COM M U N I T Y
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or David and Denise Gore, giving back to their longtime home of Norman is important to them, whether that’s through their extensive education careers, their church or other areas they value. Both are from small communities in Southwest Oklahoma, with David growing up in Tipton and Denise in Cyril. After high school, David attended the University of Oklahoma, while Denise went to Oklahoma State University. The couple met while working at Norman Public Schools, where David started right after graduating college in 1969 and Denise came in 1976 after a couple of years in another community. There were two couples who decided David and Denise should be together, and as Denise said, “they began to push us together, and it finally took and we started dating.” Overall, David spent 38 years working for NPS, while Denise was in the district for 35 years and in education for 37 years overall. David started as a math teacher and coach before working in three different administrative
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positions, including as the district athletic director for eight years. Denise started as a second-grade teacher at Cleveland Elementary, then later split her time between Cleveland and Jackson Elementary as the gifted and talented teacher. Eventually, she returned to a Cleveland classroom and finished her career teaching fourth then third grade. In addition to their education backgrounds, the Gores also share a love of sports, even though they are often cheering for different teams as a result of attending rival universities. An avid fan, Denise is a season ticket holder for both OSU football and baseball. “We are obviously a divided house, and we don’t have a problem with that,” Denise explained. “We have some friends who cannot believe we can do this. They say to David, ‘I can’t believe you have OSU stuff in your house,’ and he gets that more than I do because obviously we’re in Norman. He supports me going to my games, and I support him going to his.”
