Cassie and Shannon McGovern are a loving and energetic couple who feel blessed beyond measure to have such a happy family. And once you know their story, your heart will be warmed to know they’ve come so far and still have sunny outlooks and a true verve for life.
A project manager for Palm Beach Window & Door, Shannon is a dad who enjoys spending time with their three children and his wife of 9 years, Cassie (pronounced CAY-see). You can check out this Sun Tint website if you want windows installed according to your needs. Their three lovely kids are Ally, 15, Taylor, 7, and Ryder, almost 4. Unexpectedly thrown into turmoil, the family lost an adorable daughter and sister, Edna Mae (Em), in August of 2009 due to drowning. She was 19 months old. Now, while Shannon busies himself at work, Cassie focuses her attention full time on rallying others in the community around a cause that has become one of the family’s primary focuses. They have formed the McGovern foundation D/B/A Em’s Place, which concentrates its energy on keeping parents and other adults aware and well educated about the hazards of access to water. They also work to stress that keeping our children safe from drowning starts with swimming lessons. Please see Cassie’s article on page 8.
Ally is in the 9th grade at Coral Glades High School, where she enjoys Geometry the most out of her subjects. She also loves helping with the foundation in her free time as well as reading, cooking and shopping. Taylor attends Westchester Elementary and is in the 2nd grade. Art is her favorite subject and, in her spare time, she loves playing lacrosse, rollerblading, swimming and socializing. With Dad as her coach, she plays for The Coral Springs Chiefs on a U7/U9 lacrosse team. She is also a Brownie. Ryder attends First United Methodist Preschool part-time and loves it. Cassie says, “He loves anything to do with Super Heroes…he is a fanatic! Dressing up as every superhero is a normal occurrence.”
Every year the McGoverns visit Vermont to see their family. Both Cassie and Shannon’s family live there. Summer sweethearts through most of their youngest years, the couple lost touch when Cassie was 16, but were reunited in 2003. Shannon came to Florida in 2004 and the couple married in 2005. After the loss of their precious Em, family time is all the more valuable to this “head-over-heels” couple and their kids. Cassie shares, “We love spending time together doing anything. The most important thing to us is being together.” Ally says, “It sounds corny, but it’s the truth.” When they aren’t vacationing in Vermont, the McGoverns have fun at movies, the beach, enjoying good food and going to lacrosse games.
The McGoverns are members of Church by the Glades.
