Author Archives: Roxanne Lowe

Patricia Ann Scott Named One of WSGS’s Outstanding Volunteers in 2025

by Roxanne Lowe

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 2025 award recipients and learn why they received they received a WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.

Today we’re introducing Patricia Ann Scott of Bainbridge Island, Washington who was selected by the Bainbridge Island Genealogical Society as its recipients of a WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award.

As a charter member of BIGS, Pat was a consistent and willing contributor. With her background as an educator, she played a key role in connecting BIGS members with the Kitsap Regional Library, leading efforts to recommend books for acquisition, planning educational sessions on the KRL Genealogy Center, and teaching members how to effectively use the KRL catalog for their research.

Pat initiated the “Writers Workshop” Special Interest Group, providing a collaborative space for members. Additionally, through her “Pat’s Prompts” on the BIGS website and the many stories she shared, Pat encouraged members to overcome their hesitation and share their “small” story, often reminding them to “just start writing!”

Pat’s recent passing leaves a significant void in the BIGS community. We are deeply grateful to her for sharing her love of writing, her encouragement, and her smile.

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.

Cecellia Rogers Named One of WSGS’s Outstanding Volunteers in 2025

by Roxanne Lowe

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 2025 award recipients and learn why they received they received a WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.

Today we’re introducing Cecelia Rogers of Seattle, Washington who was selected by the Seattle Genealogical Society as its recipients of a WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award.

Cecellia has served SGS as our Director of Education since June 2021. She was effective in growing our online educational offerings, including seminars, monthly education programs, and special interest groups (SIGs). She increased the number of SIG offerings, adding the Pacific Northwest, Eastern European, Mexican, Publishing, Artificial Intelligence, Ancestry and Organizational SIGs. To encourage program collaboration between SIG leaders, Ceil initiated a quarterly Educational Program Consortium.

Ceil has also overseen the initiation of several four-week courses for Beginning Genealogy, DNA for Beginners and Organizing for Genealogy. Her participant tracking system has allowed the society to evaluate its offerings. As she exits her role as director of education, Ceil will continue to support our society as Zoom administrator.

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

Rosemarie Robins Named One of WSGS’s Outstanding Volunteers in 2025

by Roxanne Lowe

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 2025 award recipients and learn why they received they received a WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.

Today we’re introducing Rosemarie Boat Robins of Yakima, Washington who was selected by the Yakima Valley Genealogical Society as its recipients of a WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award.

In 2018, Rose became a member of YVGS, and wears many hats in our society, including working as a full-time librarian every Tuesday and is always willing to be a substitute if someone is gone.

With a few other members, she is re-indexing our book collection with better descriptions for locating books for our new card catalog project. Twice a year she is at our yard sale, setting up and taking down tables, folding clothes, selling items and helping customers.  She helps clean up after our monthly meetings and is one of our best workers at our annual library and grounds cleanup day in the fall.

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

WSGS Blog Hits 5,000 Posts

by Roxanne Lowe

Since its first post on January 9, 2015, the WSGS Blog has posted over 5,000 special features, news, events and trivia about genealogy and family history in Washington State and the Pacific Northwest. The blog reaches almost 1,200 subscribers each week.

The terrific trio of Charles Hansen, Roxanne Lowe and Donna Potter Phillips work together to keep you informed and entertained. Charles, our Blog Master, has written the vast majority of the posts — just contact him at WSGSBlog@wasgs.org to promote your event or meeting. Roxanne posts occasional features, especially promoting the Outstanding Volunteer/Team awards. And no one should miss Donna’s “Let’s Talk About” columns — so entertaining.

The team is 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 many subscribers and viewers. Send your announcements or stories to the WSGS Blog and WSGS Meetings and Events! Just email a Word document, text file, PDF or graphic to WSGSBlog@wasgs.org and Info@wasgs.org and we’ll do the rest!

Kathleen Ochs Named One of WSGS’s Outstanding Volunteers in 2025

by Roxanne Lowe

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 2025 award recipients and learn why they received they received a WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.

Today we’re introducing Kathleen Ochs of Colville, Washington who was selected by the Northeast Washington Genealogical Society as its recipients of a WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award.

Kathy is currently our treasurer, an office she has held since 2022. Prior to that, she served as our librarian. She has been and is still our liaison with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where she volunteers at the FamilySearch Center. Kathy has taught several classes for us and helps plan and present our all-day annual seminar. She is always willing to help wherever it is needed. She is truly a very valuable asset to our society and an inspiration for all of us.

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

Kimberly Nichols Named One of WSGS’s Outstanding Volunteers in 2025

by Roxanne Lowe

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 2025 award recipients and learn why they received they received a WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.

Today we’re introducing Kimberly Nichols of Shohomish, Washington who was selected by the Eastside Genealogical Society as its recipients of a WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award.

Kimberly joined EGS in 1990 and has been an active volunteer in a variety of roles over the years. She started and led three special interest groups, the most recent being the Genealogy Book SIG earlier this year. She served simultaneously for many years as webmaster and newsletter editor. She is currently vice president, serving as a valuable right hand to our president who lives out of state. Kimberly developed and organized our first “What’s In Your Attic?” heirloom sharing event last fall and is doing so again in 2025. She also collected, organized, and found homes for over 200 genealogy books belonging to two members who had passed away.

Kimberly is a hard-working, organized, thorough, and dependable volunteer. She definitely lives her belief that the more you get involved in any group you belong to, the more you get out of it. She is a pleasure to work with and consistently brings good ideas to the table.

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

Bob and Micki McMath Named Two of WSGS’s Outstanding Volunteers in 2025

by Roxanne Lowe

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 2025 award recipients and learn why they received they received a WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.

Today we’re introducing Bob and Micki McMath of Shelton, Washington who was selected by the Mason County Genealogical Society as its recipients of a WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award.

Bob and Micki are new members of our society and the amount of work they have accomplished in just six months is astounding.  Not only have they contributed financially to our little group, but they have single-handedly taken on the scanning of a community member’s very large photo album, measuring two feet by one-and-one-half feet! The community member approached our society asking if we could digitize the album for her son as soon as possible, as she had a terminal condition. The project was just too daunting for the rest of us, but Bob and Micki graciously invited the lady into their home where they set up two scanning stations and worked tirelessly with her each week, four-hour sessions at a time, to make headway on this massive project.

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.

Remembering Frank McLean: A Legacy of Leadership and Service

by Roxanne Lowe

The Board of the Washington State Genealogical Society is saddened to inform you of the death of Frank McLean of Yakima.

Whether you knew Frank or not, you likely knew of his accomplishments and contributions to Washington pioneers and our WSGS family.

Frank McLean

Frank joined WSGS in 1986 and remained a dedicated and contributing member until his passing on Monday, June 8, 2026. He served as President, Vice President and most recently, as Treasurer. Frank was named a WSGS Outstanding Volunteer in 2003, 2005 and 2006 and YVGS Yard Sale Team Award Volunteer for 2018.

Frank was instrumental in the development of the WSGS Centennial Pioneer Certificate Project, working with others who shared the vision of tracing all pioneers and Indigenous individuals living in Washington Territory at the time of statehood on November 11, 1889. He devoted countless hours reviewing submitted genealogies, carefully verifying source documentation, and helping add approximately 44,000 names to the WSGS Pioneer database.

In 2023, Frank assumed a similar role with the Pioneer Pursuit program. An excellent researcher and historian, he diligently reviewed more than 2,750 names of those living in Washington at statehood, ensuring that all supporting documents were accurate and well-sourced. His commitment to ensuring those genealogies would be available for free on the WSGS website is a testament to his commitment to family history.

In addition to his service with WSGS, Frank was President of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia and also served on its Board. He was deeply involved in his local organization, the Yakima Valley Genealogical Society, where he served in many roles, including President, Membership Chair, Publicity Chair, and Bulletin Printing Assistant. He also headed the society’s semi-annual yard sale and, since 2004, served as Building and Maintenance Supervisor for its library. As the society’s “tech guy,” Frank helped digitize thousands of obituary records from paper files and index cards and kept the computer working. Frank was also involved in copying and extracting information from Yakima County School Census records from 1900 to 1930.

To learn more about Frank, read his “Meet the Board” feature on the WSGS Blog here.

Frank is survived by his wife, Delma Roloff McLean and sons Bruce, Scot and Mark and wives and grandchildren and preceded in death by daughter Ann. Brookside Funeral Home, Yakima is handling the arrangements.

Donna McLain Named One of WSGS’s Outstanding Volunteers in 2025

by Roxanne Lowe

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 2025 award recipients and learn why they received they received a WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.

Today we’re introducing Donna McLain of Longview, Washington who was selected by the Lower Columbia Genealogical Society as its recipient of a WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award.

Donna has been a member of LCGS for many years, and during her tenure she has served as a member of the society’s board, as a greeter at in-person meetings and two terms as secretary.  Her secretarial skills are outstanding, and her minutes are presented in a very businesslike and detailed manner.  She has also been an active participant on the program committee, and she recommends presentations of interest. Donna is a great asset to our society, as she consistently offers thought-provoking input to all board discussions, and she is always willing to see a project through to its completion

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.

Michele Norton Mattoon Named One of WSGS’s Outstanding Volunteers in 2025

by Roxanne Lowe

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 2025 award recipients and learn why they received they received a WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.

Today we’re introducing Michele Norton Mattoon of Seattle, Washington who was selected by the South King County Genealogical Society as its recipient of a WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award.

Michele has been treasurer of SKCGS for several years, performing all the duties of the office very efficiently.  In addition, she has taken on side projects of sorting and cataloging newspaper obituary clippings and digitizing miscellaneous society records. These are projects she has quietly completed for the posterity of the society.

Michele’s dedication behind the scenes is greatly appreciated by the 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.