Category Archives: Administrative

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.

Frank McLean

by Charles Hansen

Members, your Board would like to inform you of the death of Frank McLean. Frank was president of Washington State Genealogical Society from 1994 to 1996. He joined WSGS in 1986 and has been a contributing member ever since. Currently, he held the position of Treasurer since 2022. Frank was instrumental in Pioneer Project along with others with the vision to trace all pioneers and indigenous individuals in Washington at statehood 11 November, 1889. He spent countless hours reviewing the genealogies submitted verifying the source information was correct helping to add about 44,000 names to our data base of pioneers. He also sent out Pioneer Certificates upon request. Frank later assumed the same position for Pioneer Pursuit (past president Virginia Majewski’s brain child project) and, again, reviewed over 4,000 names of those at statehood making sure the sources were correct.

Frank was president of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia and served as a Board member with them. He was heavily involved with his local society Yakima Valley Genealogical Society serving as president, membership, publicity and helped with bulletin printing; head of the semi-annual yard sale and, from 2004, on has served as Building & Maintenance Supervisor of this library and as “Tech” guy, he helped scan all our thousands of obituaries from paper and index cards.

Frank (3 January 1937-7 June, 2026) is survived by his wife Delma Roloff McLean.

Sizer and Scott Re-Elected For Two-Year Terms

by Roxanne Lowe

Congratulations are extended to Kathy Sizer and Jill Scott who were elected recently as WSGS President and Secretary, respectively. Their terms run through Dec. 31, 2027. Kathy will be serving her third two-year term, while Jill is serving her second term as Secretary. Jill’s election was unanimous and Kathy’s was almost unanimous — someone with a sense of humor wrote in “anyone, but me.”

Kathy and Jill, and the rest of the WSGS Board, are anticipating a year filled with growth and service to its members. WSGS members are invited to attend (virtually) the monthly board meetings which are the third Tuesday of each month at 2:00 p.m. The minutes of each meeting are available in the Members’ Area of the website.

For more information about participating in WSGS, email Info@wasgs.org.

President and Secretary Candidate Statements

by Roxanne Lowe

Kathleen “Kathy” Weddle Sizer of Granger has been nominated to serve a third two-year term as WSGS President. Additionally, Jill Scott of Yakima has been nominated as Secretary for a second term. The terms of office are 01 Jan 2026 through 31 Dec 2027.

Online voting for the slate will begin 15 Dec 2025 and run through 22 Dec 2025. All WSGS members will receive an email with a Google link to their anonymous ballot. Members are asked to vote for each position. Write-in nominations are allowed.

Kathy’s candidate statement

Serving you as President has been a pleasure for the last two terms (4 years). I had hoped someone would step up to take my place as it is not a difficult job. However, it looks like you may be stuck with me again for another term.

The Washington State Genealogical Society has been a driving force for many years and can be for many more. Our focus has gone from helping form societies and hosting seminars with noteworthy speakers to being a clearinghouse promoting our many great societies here in our state and helping them to advertise their seminars, workshops and meetings. WSGS has made it easy for me, as well as you, to find events and attend in person or virtually programs that will benefit genealogical research.

WSGS not only promotes local societies but has financially helped local societies through various grants and one-time gifts through the dues our loyal members have paid. Thank you, members! We, on the Board, have been pleased to offer these grants to societies for various needs. This is something that is a plus serving as President or in any other position.

WSGS is embarking on updating the Pioneer Files for Washington State, an ambitious project but a boon for those with early families to our state. Let’s keep Washington State Genealogical Society relevant!

Jill’s candidate statement

I am thrilled to be nominated again to the Washington Society Genealogy Society Board as Secretary. I eagerly anticipate contributing to the betterment of our membership. Here’s a little about me:

I was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho. After graduating from high school, I moved to Spokane and attended Kinman Business University. I found not only a job, but a husband in Portland while I worked for Pacific Power & Light as an executive secretary. We moved to Klamath Falls where my only child, Alison, was born. Then we moved to Sunnyside for Charlie’s job and retired to Tucson in 1994. In 2000, I moved to Escondido, California to take care of my aging dad.  After his death in 2003, I decided to stay in Southern California and then moved to Yakima in 2017.

I am a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution – Narcissa Whitman Chapter in Yakima, where I am the immediate Past Honorary Chapter Regent; P.E.O. Chapter FR; Daughters of Utah Pioneers; Huguenot Society; Daughters of the Republic of Texas; U.S. Daughters of 1812; Flagon & Trenchers and a Utah Genealogy Society supporter of their Utah Founding Pioneer program.

Nominations Sought for WSGS President and Secretary

by Roxanne Lowe

Are you interested in being part of the WSGS Board of Directors? The positions of president and secretary are up for election and we are seeking nominations. The nomination period will close on 10 Dec 2025.

The president acts as the figurehead of the Washington State Genealogical Society. He/she presides over the monthly board meetings, as well as any special meetings. The president is responsible for creating a monthly agenda, in cooperation with the rest of the Board. He/she also ensures the society runs smoothly and for the benefits of its members.

The secretary composes the minutes of each business and board meeting, and ensures they are correct and accurate.

The two-year terms are from 01 Jan 2026 through 31 Dec 2027. The meetings are held monthly via Zoom. More information on the positions’ duties and responsibilities is available here.

Being a member of the WSGS Board is an excellent opportunity to involve yourself in a statewide organization designed to support local societies and individuals interested in the educational and historical value of genealogical research. And besides that — it’s fun and interesting!

If you’re interested in this opportunity or have questions, please contact LeAnne Koliha or Charles Hansen, members of the Nominations Committee.

Use Tax for Live Presentations

by Charles Hansen

This is page 2 of the Washington State Sales and Use Tax Form, page 2 is the same for monthly, quarterly and annual reporting. Since our genealogical societies will be paying Use Tax on Live Presentations, this is how it is calculated. (Note while the Department of Revenue still provides the paper form on their website, they require everyone to file online now. ) The cost of the live presentation goes on line 31 for the state use tax of 6.5%. Line 35 is where you calculate the local use tax if everyone was at that location. I used the rate of 2.6% for the City of Spokane. Notice there are lines for more locations and so if you have people on Zoom at different locations you need to calculate how much of the $900.00 went to each location and then calculate the local tax for each location. Now since the Spokane local rate is second highest in Spokane county doing all of the required calculations will probably save some local use tax. So I did a test calculation to see how much money you might save if all the people on Zoom are in different local tax rates. To make the calculations easier I assumed we had 90 people at the October seminar and that 80 of them were in the room with the speakers (actually the speakers were on Zoom also). So a quick calculation:

80 people at Spokane is $800.00x 2.6% is 20.80

3 people at $10.00 each x 1.6% =0.48

3 people at $10.00 each x 2.4% = 0.72

1 person at $10.00 x 2.7% = 0.27

1 person at $10.00 x 2.5% = 0.25

1 person at $10.00 x .015 = 0.15

1 person at $10.00 x .026 = 0.26

All this work totals up to $22.93 local tax which means doing this much bookkeeping saves 47 Cents! For 20 people on Zoom double the savings to 94 Cents!

And you need the addresses of all the people on Zoom so you can calculate their local rate and keep all these records for at least 6 years. Now do we need to keep addresses of our Zoomers for the government? One option they give in their guidelines is to assume everyone is in the same room with the speakers and pay the use tax on that location, or for us the 2.6% local rate. And for saving of 94 cents this amount of bookkeeping is not worth the extra work.

I went to the Department of Revenues website: https://secure.dor.wa.gov/gteunauth/_/ and it has Business lookup to see if you signed up when you became a non profit, and also a Quick Sign up Wizard for non profits that either did not sign up when they became a non profit or signed up over 5 years ago.