Whitney Calhoun Goetz

🤍: Jesus, running, calling the South my home & wearing lots of blue and gold! 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦:@GoetzJL & #GeorgeAndTeddyG

[Whitney Calhoun Goetz @whitraye]

Just a few years and a couple of kids later. Thanks, @TWchatt for hiring those young kids.

[Whitney Calhoun Goetz @whitraye]

A few photos that includes my @KyleBusch story.

My heart is still hurting for his family, friends, fellow drivers &the team that supported him. We’ve lost a legend in the sport of @NASCAR but I’m so thankful I got to teach my boys all about racing by watching Rowdy. @MCalhoun18

[Whitney Calhoun Goetz @whitraye]

Such a happy Mother’s Day because of the mother who raised me, the sister who’s beside me and gratefulness I feel for John, George and Teddy - who made me feel loved and celebrated today. 🤍

[Whitney Calhoun Goetz @whitraye]

@Coach_heals @TweetEmmy She’s the best!

[Whitney Calhoun Goetz @whitraye]

I’m really excited about this book! I can’t wait to hear the stories and wisdom of a true Tennessee Statesman, @SenAlexander!

[Lamar Alexander @SenAlexander]

In 1974, when I was 34, I won the Republican nomination for governor of Tennessee. I lost the general election because voters were mad at Republicans about Watergate and because people said I was a “stuffed shirt.” So, when I wanted to run again four years later, my wife, Honey, said, “Wait a minute. First, I want to know 𝘸𝘩𝘺 you're running. What do you hope to accomplish? And second, could we have a different sort of campaign?” So we talked about it with some other people, and she said, "Well, why doesn't Lamar just do what he likes to do? He likes music, he likes to walk, he likes to meet people, he likes the outdoors." And then she said, "Why don't you just walk across the state?" And you don't walk across the state in a blue suit. So she and I went down to Friedman's Army Surplus Store on Hillsboro Avenue in Nashville, and we bought all the red-and-black plaid shirts they had. We added it to the two I already had, and I wore one of those shirts every day on my 1,022-mile walk across the state.

I did my best to shake hands with 1,000 people every day and spent the night with 73 families, most of whom I had not known before. I sank deep into the music, stories, and character of our state. I saw firsthand that Tennessee was third from the bottom in family incomes, there was little interest in bettering the education system, and the "anything is possible" spirit I grew up with in Maryville was not prevalent in the community.

[Whitney Calhoun Goetz @whitraye]

This interview on @TODAYshow was so good but this is one of my favorite quotes. Thank you, @JennaBushHager for sharing these conversations with four former Presidents.

[The Bush Archive @TheBushArchive]

“Be a citizen not a spectator, and by that I mean participate in the process but also love a neighbour like you liked to be loved yourself”
- George W. Bush

[Whitney Calhoun Goetz @whitraye]

Bucs, it’s #ForeverETSU week and today is make a gift day. @etsu is my home and the people there are like family. Please consider giving a gift this week to help further the mission of improving the quality of life for the people of our region. https://t.co/XZXpHin7xs #GoBucs

[Whitney Calhoun Goetz @whitraye]

Lots happening in JC! We proudly hosted @BigSouthSports. I had the opportunity for a quick visit to Nashville to see our Legislators and meet with @TNCOT while there. @JCParksTN hosted the International Women’s Day Lunch at Langston. And this weekend, Main Street Days! #GoAllOut

[ETSUProvost @EtsuProvost]

I am grateful for Dr. Paul E. Stanton, Jr., whose work and legacy have shaped ETSU and higher education across the state of Tennessee.

https://t.co/UA1yxvqPUt

[TN Comptroller @TNCOT]

Comptroller @JasonMumpower was pleased to see @CoJCTN leaders today including Keisha Shoun, Cathy Ball, and Whitney Goetz.

[Whitney Calhoun Goetz @whitraye]

Grateful for the opportunity to join the Rotary Club of Johnson City today to speak during their lunch meeting. Thank you for the warm welcome and for the important work you do to strengthen our community through service and leadership. #GoAllOut #JohnsonCityTN

[Bruce Pearl @coachbrucepearl]

Congratulations to Head Coach Brooks Savage and the ETSU Buccaneers! Brooks is one of the best young D1 coaches in the country not many people have heard of! His teams play hard and fast!

[Whitney Calhoun Goetz @whitraye]

@RepFaison @miriam_faison @MarkBatterson Such a great book and such a special place!! NCC was the church John and I attended when we dated, got engaged and were newly married!

[Whitney Calhoun Goetz @whitraye]

This is both beautiful and incredibly sad at the same time. Senator Sasse has always been someone I’ve admired. He is my favorite non-TN Senator. I read his book “Them” every couple of years. (Read it!) My prayers are with the Sasse family and those who know and love him.

[Ben Sasse @BenSasse]

Friends-

This is a tough note to write, but since a bunch of you have started to suspect something, I’ll cut to the chase: Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die.

Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it’s a death sentence. But I already had a death sentence before last week too — we all do.

I’m blessed with amazing siblings and half-a-dozen buddies that are genuinely brothers. As one of them put it, “Sure, you’re on the clock, but we’re all on the clock.” Death is a wicked thief, and the bastard pursues us all.

Still, I’ve got less time than I’d prefer. This is hard for someone wired to work and build, but harder still as a husband and a dad. I can’t begin to describe how great my people are. During the past year, as we’d temporarily stepped back from public life and built new family rhythms, Melissa and I have grown even closer — and that on top of three decades of the best friend a man could ever have. Seven months ago, Corrie was commissioned into the Air Force and she’s off at instrument and multi-engine rounds of flight school. Last week, Alex kicked butt graduating from college a semester early even while teaching gen chem, organic, and physics (she’s a freak). This summer, 14-year-old Breck started learning to drive. (Okay, we’ve been driving off-book for six years — but now we’ve got paper to make it street-legal.) I couldn’t be more grateful to constantly get to bear-hug this motley crew of sinners and saints.

There’s not a good time to tell your peeps you’re now marching to the beat of a faster drummer — but the season of advent isn’t the worst. As a Christian, the weeks running up to Christmas are a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what’s to come.

Not an abstract hope in fanciful human goodness; not hope in vague hallmark-sappy spirituality; not a bootstrapped hope in our own strength (what foolishness is the evaporating-muscle I once prided myself in). Nope — often we lazily say “hope” when what we mean is “optimism.” To be clear, optimism is great, and it’s absolutely necessary, but it’s insufficient. It’s not the kinda thing that holds up when you tell your daughters you’re not going to walk them down the aisle. Nor telling your mom and pops they’re gonna bury their son.

A well-lived life demands more reality — stiffer stuff. That’s why, during advent, even while still walking in darkness, we shout our hope — often properly with a gravelly voice soldiering through tears.

Such is the calling of the pilgrim. Those who know ourselves to need a Physician should dang well look forward to enduring beauty and eventual fulfillment. That is, we hope in a real Deliverer — a rescuing God, born at a real time, in a real place. But the eternal city — with foundations and without cancer — is not yet.

Remembering Isaiah’s prophecies of what’s to come doesn’t dull the pain of current sufferings. But it does put it in eternity’s perspective:
“When we've been there 10,000 years…We've no less days to sing God's praise.”

I’ll have more to say. I’m not going down without a fight. One sub-part of God’s grace is found in the jawdropping advances science has made the past few years in immunotherapy and more. Death and dying aren’t the same — the process of dying is still something to be lived. We’re zealously embracing a lot of gallows humor in our house, and I’ve pledged to do my part to run through the irreverent tape.

But for now, as our family faces the reality of treatments, but more importantly as we celebrate Christmas, we wish you peace: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned….For to us a son is given” (Isaiah 9).

With great gratitude, and with gravelly-but-hopeful voices,
Ben — and the Sasses

[Whitney Calhoun Goetz @whitraye]

The @etsu holiday video is always one of my favorites and this year's video doesn't disappoint! Merry Christmas, Bucs!

[ETSU @etsu]

Naughty or nice? The list is getting a second look.

Bucky’s holiday adventure comes with a few close calls and someone keeping a careful eye on things.

Happy Holidays from ETSU. 💙💛🎄

https://t.co/wO4F9fjDSk

[Whitney Calhoun Goetz @whitraye]

Happy Birthday, Johnson City! #GoAllOut

[City of Johnson City @CoJCTN]

Our fair city was founded 156 years ago today! From our early trolley days to the community we know now, we’re grateful for the people & history that shaped Johnson City.

[Whitney Calhoun Goetz @whitraye]

What a way to close out the season! Big win for @ETSUFootball, President’s Circle tailgate, & the Golden Knights. Saturdays in the Fall at Greene Stadium are truly special. Grateful for incredible people to cheer for this team with! #ETSUPRIDE365 #TogetherWeWin #HooksUpAndGoBucs

[Whitney Calhoun Goetz @whitraye]

Love this! So glad the Healys are a part of our @etsu family!

[Heather Williams @SportsHeather]

Fun moment in Saturday’s @ETSUFootball postgame press conference. @Coach_heals son Eli has come to all the post game press conferences, so I had to ask him about his performance in one of the timeout games

[City of Johnson City @CoJCTN]

Water & Sewer Services (WSS) has received reports of “Annual Water Test” kits being mailed to customers. These kits do not come from WSS. Questions? Call WSS Customer Service at 423-461-1642.

[Whitney Calhoun Goetz @whitraye]

Incredibly grateful for this community and for the opportunity to serve!

[City of Johnson City @CoJCTN]

At last night’s Commission Meeting, Jenny Brock was named vice mayor, & Whitney Goetz was appointed by the sitting commissioners to fill a vacant board seat. Congratulations, Vice Mayor Brock & Commissioner Goetz. Thank you for your service to our community.

[ETSU Football @ETSUFootball]

get up. it's gameday!

#GoBucs | #BUCkleUp