It’s that time of year! Time for your society to honor your outstanding volunteers or teams with an Outstanding Volunteer or Team Award.
No later than July 1, 2023: Submit the form and photograph of your honoree(s) to Info@wasgs.org. The narrative (approximately 150 words) should explain the accomplishments of your nominee/team and why you are honoring him/her/them. The photo should be a good quality digital photograph (at least 300 dpi).
September 1, 2023: Formal announcement of the recipients will be announced.
A few special notes:
Local societies can submit up to two individuals or one teams/projects for special recognition by WSGS.
The Outstanding Volunteer/Team Award program is not a competition – it is locally driven. All nominees from local societies will be honored with an Outstanding Volunteer/Team certificate, but we want these awards to be special, so please don’t nominate your whole society (even though they are outstanding!).
Posthumous awards may be considered.
If your nominee is camera shy & doesn’t want to have a picture submitted, that’s fine. Also, if you’re unable to snap a picture of your whole team, we’re okay with individual member photos.
Nominees may have received an Outstanding Volunteer award previously. Click here for a cumulative list of awardees (alpha by name and by society).
Please honor the July 1 timeline for nominations. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work, including reviews, to be done before the announcement on September 1.
The nomination form is attached. Please complete one form per person or team.
Additional details and deadlines may be found at the WSGS website here.
Please contact Roxanne Lowe at Info@wasgs.org if you have questions or suggestions.
Since 2003, the Washington State Genealogical Society has recognized over 600 outstanding volunteers and teams, nominated by their local society or genealogical organization for their service and dedication. These volunteers are the backbone of their local society, giving their time and expertise, to the organization and the field of genealogy. In the coming months, you will be introduced to each of the 2022 award recipients and learn why they received the 2022 WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.
Today we’re introducing the SVGS Zoom Team that was nominated by the Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society (SVGS). The team was comprised of Karen Looney, Susanne Brown, Dana Carney, Flynn Kennedy and Pam Shoberg.
Susanne Brown, Pam Shoberg, Karen Looney, Flynn Kennedy, Dana Carney
The Zoom Team began in 2020 after COVID brought a halt to SVGS’s “in person” meetings at their library. Pam Shoberg set up the Zoom account and created and hosted their initial weekly Thursday morning special interest group meetings.
Shortly thereafter, the society began providing presentations and resumed their “new normal” Zoom monthly general and board meetings. To date, these monthly meetings are hybrid meetings provided on Zoom with an option to attend in person and are hosted by education chair Dana Carney.
In 2020, Karen Looney and Flynn Kennedy began co-hosting the Thursday meetings. Later, Susanne Brown stepped in to co-host with Karen.
For more information on the WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award program, visit the Recognition page of the WSGS website or contact Info@wasgs.org. Please type “Volunteer Award.”
WSGS is sponsoring a roundtable presentation to inform genealogists and genealogical societies about the Washington Pioneer Pursuit Contest. The contest is designed to document family histories for every man, woman and child who lived in Washington Territory on or before Statehood was declared on November 11, 1889.
If you’re interested in learning more about the contest, including what resources are available, how to complete the forms and the review process, join us. There’ll also be plenty of time to get your questions answered. There is no pre-registration. Attendance is limited to 100 participants. The roundtable will be recorded and available on the WSGS website.
Since 2003, the Washington State Genealogical Society has recognized over 600 outstanding volunteers and teams, nominated by their local society or genealogical organization for their service and dedication. These volunteers are the backbone of their local society, giving their time and expertise, to the organization and the field of genealogy. In the coming weeks, you will be introduced to each of the 2022 award recipients and learn why they received the 2022 WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.
Today we’re introducing Janet Stroebel of Indianapolis, Indiana, who was nominated by the Eastside Genealogical Society.
Janet Stroebel
Janet joined EGS in 2013 and has quietly but strongly supported the society from day one. Being an organized, detail-oriented person (which makes her a great researcher in the genealogical field), Janet has stepped up to help the organization grow and diversify. She has served on the EGS board both as the secretary and the treasurer, thus making her part of the idea sharing, planning, and expanding reach of EGS.
Often behind the scenes, Janet sees needs and acts on them. When the leader of the Family Tree Maker SIG moved from the area, Janet accepted leadership of the group. As the society’s help desk efforts often included questions on using Ancestry, Janet volunteered to host a Q&A Ancestry help session monthly at the public library. As COVID restricted activities, Janet went online with her Ancestry help desk activities.
Bringing EGS forward into the social media world, Janet established their Facebook group and acted as its administrator. Again, without fanfare, she moderated the Facebook page, posted announcements, and shared information. In so many ways, from supporting the computer SIG, to being the NGS representative for EGS, to amending the bylaws to conform to recent changes in the state law governing non-profit organizations, Janet has helped EGS grow and embrace change. She has been an outstanding example to all.
For more information on the WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award program, visit the Recognition page of the WSGS website or contact Info@wasgs.org. Please type “Volunteer Award” in the subject line.
Since 2003, the Washington State Genealogical Society has recognized over 600 outstanding volunteers and teams, nominated by their local society or genealogical organization for their service and dedication. These volunteers are the backbone of their local society, giving their time and expertise, to the organization and the field of genealogy. In the coming weeks, you will be introduced to each of the 2022 award recipients and learn why they received the 2022 WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.
Karen has been a critical glue to hold together pieces of the society during absences and pandemic operation.
Karen was the secretary when the COVID pandemic began. She adeptly documented the society’s challenges, opportunities and solutions in minutes and special write-ups for posterity. With the incoming secretary and treasurer living outside of the local city post office area, Karen volunteered to continue getting the mail, distributing it, scanning checks for the treasurer, etc. Then when the membership chair was unable to continue, Karen again stepped in to fill that position until a replacement could be found. She provided a thorough transition to the new secretary and membership records position. She also assists in genealogy work by fulfilling research queries.
For more information on the WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award program, visit the Recognition page of the WSGS website or contact Info@wasgs.org. Please type “Volunteer Award” in the subject line.
Since 2003, the Washington State Genealogical Society has recognized over 600 outstanding volunteers and teams, nominated by their local society or genealogical organization for their service and dedication. These volunteers are the backbone of their local society, giving their time and expertise, to the organization and the field of genealogy. In the coming months, you will be introduced to each of the 2022 award recipients and learn why they received the 2022 WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.
Today we’re introducing Christine Schomaker of Kenmore, Washington, who was nominated by the Seattle Genealogical Society.
Christine is the Swiss army knife of the Seattle Genealogical Society. Over the past 20 years, Christine has been treasurer, library director, operations director (three times!), and is starting her sixth year as membership director.
She is always willing to help out with just about anything SGS needs done, and has been the de facto SGS registrar for anything that involved registrations, including seminars, SGS’s online courses and managing the over 600 alumni of the Certification Discussion Group.
At the in-person seminars, Christine and her husband Eric were regulars in moving the sales items over to the seminar venue (and back!). She assumed the responsibility of sitting at the sales desk and handled all the monetary transactions.
Having served so much time on the SGS board, Christine is a key part of the society’s corporate memory, which is an important thing to have in these days of transition.
For more information on the WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award program, visit the Recognition page of the WSGS website or contact Info@wasgs.org. Please type “Volunteer Award” in the subject line.
Since 2003, the Washington State Genealogical Society has recognized over 600 outstanding volunteers and teams, nominated by their local society or genealogical organization for their service and dedication. These volunteers are the backbone of their local society, giving their time and expertise, to the organization and the field of genealogy. In the coming months, you will be introduced to each of the 2022 award recipients and learn why they received the 2022 WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.
Stephanie joined GSSWI in 2007, and soon volunteered to serve as director of publicity on the board of directors. She then worked fervently to expand and advertise the society’s educational programs in all modes possible.
Stephanie next stepped forward and assumed our program director position and since then has been applying her amazing talents to securing speakers for GSSWI’s monthly programs. Additionally, Stephanie oversees the December social which is one of the society’s highlights each year.
But one of the more important reflections about Stephanie lies in the kind way she approaches members. Her interest is always in matching members’ genealogical needs with excellent speakers, and she reaches out through surveys and personal invitations to members to express their topical interests to her. She then begins the arduous task of finding speakers to address member requests. GSSWI is extremely grateful and appreciative of Stephanie’s continuing dedication, leadership, and many contributions to their society.
For more information on the WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award program, visit the Recognition page of the WSGS website or contact Info@wasgs.org. Please type “Volunteer Award” in the subject line.
Do you know who’s running the show at the Washington State Genealogical Society? Who are these people? In the coming months, we’ll introduce them to you, so you can say “hi” the next time you see them. (Note: a variation of Charles’s story was published in October 2017.)
Blog Master Charles Hansen
In today’s “Meet the Board” series, we’re introducing you to Charles Hansen from Spokane. Charles is WSGS’s Blog Master, as well as chair of the Resource Guide Project. He is a longtime member of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society where he serves as their Registered Agent, email chair, chief researcher (since 1998), head of library volunteers and one of their bloggers.
We know him as Charles, but he was born Charles Michael Hansen and called “Mike” by his family for as long as he can remember – probably to avoid confusion with his maternal grandfather Charles Rupert Kelly after whom he was named. His middle name honored his paternal grandfather Anton Mikkel Hansen.
Born in Spokane, Charles graduated from Washington State University in Pullman in 1971. For many years, he’s been an “Enrolled Agent,” someone considered by the IRS to be the equivalent of a CPA – able to do examinations, collections and appeals. In case you were wondering, the name Enrolled Agent came about soon after the Civil War when Enrolled Agents were authorized by the government to fill out paperwork for the veterans and families of the veterans for benefits provided by the government.
Charles and his grandfather Charles Kelly, Aunt Mayme McMichael and his grandmother Cleo Kelly
Charles became interested in genealogy back in 1990 after he and his sister Jacque decided to hold a family reunion. They started looking for their Hansen relatives – not an easy task considering that Charles and Jacque have more than 100 second cousins! After corresponding with their Dad’s first cousin Lorraine Erickson, a Family History Center volunteer in Arizona, Lorraine sent them a group sheet — something Charles and Jacque had never seen before! Lorraine suggested they send blank group sheets with the reunion packets. Imagine their surprise when they got 350 family group sheets back! They dutifully typed the information into a program called the “Enhanced Family Tree” and printed a book for everyone that came to the reunion.
That started the ball rolling. Wanting to find out more about their family, they took a beginning genealogical course through the local community college taught by Donna Potter-Phillips, past president of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society — and WSGS Vice President. She encouraged Charles and Jacque to join EWGS and the rest is, well…history.
A tip from Charles: I didn’t record who sent me each group sheet, so for the first 500 names in my genealogical file today most have no sources, but I do have the hard copy group sheets. Also the Enhanced Family Tree program did not have the ability to save data as a GEDCOM so when I switched to a better program, I had to retype all the data I had.
Charles and Jacque recently returned from a road trip to visit family and the Montana State Genealogical Society conference in Missoula to hear Judy Russell and Amy Crow. Charles has also visited Minnesota where the five original Hansen brothers settled. He’s also got ancestors from Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, New England, Denmark, England, Scotland and Germany.
When Charles isn’t blogging on the WSGS Blog (or his own blog http://charles-mikkelshus.blogspot.com/), researching at the county courthouse, volunteering at EWGS or doing his own genealogy, he’s out in his garden puttering here and there.
More trivia about Charles:
His favorite color is blue.
His favorite dessert is ice cream.
His most used genealogy website is the Washington State Digital Archives – where he’s transcribed over 568,000 records — 568,650 to be exact!
He says the single word that best describes him is “introvert.”
Now you know a little more about one of the WSGS Board members. The next time you see Charles, say hello and thank him for his service to the WSGS.
Since our first post in January 2015, the Blog team has posted an amazing 3,569 genealogy-related articles, special features, event announcements and a plethora of other postings and musings. We are proud to shout that as of today (15 Mar 2023), we have 1,050 genealogy enthusiasts from around the country subscribing to the blog. Charles Hansen, our Chief Blog Master, has been in charge since the beginning and manages the postings and analytics. We also should give a shout-out to Donna Potter Phillips for her trivia and musings columns. She’s consistently near the top of most popular posts.
You can help us continue our success:
Send information about your local society, workshop, genealogical tip, or a research query to WSGSBlog@wasgs.org. Charles will get it posted in a jiffy. We’re always looking to publicize local events and workshops, feature stories, updates from your society, and other genealogical information that might be of interest to our 1,050 subscribers!
We’d like to feature your local photos in the Blog banner. It’s easy to do. Just check out the simple guidelines here.
Encourage your friends and local society members to subscribe to the Blog for the most up-to-date information from around the state. It’s easy — just click here.
Thanks for making the Washington State Genealogical Society Blog a success!
Since 2003, the Washington State Genealogical Society has recognized over 600 outstanding volunteers and teams, nominated by their local society or genealogical organization for their service and dedication. These volunteers are the backbone of their local society, giving their time and expertise, to the organization and the field of genealogy. In the coming months, you will be introduced to each of the 2022 award recipients and learn why they received the 2022 WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.
Today we’re introducing Dorothy Pretare of Renton, Washington, who was nominated by the Eastside Genealogical Society (EGS).
Dorothy Pretare
Having been a member of EGS since 2003, Dorothy came to her first meeting as a beginning genealogist. Now, almost 20 years later, she has grown both as a researcher and a valued member of the society.
Shortly after joining EGS, Dorothy also joined the German Interest Group (GIG) and has remained active in both EGS and the GIG. She served on the EGS board for about 12 years as the publicity chair. Her untiring efforts to spread information about EGS meetings and genealogy in general have earned her the respect of her colleagues.
Stepping down from the EGS board, only to step up to the leadership of the GIG in 2016, Dorothy continues to serve the members and the community. Under her leadership and despite COVID restrictions and meetings moving to Zoom only, the GIG has continued strong and even grown in membership. Dorothy encourages the GIG attendees to join EGS and leads by example through attending the EGS meetings herself regularly.
For more information on the WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award program, visit the Recognition page of the WSGS website or contact Info@wasgs.org. Please type “Volunteer Award” in the subject line.
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