Our Officers

2011 SOSA Board


Michele had a wonderful time being the 2010-2011 President. She has been married to her husband, Jeff, for almost 19 years. They have two teenage daughters, Celeste and Stephanie. She was born in Minnesota, and spent her pre-Navy life in the Northeast and Florida. She has made homes in 8 different duty stations: Ballston Spa, NY; Wisconsin; Florida; South Carolina; Yokosuka, Japan; San Diego, Groton, CT (3 times!), and now Virginia. Michele enjoys gardening, horses, cooking, time with friends, and hiking with her dog, Daisy. Michele's goal will continue to be that SOSA is a fun, welcoming place for all submarine spouses. She feels no one understands a submariner's wife better than another submariner's wife, that we are all in this together, so we may as well make it fun!


Cayce was born and raised as a Navy brat and decided to marry into it as well. She has been with her husband for over 10 years and they have a son named Grant who is five and a second son, Reese who recently joined them in August. Her husband has been on the USS Philadelphia for over 18 months and will be finishing up decommissioning with them and finishing the rest of his JO tour on the USS Albany here in Norfolk. Cayce has been involved in SOSA for a couple of years now and truly enjoys all it has to offer and the chance to meet so many new faces through out the years. She is looking forward to being a part of another fabulous year with so many great ladies.


Emily joins us as a new Navy wife and first-year member of the Norfolk SOSA.  Chris Roettgen and Emily Gussenhoven arrived in January 2011 to begin his job as the Engineering Department Head on the Montpelier SSN 765.  After graduating from Mount Holyoke College (B.A.), the University of Washington (M.S.), and the University of California, Davis (Ph.D.), Emily moved cross-country to begin her first job in Annapolis, Maryland.  Emily and Chris met at the Naval Academy in 2008 while she was a new adjunct assistant professor of chemistry and he was stationed there for shore duty as a physics instructor.  They were married in July 2010, adopted a feisty black cocker spaniel named Zwitty, and have moved twice since!  During his time at SOAC in Groton, Emily taught chemistry at the Coast Guard Academy and made several lasting friendships with the terrific faculty.  Emily is no stranger to the military lifestyle, and has many family members who work for or are commissioned in the Army, Navy, Air Force and National Guard.  Although she continues to move around the United States, Emily has spent most of her early years in Northern Idaho, where she developed a passion for science as well as a love for gardening, crafting, cooking, volunteering, skiing and fly-fishing.  Emily and Chris just purchased their first house in Chesapeake, and she is having a fantastic time painting and decorating the home, and landscaping the property. 



Darla Souder has a wealth of experience in the Navy, joining the ranks of the Sailors’ wives over 15 yrs ago! She's had a great time making a home up and down the East Coast, having been stationed in Ballston Spa, NY, Raleigh, NC, Goose Creek, SC, and Groton, CT before finally taking root here in Norfolk, where she has been for the past 10 yrs. She has two children, 26 yr old Abigail and 14 yr old Jordan, around whom she has built a busy but loving home no matter where they are stationed.  A longtime cat-lover, her two kitties, Iffy and Shay have followed the family around for the past 14 yrs and appear to have no intentions of slowing down, much to her husband’s dismay (the family won’t get a dog until the cats are good and dead!).  (Apologies for that last bit, it would appear Darla’s husband got a hold of the bio.  Now where were we? Ahh...yes…wrapping up) Darla looks forward to another exciting year with SOSA, being whatever the leadership team needs. “I can’t say I’m interested in running things, but I’m always anxious to do whatever needs to be done to make sure we’re as successful as possible!” 



Tracy comes to SOSA as a new Navy wife of only a few months.  She grew up in Nebraska then moved to Minnesota where she earned a B.S. in Natural Resources Planning and Urban Forestry.  After college and some very severe Minnesota winters, she headed towards warmer weather and landed in Charleston, SC.  After several years of living and working there she met her husband, Nick, through mutual friends.  They moved to Virginia in September 2009 after he was assigned to the USS NORFOLK.  Tracy currently works fulltime as a Store Manager for Victoria’s Secret.  When not working, Tracy’s interests are reading, playing the piano, making art, cooking, gardening, antiquing, enjoying nature and watching movies.  She has thoroughly enjoyed the people she has met through SOSA already, and can’t wait to put forth her time, energy, and ideas into a group that empowers women and made her feel welcome right from the start.  Her vision for SOSA as Charitable Treasurer would be to utilize her skills to build upon the success of last year’s auction and make this year’s even better.