Nancy Peterson honored with NGS Award of Merit

Nancy Simons Peterson received the 2017 Award of Merit at the annual meeting of the prestigious National Genealogical Society (NGS) last week in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This award is in recognition of her efforts on behalf of NGS. A consummate researcher, Nancy is the author of Raking the Ashes: Genealogical Strategies for Pre-1906 San Francisco Research. First published in 2006 and revised and updated in 2011, the book continues to be CGS’ best seller.  Nancy is well known at CGS where for more than a decade she generously volunteered her time and talents on an enormous variety of projects. She gave countless hours as the society’s research director, co-led numerous research tours and served three terms on the board of directors.  She is celebrated for her research, writing, editing, and lecturing skills. Currently a resident of Portola Valley, Nancy also lived for a time in Washington state, where she taught genealogy classes and was the editor of the Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society quarterly publication, The Researcher.

Trish Nicola

Accepting the award on Nancy’s behalf was her friend Trish Hackett Nicola of Seattle. Trish is a CGS member and a trustee for the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG). A longtime volunteer with the Seattle NARA, she was the recipient of the Weidman Outstanding Volunteer Service Award in 2016. She also writes an information-packed blog exploring the Chinese Exclusion Era records in Seattle.

Also at the conference, Kathryn Doyle was voted in as Vice President of NGS. She served on the CGS board for six years and launched this blog in 2007.

We are proud of these women, grateful for their connections to CGS, and we look forward to seeing their future work.

Copyright © 2018 by California Genealogical Society

Remembering Jane Wolf Hufft, 1943-2018

Jane Wolf Hufft, a lifelong educator, was a warm and gracious woman, devoted to her family. She died 30 January 2018 and is survived by her husband Ron, daughter Amy, son Brian, and three grandchildren. 

Jane was born 21 August 1943 in Norfolk Virginia, a child of Colorado native Robert Joseph Wolf (1915–1977) and Mary H. Omer (1914–1981) of Illinois. Her paternal grandparents were George Wolf, a Denver police captain, and Katherine Elizabeth Sallen. Jane’s maternal grandparents were Lewis Omer and Edith Nevins of Carthage, Illinois, a small farming community. Lewis Omer was a farmer and teacher at Carthage College.

The eldest of four children, Jane and her two sisters and brother spent their early years in Norfolk where their father was stationed. Robert Wolf served as a naval officer during WWII. After the war, the family moved to Detroit, Michigan, where Robert worked as an engineer in a construction firm.

The family moved again in the 1950s to Lafayette, California, where Jane attended Acalanes High School and graduated in 1961. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1966 from the University of California at Berkeley, a master’s degree from California State University at Hayward, and numerous educational certificates including an administrative credential. Jane began dating fellow Lafayette resident and Acalanes graduate Ron Hufft while they both were at Cal. They married fifty years ago in 1968.

Jane and Ron Hufft and family

Jane worked as an educator for nearly forty years, first as a teacher, then as manager of the Gifted and Talented Education Program in the Martinez, California, Unified School District, and finally as the well-respected principal of Morello Park Elementary School in Martinez. Her support of education and of children never wavered. Jane later served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children placed in the care of a Juvenile Dependency Court, where she provided expertise on educational issues.

Jane Wolf Hufft was an avid genealogist. In 1984, she and Jane Knowles Lindsey were introduced to each other due to their mutual interest in family history. The friends made annual research trips to Boston or Salt Lake City. Hufft researched her own family as well as her husband’s Cook line from Newburyport, Massachusetts.

The "two Janes"--Jane Lindsey (center, seated) and Jane Hufft (standing), with 2006 CGS Board members Glen Schimelpfenig, Vern Deubler, Will Frye, and Nancy Peterson

By 2004, when Hufft retired, the “two Janes” had been travelling and researching together for twenty years and Lindsey had become president of the California Genealogical Society. Hufft had always said that “someday” she wanted to edit a genealogical publication so Lindsey recruited her to serve as editor of the society newsletter, The CGS News. 
In addition to her duties as editor, Jane Hufft and Nancy Servin delivered the newsletters to the post office after the Mailing Committee did tedious work to meet the strict bulk mail postal requirements. It was typical of Jane to oversee every aspect of a project.

Jane’s editing skills contributed to the success of two books published in 2006 to commemorate the centennial of the 1906 earthquake—A Most Dreadful Earthquake: A First-Hand Account of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire – with Glimpses into the Lives of the Phillips-Jones Letter Writers, and Raking the Ashes: Genealogical Strategies for Pre-1906 San Francisco Research.

Jane with Jerry Anderson at NEHGS in 2006

Hufft and Shirley Thomson created the "CGS Style Sheet" in 2007, to lay the foundation toward a consistent style among the various publications of the California Genealogical Society and Library. Jane served as a member of the Publications Committee, taking over as chair after Barbara Close stepped down in 2008. In 2010, Jane was part of a large team that published The Ancestry of Theodore Timothy Judge and Ellen Sheehy Judge: Including the Families of Boland, Roussel, Harman, McMurphy, Kelley, Bohane, Chapin, Freiermuth, Taylor, Moore and Farneman for the society.

Jane continued to serve as editor of the CGS News until January 2009, when the society went to the digital eNews. Her editorial duties were transferred to the launch of the former Nugget, which began its new life as The California Nugget, published twice a year beginning with the spring 2009 issue. It was in this role where she may have had her greatest influence at CGS. Jane edited the society magazine for seven years, through the Spring 2016 issue, when she turned the reins over to current editor Janice Sellers.

Jane was an excellent writer and she published some of her findings in various journals. She often served as a ghostwriter for CGS members who needed assistance bringing their words to life.

Jane served on the board of directors for six years, from January 2003 to January 2009. She and her friend Laura Ferber assisted the CGS board as facilitators of their strategic planning retreats for two years.

Jane shared her experience as educator, researcher, writer, and editor by developing and teaching classes. In 2009, she was a member of a panel discussion on “Breaking Down Brick Walls” with Nancy Peterson and Lavinia Schwarz. Hufft and Matt Berry offered a “Footnotes and Indexing Workshop” in 2010. Jane taught “Footnotes 101" in 2011. Jane teamed up with Lisa Gorrell and Tim Cox in 2012 to create an intensive writing course, “Writing Your Family History: Start Now.” They taught an encore series the following year with Matt Berry. Lisa recalled that Jane was “a joy to collaborate with. Her expertise was grammar and citations, and she had such a wonderful delivery style that made it fun to review grammar.”

Jane was well-known for generously assisting others with their genealogy, especially their brick walls. Sally Houston Brown reminisced about the inability to locate a marriage record for her maternal grandparents, who came to Richmond from Illinois. Jane “found a sentence in the SF Call, that they were married in Stockton! How she remembered the names from our brief conversation and still looked for them fills me with amazement. From that bit of info, I was able to get the official records - and speculate about why there (probably grandpa met the train with grandma and g-grandma). I never, never would have thought to check an SF paper or the Stockton records. To me it was a true miracle. Jane probably fulfilled the role of fairy godmother for lots of us at CGS.”

With fellow quilter-genealogist Pat Richley-Erikson

Beyond family and genealogy, Jane was a skilled quilter and adventurous traveler. As recently as last year, she had a quilt displayed at the Pacific International Quilt Festival. She took two trips to Africa, as well as one to India, the ancestral home of her son-in-law.

A memorial service for Jane will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 29, 2018, at the Lafayette Veteran's Memorial Center. Her obituary was published 9 March 2018 in the East Bay Times.

Contributions in Jane’s memory may be made to the California Genealogical Society, 2201 Broadway, LL2, Oakland California, 94612-3031. Alternatively, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Willamette University Jane W. Hufft Scholarship Fund, established by her family in 2017 to ensure students facing adversity can complete their education and live lives of contribution and meaning.

Photos provided by the Hufft family and the California Genealogical Society.
The editor wishes to thank the Hufft family, Jane Lindsey, and Kathryn Doyle for their contributions to this post.
Copyright © 2018 by California Genealogical Society 

Summer School at Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh I & II

This past July was the latest GRIP (Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh). Over two weeks (GRIP I & II), our members and many other genealogists from around the country had a blast learning the latest in the genealogy field!  

Check out the photos and plan to attend yourself in 2018.

Back row: Vicky Kolakowski, Harold Henderson, 
and James Russell.  Front row: Sandra Benward, 
Linda Okazaki and Vanessa Crews.
Photo by Debbie Deal


Grip Instructor Melissa Johnson, CG, with
CGS attendees Kathryn Doyle and James Russell
Photo by Michelle Novak

Copyright © 2017 by California Genealogical Society

A Visit to the California Statewide Museum Collections Center

by Kathryn M. Doyle

California State Park Archives
4940 Lang Avenue
McClellan, California 95652

Earlier this year I accepted an invitation to tour the Statewide Museum Collections Center in McClellan, California. I tagged along with California Genealogical Society President Linda Okazaki and Tynan Peterson and visited the sprawling facility located about seven miles northeast of Sacramento. The day began with specific goals: execute research plans, tour the vast warehouse, and enjoy genealogy camaraderie. We accomplished all three.

California State Parks Archive Exhibit Hall and Lobby

The main entrance opens to the archives exhibit hall where artifacts representing California’s diverse heritage are on display. The images and objects highlight the “professions that identify, study, and care for them.”

Visitors check in at the reception area of the main lobby to obtain a badge and locker. (Handbags, backpacks, food/drinks are not permitted beyond the lobby.) Researchers may bring laptops, scanners, cameras, and phones into the research room. No pens are allowed, but the archive provides pencils and paper. Protective gloves may be required when handling fragile materials.

Researchers must request materials in advance and preschedule a time to use the facility by contacting the archives by phone or email. Appointments are available Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m.–11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. The research room is closed during lunch and on all state holidays.

Linda in the research room.

A Little History 

Officially, California has required the preservation of historically significant materials since its inception. An 1850 law mandated the preservation of “all public records, registers, maps, books, papers, rolls, documents, and other writings... which may be interesting, or valuable… to the government or people of the state.” The California State Archives is the repository of state records with permanent retention value.

By 2001, the state parks decided that more of their materials should be preserved and a separate California State Parks Archive was approved. Under the auspices of Victoria Yturralde, archivists visited parks throughout the Golden State to collect historically important materials.

Artifacts were housed in various places around Sacramento until suitable quarters could be located. The Museum Collections Center opened at the former McClellan Air Force Base, now McClellan Park, in 2013.

            

Cameras are not permitted beyond the research area so I don’t have images to share. But you can get a sampling from KQED’s The Treasures Living in the California State Parks Warehouse.

“There’s no point in saving the material if no one ever gets to see it.” 

—Archivist Lola Aguilar

Linda Okazaki and Archivist Lola Aguilar

While it remains a goal to process all holdings, to date only twenty physical collections from the California State Parks Archives have been fully described and catalogued at the Online Catalog of California (OAC). According to Archivist Lola Aguilar, these represent only about 5% of the total. The creation of Finding Aids for historical parks are the highest priority. 

The Photographic Archives consists of more than 350,000 images in various formats, "covering a broad range of California subjects." 

The California Genealogical Society will be hosting a field trip to the collection on Tuesday, August 15, 2017, for a limited number of attendees. Register now.

© 2017 by California Genealogical Society

Wordless Wednesday: #EastBayGives' genealogy supporters

We've got #EastBayGives supporters everywhere!  Even Judy G. Russell, The Legal Genealogist, pitched in to help.  Check out who else is a supporter below.  We'd love to have you become one too.

Our goal from East Bay Gives is to raise $10,000 for a new microfilm/microfiche reader for the library. It should make genealogy research faster and easier for all of us.

What's East Bay Gives anyway?  It's a community-wide, one-day online giving event.  It's specifically designed to help local non-profits both raise contributions and increase their visibility through the combined marketing efforts of over 500 organizations.

Please give on May 3rd and help us reach our goal.  

Judy G. Russell

Kathryn Doyle

Katie Welka

Laura Manion

Lisa Gorrell

Adrienne Tomkins 

Jane Ordway Carman

Kim Cotton

Mary Mettler

Todd Armstrong

Copyright © 2016 by California Genealogical Society

A Remembrance: Marianne Frey

Photo from Dick Rees

Marianne Ruth Durand was born about 1936 in Maplewood, New Jersey, to Albert and Caroline Durand. Marianne attended Swarthmore College, graduating with a degree in biology in 1957. She later earned a graduate degree from Yale.

Marianne married Walter C. Frey on 2 September 1982 in Alameda County, California. They lived in Kensington, California for many years, and were avid members of the “Berkeley Folk Dancers” club. On top of her many talents, Marianne also played the oboe.

Marianne joined the California Genealogical Society in 1995. She jumped right in as a volunteer. Early in her membership, Marianne assisted with one of our “Genealogy Fairs.” Her friend, Dick Rees, recalled “I first met Marianne when I was in charge of registration for the Genealogy Fairs we used to have. Rick Sherman introduced us and Marianne immediately asked if I would like a program for my Mac that would help with the pre-registration. Would I! Not only was I amazed at the ease of using the program, I was equally amazed that someone of my generation could write a program for a computer.”

In addition to her participation in the fairs, Marianne was also on our Board of Directors as Membership Chair, she assisted with mailings, organized shelf-reading days in our library, and was a member of the Book Repair Committee. Early in her tenure, Marianne created the database for our “Look-Ups” committee and even entered most of the data. Her work ethic and dedication didn’t stop there. Marianne trained many of our volunteers in using the Library of Congress system.

 

Photo by Kathryn Doyle

Lavinia Schwarz said, “Marianne was here so often, helping in any way she could. She was a delight.”

Through their research at the California Genealogical Society, Marianne, Dick Rees and Lavinia Schwarz discovered that they were cousins, many times removed, through the Kitchel and Sheafe families from 15^th Century Kent, England. You can read about their discovery in this 2008 blog post by Kathryn Doyle. 

"Cousins" Marianne Frey, Lavinia Schwarz, Dick Rees
Photo by Kathryn Doyle

Marianne Ruth Durand Frey passed away early this year. Her warmth and gracious work ethic will be missed. 

Memorial gifts in her name may be sent to the California Genealogical Society, 2201 Broadway, LLS, Oakland CA, 94612-3031.

Copyright © 2016 by California Genealogical Society

Wordless Wednesday

California Genealogical Society Members 

At the 2015 British Institute in Salt Lake City 

Virginia Kysh, Jan Brandt, Kathryn Doyle
Photo by Kathleen Ackerman, British Institute Director

Copyright © 2015 by California Genealogical Society

The 2014 Genie Awards!

By Diana Edwards, CGS Membership Chair

It's Thankful Thursday, and we'd like to extend our thanks to the wonderful volunteers at CGS!

2014 CGS Genie Awards: L-R: Marcelle White, Kathie Jones, Arlene Miles (back), Linda Okazaki (front), Lavinia Grace Schwarz, Nancy Peterson Photo: Ron Madson

CGS has incredible volunteers- they are dedicated, loyal, hardworking and fun- and we want to honor every volunteer.  Our board works tirelessly, sometimes behind the scenes, sometimes front and center. Our committee chairs don’t just sit around, they make things happen.  But it’s the rest of the volunteer corps that really deserves the credit. 

If you haven’t met her already, I’d like to introduce you to our Volunteer Coordinator, Kathleen Beitiks. Be sure to say “hello” and welcome her. If you are interested in volunteering, she can help you find a great task.  Kathleen, along with Diana Edwards, membership chair, Diana Wild, library volunteer extraordinaire, and Linda Okazaki, our fabulous former Volunteer Coordinator, are the force behind this event. 

Last year we honored our longest serving volunteers, those that had served in some capacity for twenty years or more. This year, the volunteer committee wanted something different. Something memorable. They couldn’t come up with a “volunteer of the year” because there are too many people who work their magic in countless ways.

So what did they do?
After asking the board for suggestions and nominations, they decided to set some parameters. Looking at the volunteer database from 2013, they realized well over 100 individuals donated their time to CGS last year. As a result, the committee decided to create two award categories, and limit the nominees to just five individuals in each.

The first category is for volunteers who completed monumental tasks in the past year, those who have gone above and beyond.  The second category is for volunteers who have moved on from certain roles, though not necessarily from volunteering, just from very important roles which they had filled for a long time. 

Next year, we'll have different categories. In fact, we hope to have many awards events in our future. Today, we'll focus on those two categories- Above and beyond, and Moving on. 

Without further adieu, we present the first ever CGS Genie Awards! 

Mover of Mountains Award 
Arlene Miles
This mover and shaker is a former library assistant who volunteers two days a week. You might recognize her as the woman in the tie-dyed shirt, or the one giggling in the back office, or the lady who loves trains. She became a member in 2007 on the very day CGS opened its doors at this location. Most of us know her as the processor of periodicals, but really it’s so much more than that. She set up a database to track current periodicals. She helps Henry Snyder with anything and everything, she trains and orients new volunteers, she oversees a team of volunteers who checks and rechecks everything on the shelves, and she helps to coordinate our eBay sales, taking photos of items for sale, then packages and mails the sold items. 

Today we honor her for the monumental task affectionately known as the “Shelf Shift”. She is literally our “Mover of Mountains”...a mountain of Books...thousands and thousands of Books! CGS received hundreds of boxes of donated genealogy books last year.  After Henry and his Library Committee finished sorting and cataloging, and labeling the hundreds of new additions to our collection, new shelving was installed, and our honoree, Arlene, stepped in and organized a massive “shelf shift”.

She recruited volunteers, trained and supervised them, kept the books in order as we moved them (while explaining the Library of Congress numbering system over and over and over.)..all with humor and patience, sweat and stamina. She got our new books on the shelves!   Then, just to be sure we got it right, she turned around and “read the shelves”, methodically checking to make sure each book was in it’s place, so you and I can find them when we look.

The Orchestrator of eBay
Marci White
A member since 2009, Marci is not a long time volunteer, but she stepped in with the perfect skills at the exactly perfect time to do a much-needed job for CGS.  Remember the hundreds of boxes of books donated to the library? Well, we didn’t keep all of them for our shelves...some were duplicates, etc. Henry had decided we could make some money by selling books we didn’t need or want. How to do this? eBay was the obvious answer. 

And this is where Marci stepped up. She helped set up our eBay accounts, not an easy task, and worked with the Library Committee to put the book sale process in place, she worked with the Website and Computer Committees, the Finance Committee, Publications and Marketing. She put all of the pieces together and then trained the next people to take over. The result was a monumental symphony of collaboration. Thank you, Marci, for your monumental contribution. 

As huge as the eBay venture was, we did not let Marci sit on her laurels as a valuable Library Committee member. We recruited her to become a Board Member, and she took over as editor of the eNews, working with Shannon on the Marketing Committee. Now that she is working full-time-and-a-half, she is looking for an eNews replacement, but that’s OK. Volunteering is flexible, and must fit your life. Marci will continue to be a valuable volunteer in new roles.    

Wild Thing
Kathie Jones
A member since 1999, this recipient retired as the owner of a toy store, but hasn’t lost her sense of fun. Playful and entertaining, she and I met on one of the Salt Lake City trips. She has been volunteering several days each month to keep our member enrollment and renewal system up to date. She used her talents as a videographer to produce YouTube videos with Shannon Reese. She was on the planning committee for Their Roots are Showing and produced the screen visuals for the show. 

But today we are honoring her for one job she recently completed. She went over and beyond to move our membership database from an accounting system, “Quickbooks” to the modern membership database “Wild Apricot”. This system is full of bells and whistles that will help our society to grow and serve members in many new ways. Not only did she research the new data system, she tested several, installed it, transferred our existing membership data without losing her mind, or any members, in the process.. She has also “moved on” from her role on the membership committee entering data (we are looking for new volunteers!)  She is our newest board member, and is Treasurer for the society. 

California Genealogical Society Award for Excellence in Juggling
Lavinia Grace Schwarz
Our next recipient is a Tuesday fixture, serves as chair of the Research Committee, an active group that spends at least one full day at the library, solving genealogical puzzles and answering the queries sent to CGS from all over the world. She currently organizes the group of volunteers that teach our first Saturday Introduction to Genealogy classes and last year, helped orchestrate a revised Beginning series held at the Family History Library. 
She also spent five years as an active member of the Board of Directors, during the exciting years when the society outgrew it’s last Oakland location, and moved to our present space with double the membership.

She is a speaker, member of the Website Committee, a fabulous researcher known for her talent at breaking through brick walls. She has research interests in Haiti, New Orleans and Hawaii.  As if this weren’t enough, She performed magic behind the scenes at Ancestry Day last fall. For this, we are honoring her today…CGS offered to do research consultations...for a fee... at this event and Vinnie was asked to find the volunteers and schedule the consults. Well, the offer was VERY successful, and Vinnie found herself with the task of finding volunteer experts in many specific areas and scheduling 300 consults in one room on one day!! A Rubik's cube of a puzzle, solved with grace, patience, and talent.

The Mistress of Change Award 
Kathy Watson
A member since 1993, our next recipient is truly a wizard. In her previous roles, she built the CGS website which was redesigned to a Lotus notes website. She organized a The Master Genealogist users group. In her spare time, she is active in both the DAR AND the Colonial Dames.  These days she is Chair of the Computer and Websites committees. She and her team are the genies responsible for the maintenance of our entire computer system, including the website, where she makes changes on-demand. She graciously responds to any and all calls for help from CGS with all things technical, from "I forgot my gmail password" to "the router blew and the internet is gone".

But today we are honoring her for a monumental task which was completed last year. Our recipient oversaw the purchase, installation, configuration and troubleshooting of the library’s new computers.This entailed switching from Internet Explorer to Chrome and setting up our new Google volunteer email system. She deserves a second genie lamp just for graciously handling the myriad of whines and questions as we all had to learn a new system.  Let’s give a big round of applause for Kathy Watson. 


Part 2: Moving on, but not gone
Those individuals who have made enormous contributions to our society and have moved into new horizons. Not out of CGS, but into new roles. 
The first was a surprise nomination. 

People Who Need People
Linda Okazaki
Linda developed the formal role of Volunteer Coordinator. She put in lots of time getting to know the people serving on the many active CGS committees, and their needs. Then she spent lots of time getting to know members who wanted to volunteer to help them find the “just right” task for their interests. She set up a database for the OVER 100  volunteers and has now handed the position over to our second-ever Volunteer Coordinator, Kathleen Beitiks. 

Linda has also served as a front desk volunteer, a first-Saturday Introduction To Genealogy class teacher, contributed articles to the Nugget, and reached out to the Japanese American community to introduce people interested in their Japanese roots to CGS. She’s a friendly face at many CGS events.

Associate Number Cruncher 
Judy Zelver
A member since 2005, this recipient might be quiet, but she is a powerhouse when it comes to research,  especially when New York and New England are involved. She has been a consultant for Ancestry Day and was the lead New England researcher working on the Tim Alexander genealogy for Their Roots are Showing. She is organized and thorough, and has volunteered in countless positions, including but not limited to assistance with indexing, and working with microfilm and microfiche. Pleasant, cheerful and always willing to help, this recipient is being honored for her role as Assistant Treasurer, where she spent five years helping with opening the mail, depositing the checks and cash, data entry, bill paying and other treasury-related tasks. 

Money Makes the World Go Round
Laura Lee Karp
A former accountant and current Walnut Creek resident, this recipient hails from the South and is best known for her research in Virginia. Her husband frequently accompanies her on genealogical adventures, reading his physics books. With her southern charm, this former accountant added and subtracted her way through our accounts, making sure that all was right, She worked magic with numbers, devoted countless hours to making sure our finances were secure, balancing our checkbook, preparing our budgets and budget reports. 

Marketing Magic
Kathryn Doyle
A member since 2000 who served on the board for six years representing the Publications and Marketing Team, she helped to bring CGS into the new millenium. She was trained as a pharmacist, but always dreamed of being a journalist. She completed the Boston University Certificate Course in Genealogy and recently attended GRIPP. She has research interests in the US, Japan and Greece. She has served on more committees than we can possibly count, and the Board of Directors, but she is most proud of “branding” our society. She developed our URL, she started developed the eNews and Blog, she served as our representative to FGS, she worked with the website committee and developed our image in the greater genealogical community. Though she has moved on from her role in Publications and Marketing, we can’t wait to see what she has to offer next. 

Executive Producer & Wizard of Wonder 
Jane Lindsey
This woman joined in 2000 and it’s hard to believe she has only been a member for fourteen years. She started out as the event coordinator, which really was much simpler in those days. From there, she went on to chair many events, including some which were spectacular. She led the Salt Lake City trip for fourteen years, the Boston trip four times, the Allen County research trip three times, headed up the strategic planning committee twice, served on Desk Duty for at least four years, the nominating committee for four years. 
She also was our very own start-up, before anyone knew what a start-up was. She started the eNews with Kathy Watson before turning it over to Kathryn Doyle, began our participation in Family History Month when we were in our previous location, started our summer Thursday evening series, and was the unofficial volunteer coordinator before there was even such a position. On top of all that, she was co-chair of Ancestry Day twice (in 2011 AND 2013). She orchestrated the move to our current location with Verne Deubler after the search committee found the building. And of course, she served on the board as President for six years and as past President for two years. Though she has moved on from many of her vast responsibilities, we know she will continue to serve CGS. Her wealth of knowledge and experience are a valuable resource as our society grows and changes. 

Remarkable Retired Researcher 
Nancy Simmons Peterson
It’s hard to believe that our next recipient has only been a member since 2004. She is an author, a researcher, Stanford grad and Olympic swimmer, this recipient is known to all of us. In 1998, years before joining CGS, she won the National Genealogical Society Writing Contest. This award winning narrative remains on the BCG website as an example of work for aspiring genealogists to emulate. 

In her tenure at CGS, she has served on the board, and was co-leader of our Salt Lake City research trip for many years. She is the author of Raking the Ashes, our extraordinary book and terrific resource for anyone doing research in San Francisco, or really, any place where records have been destroyed.  Last year, she was the lead researcher for Billy Beane’s paternal line at our event, Their Roots are Showing. She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and holds the revered distinction of being a Certified Genealogist. 

But today, we are recognizing those who have moved on from specific roles within the last year. Our recipient has retired from years of service on our Research Committee where she traveled weekly from her home on the peninsula to spend Tuesdays sharing her knowledge to benefit our society. 

CGS Genie Award cake Photo: Ron Madson

Copyright © 2014 by California Genealogical Society and Library.