live on the farm my grandparents, John Homer Willoughby and Pauline Prescott Willoughby, left for us.