First let me introduce myself. My name is Mike Plunkett and I am the Fine Arts Administrator at the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association.  After 21 years of teaching high school music, I took a job overseeing the music contests in Oklahoma.  The OSSAA was using a very cumbersome way to enter students and groups into their music contests. They needed a digital platform to make it more efficient, so I started asking others who did this job in different states and who they had hired to create a website for this purpose.  Colorado told me about 2 men named Sherman and Jon that they were using.  That is how I first learned about Sherman Woo in 2004.

The OSSAA entered into an agreement with GV Labs in 2005, and Sherman and I began working together to build our new “OSSAA Contest Manager Website”.  Sherman and I spend many hours together on the phone over the next months, and I truly began to understand just how special Sherman was.  As a programmer he obviously had skills that were amazing, but I slowly got to know Sherman the poet, the philosopher, the problem solver, the musician and so many other facets of him!  He was always five steps ahead of me when planning the website, and I found myself looking forward to emailing or calling him with something about the website just so we could visit.  If I had an issue with the website, I could call him at 10 PM and not only would he answer, he would have the issue fixed before I hung up the phone. Sherman had such an impact on me and my website.  But then I realized he impacted everyone around him!

I guess the reason I feel compelled to reach out to you is to let you know that Sherman’s impact on others goes further than you may know.  I introduced him to my wife, Suzanne, who was working for a company called Midi-For-Kids, a music program for young people using MIDI tracks to teach beginning piano.  Within a few weeks of meeting Sherman, the company had brought him onboard to help them grow the business.  That organization was amazed with Sherman’s approach in developing the business, and everyone in that organization was changed by simply knowing Sherman.  On a few occasions Sherman traveled to Oklahoma.  I recall one time when he was here, I brought him to our building to introduce him to my music secretary Sheree Riddell.  Sheree also works with all the sports officials in the state.  Sheree casually mentioned that she needed a program to help rank officials and assign them to playoff games.  Within a few weeks Sherman was working on her program and was hired to write other basketball programs for the OSSAA.

I simply wanted you, his family members, to know how special Sherman was to me, and so many others!  I believe there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of folks who had a similar experience as I did with Sherman.  He will be missed by many more than you may know!   – Mike Plunkett