Of course I snagged a Pecan Praline at most every opportunity! They are quintessentially The South and they are beyond description delicious. Several of my fellow passengers and I went looking for The Best Praline recipe and we agreed: this looks like it! But all did agree on this: you must have a candy thermometer for best results.
******BEST Louisiana Pralines Recipe
These Louisiana pralines are the best sweet tooth treat because they’re sweet, filling and so addicting. A mix of cream, vanilla, and pecans combine perfectly to make this easy bite-sized candy. Prep Time5 minutes Cook Time15 minutes Total Time20 minutes
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
7 tbsp salted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup half & half
Instructions
Combine the butter, sugars, and half in half into a large saucepan, then turn the heat up to medium.
Bring the candy mixture to 240 F, and let the candy mixture cook for about 5 minutes without stirring.
After the five minutes, add in the vanilla extract, and stir.
Remove from the heat.
Toss in the pecans, and fold in.
Grab a wooden spoon, and stir the hot candy mixture until it thickens.
Consider this unique opportunity! Celebrate SGS’s Centennial with a community of family history writers in a beautiful, tranquil setting. Sound good to you? Then please click on the link below to fill out a short form to let us know you are interested. We’ll get back to you with details as they develop. SGS members will receive a reduced price. https://forms.gle/rikL9v4BLk92d3Fs
SAVE THE DATES FOR THESE OTHER SGS CENTENNIAL YEAR ACTIVITIES
SGS Spring Seminar, 10-11 March, registration is open now!
SGS100 Writers’ C(r)amp: 20-23 April 2023, fill out the interest form
SGS100 Family History Writing Contest open. See this month’s issue of the SGS Journal
SGS100 Summer Preservation Seminar: Denise Levenich, Mark the date: 17-18 June.
SGS100 1923 Ice Cream Social: Meridian Park; date TBD
SGS100 culminating event: 20 October 2023, Dunn Garden
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 Kathy’s story was published in October 2017.)
Kathy and her 2nd cousins, once removed in England.
In today’s “Meet the Board” series, we’re introducing you to Kathy Sizer. Kathy lives in Granger (Yakima County) and is WSGS’s President. She has been a member of the WSGS since 2011. She is also a member of the Yakima Valley Genealogical Society where she has been president, vice president, recording secretary, hospitality chair and current treasurer.
Kathleen Louise was born in Oakland, California in 1951 to August Edward and Vivian Jane (Washburn) Weddle. Her mother liked the name Kathleen (as did approximately one million other mothers at the time), but when she told her husband, he said he did too as his former fiance’s name was Kathleen. Horrified, Kathy’s mother said they needed to pick another name, to which her husband replied, “I didn’t marry her. I married YOU, didn’t I?”
Kathy’s interest in genealogy began when her grandmother Edith Clarke Washburn and her sister Avice Ramos Clarke were discussing family history when Kathy was in the 4th grade. That discussion sparked Kathy’s interest. Later, after college, Kathy found a handwritten family history her grandmother had done and that really secured her lifelong passion.
Kathy with her cousin Diana Walcom at their great grandfather John Clarkes’ home in Gargrave England.
Kathy and cousin Diana Walcom in England during Diana’s first trip to see the family home.
Even though her DNA ancestry says she’s only 36 percent English, Kathy’s ancestors come from England, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Scotland, Arabic and Ireland. She has been lucky enough to travel to England and Scotland to see where her grandmother’s family was from. A genealogist’s work is never done!
Kathy has quite a few interesting characters in her ancestry. Her distant grandmother, Sarah Lord Wilson of Andover, Massachusetts, and daughter Sarah Wilson Preston (also Kathy’s grandmother) were imprisoned for witchcraft, but released when the community began to realize the awful practice of imprisoning (or worse) was wrong. Kathy also has a great grandmother, Marie R. Cornioley, who was governess to Louis Comfort Tiffany, the famous glass maker. And what about John Billington, her distant grandfather, who came over on the Mayflower and was the first man in the Plymouth Colony to hang for killing a man? True story.
When not searching for her ancestors, Kathy enjoys gardening, travel and reading. She has four grown children and seven grandchildren. “Her two sons are adopted from India and have done their DNA and have English and Irish blood (Queen Victoria and her British Empire most likely came into play).”
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.
As WAGS’ technology chair, Hank had set up a digitizing system in 2018/19 for the society, creating a state-of-the-art digitizing station, and programming and building a website and database to archive digitized items. These very successful projects garnered Hank the WAGS Outstanding Volunteer designation in 2019.
Then WAGS got word that EasyNet Sites, our web provider, was going out of business. Hank suggested we create and maintain our own website, and volunteered to take on the task. He had previous experience making websites for family and some smaller groups around town, but WAGS was a bigger challenge, needing to include ordering merchandise; creating and tracking memberships and receiving payments; creating specialized pages for historical photos and large databases; the previous digitized archive and other databases; and a specialized search engine. Hank’s perseverance and commitment to making documents available to others has resulted in an attractive and functional new website. An important part of his approach is training others to be able to navigate the site and edit and revise.
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.”
On this particular trip, I didn’t see very many cemeteries but always and of course, those I did see made an impact on me.
Top Top: A typical rural cemetery near New Orleans. Away from New Orleans, in-ground burials work fine, apparently. Top Bottom: Take from a book on New Orleans, a typical city cemetery….all above-ground crypts.
Top Bottom: The final resting place of more than 17,000 Union dead at Vicksburg National Memorial Park. Look closely and you’ll see some upright stones and some flat stones. The flat ones were when the identification of the soldier was unknown. Scanning the whole scene, it was so sad to see how many flat ones there were.
The park signboard on the right also shares this: “At hundreds of Civil War battle sites the remains of fallen soldiers lay nearly forgotten, scattered in woods, fields and roadside ditches.” Now did they gather those up to bury here???
Burials in cemeteries in New Orleans are tightly packed together and above ground. Why? The water table is too high for in-ground burial. The deceased are not put into coffins (in many cases) but are just laid on a shelf in an above-ground mausoleum…… and such crypts have been, in some cases, used by the family for 150 years.
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.
Tina joined SKCGS in February 2020, just in time to help us pivot to an online-only world. Soon after accepting the publicity team leader role, she began to actively administer the society’s Google Workspace, which was previously mostly unused. By creating a shared calendar, shared drives for each team, and improving the team email lists, she greatly facilitated the work of the board. Then she created an internal website, The Hub, for board volunteer use, along with hundreds of hours of private volunteer training.
SKCGS would not have been able to thrive without her invaluable support to the board and other volunteers. She has quietly given each of the members hours of her time, not just giving resources such as The Hub, but also individual help and training. “The Magic Show” (collaborative, participatory meetings) could not have existed without the support of the board and Tina’s technical and personal expertise.
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.”
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