Sat Nov 21 2009
By ANGELA ASSAF
MILLERSBURG -- The loss of a husband, a daughter's mental illness, and family history of diabetes.
Due to Anne Goon's family circumstances, community health education and promotion has been the primary focus of her public health efforts for the past decade -- including mental health "since it is so strongly linked to physical health," she says.
A new face to the area, Goon is in the process of moving from Millersburg in Holmes County, to Henry County, where she will serve as the new health commissioner. Previously she served as deputy health commissioner and division director to the health commissioner in Holmes County (home to the world's largest Amish settlement.) During that time she also served as a Mental Health and Recovery Board member and a volunteer sexual assault and domestic violence advocate for Every Woman's House.
Goon grew up on a dairy farm in Ashland County, the third oldest of 11 children. Her parents were primarily dairy farmers although her father also worked for the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) as a bridge inspector. When later they converted their property to a tree farm, her mother returned to school and earned multiple degrees during the same time Goon was at college. Today her mother works as director of Bromfield Library at Ohio State University-Mansfield and North Central State College. Her father is retired.
"I was one of those kids who was self-motivated," reveals Goon. "I liked to get good grades and I liked to learn new things." Her activities included 4-H for nine years, school choral and instrumental groups, and church camp.
"My parents taught me that everyone is endowed with different strengths and skills. But it does not change the value of the person. Every person is important."
That idea has carried over into Goon's public health work where she has been successful in working with people from a variety of backgrounds, education levels and work settings to accomplish good things together.
Her siblings work in a variety of occupations that include truck driver, school transportation coordinator, bus mechanic, arborist, stay-at-home mom, CAD engineer, accounting supervisor, and tree/plant care technicians.
Goon intended a major in chemistry when she was in college. But the diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes in several sisters shifted her science-based focus to nutrition. Her clinical rotations and initial positions were spent in the more intensive areas of nutrition -- ICU, nutrition support, and the like.
"Moving into public health allowed me to use my technical and counseling skills to reach a larger audience."
Goon met her husband, the late Tony Goon, at church more than 25 years ago. He was a maintenance mechanic for National Latex Products, Ashland.
"He supported our family while I attended graduate school and then I supported him after he retired."
"I always tended to keep my personal and professional lives separate, but he was a major part of my hidden support system."
It has been two weeks since his death.
"Friend and family support is so crucial to good mental and physical health. The time I've spent talking to and being with personal friends and family members has been very important to me during the past year."
That and beading. "I love to bead," she says, noting that she makes most of her own jewelry and has even sold some pieces.
Goon's community commitments have included Holmes County Rails to Trails Coalition, Canton Regional Area Health Education Center and Wayne County Choral Union.
Her daughter, Megan, is pursuing a degree in graphic design through Art Institute of Pittsburgh's Online Division, while also working full-time and raising her daughter. She is also a student of piano, trumpet and French horn.
A mental illness that developed during her first year in college derailed her career ambitions multiple times.
"She keeps plugging away at her goal to get a college degree. I've always encouraged her to learn from her mistakes, to keep trying and to remember that I love her no matter what."
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