Volunteer of the Quarter Recipients

Volunteers of the Quarter: April 2018 - June 2019


April 2018 - Janice Lovelace 

Janice has been an SGS member for over five years and a volunteer for most of that time. Janice brings a strong academic and teaching background to her volunteer work at SGS. She taught college-level social sciences for more than 30 years. Most of her teaching experience focused on Psychology and she also taught American Cultural Studies.

In 2012, Janice completed the Certificate in Genealogy and Family History at University of Washington (Professional and Continuing Education) and in 2013, she completed the Certificate in Genealogical Research at Boston University. Since 2013, Janice has been lecturing nationally at Genealogical conferences on a wide variety of topics and she is known as an expert on African-American genealogy. She authored National Genealogical Society’s course CGS: African American Roots: A Historical Perspective. Janice is also an instructor for Midwest African American Genealogical Institute. Janice’s presentations for SGS have been on the subjects of Beginning Genealogy, African-American Genealogy, How to Use Newspapers,  and Using the Census, as well as many others.
Janice served as Vice President of the SGS Board of Directors for two years, then served on the Education Committee last year. She helped implement and plan the Second Saturday Speaker Series which launched in September 2017. One goal of the Speaker Series is to bring people to the library to learn about and use our space, increase member participation, reach out to the wider community and provide a variety of educational experiences on a consistent basis. The series has been popular, with an audience of 20 – 40 people at each presentation. Janice was recently elected Director of Education and hopes to continue building a consistent educational program for SGS. 

In addition to her work as a teacher, lecturer, and volunteer for SGS, Janice has been on a variety of boards focusing on women's and health issues. In her spare time, Janice enjoys gardening, growing and using herbs, cooking, spending time with grandkids, traveling, reading and writing. Two of her favorite and more recent trips were to New Zealand and Ireland. Janice enjoys photographing the natural beauty she observes on her travels.


July 2018 -  Siri Nelson

Siri Nelson has been a member of the Seattle Genealogical Society for several years, but her interest in genealogy and family history goes back to her childhood. She learned much about her family history from her parents. In 2013, Siri completed the Genealogy and Family History program at the University of Washington. This experience inspired her to deepen her research and led her to SGS. Siri's research focuses upon Ireland, Norway and New England. Siri takes full advantage of SGS offerings - attending the Second Saturday Speaker Series, Fall and Spring Seminars, Special Interest Group Meetings, and using the online and in-library resources. She also enjoys the camaraderie of the other members, including sharing of information, tips and resources, and occasionally breaking through that brick wall.

A little over two years ago, Siri was asked to join the Nominating Committee.The Nominating Committee creates the slate of candidates for our April Board elections. This involves reaching out to members by phone, email and in-person to recruit our new Board members each year. Serving as the Chair of our Nominating Committee is a challenging role - Siri contacts many people to find the right match for each critical leadership position. She hopes more people will step up. Although demanding, volunteering on the Board does not have to be all-consuming. The benefits of serving in a leadership role at SGS are rewarding. Siri hopes people using SGS resources will continue to support the organization. 

In addition to her time volunteering for SGS and attending our events, Siri takes classes in history and other related fields at the University of Washington. She enjoyed the course on Northwest history since her ancestors traveled along the Oregon Trail to settle in the Pacific Northwest. This summer she is taking Colonial American history.

Siri has a yellow lab puppy, Skadi (Norse goddess of hunting, winter and snow), keeping her busy. Siri also enjoys skiing. Before retiring and devoting more of her time to genealogy, history and SGS, Siri worked for the US Army Corps of Engineers.


October 2018 - Lori Lee Sauber

Ms. Sauber joined SGS about two years ago. She had recently launched her business, LSquared Innovations, and was searching for a "home" genealogical society. Impressed with the programs SGS offers, she joined. She enjoys attending our seminars, workshops, and classes; especially our Second Saturday Speaker Series. Lori Lee also attends other regional, local, and national genealogy conferences, to soak up knowledge, as well as sell her product, the L2 Scrollio. Her Scrollio is a clever, retractable & editable, scrolling family tree.

We thank Lori Lee for her contribution to the success of our Fall Seminar with Cyndi Ingle. Sandra Stark, SGS Seminar Chair, had a conflict for the Fall seminar.  She asked Lori Lee to take over in her absence. Sandra did the preliminary planning then handed the reins to Lori Lee. Both Lori Lee and Sandra did such a spectacular job -  it went seamlessly. 

What does it take to plan and manage one of our seminars? The tasks are too numerous to list here, but include communicating with the seminar speaker, the caterers, venue staff, volunteers, attendees and serving as the emcee for the event. Managing our seminars requires strong communication and logistical skills, while maintaining a calm and welcoming presence. Lori Lee enjoyed making the event flow. That Friday, she did not go home until she knew every detail was nailed down for the seminar on Saturday. At the seminar it was evident that not only does Lori Lee enjoy public speaking, she has a talent for it. 

Lori Lee has been researching her own family for over 20 years and has helped many others with their research. All four of her grandparents' lines first arrived in America prior to the Revolutionary War. Anyone with colonial roots knows the challenges and rewards in dealing with early American records. She is currently tracing her father's matrilineal side. Her ancestors migrated as Puritans, then became Quakers in Massachusetts, and throughout the east coast. Her family was part of the 19th century westward Quaker migration into Indiana, Iowa and Kansas. By the late 1800's, they had found their way to Idaho.    

Prior to founding her company, Lori Lee’s background includes 35 years in the apparel industry. With her new business and genealogy, she has little time for any hobbies, but she does enjoy cooking and she volunteers as an usher at a performing arts theater. 

 
February 2019 -  Bernice Keller
 
Bernice Keller, Volunteer of the Quarter, at SGS Library
Bernice has been both a member and volunteer of SGS for over 20 years. Bernice caught the genealogy bug early in life - her mother researched their family history, interviewed the previous generation and passed along her findings and love of genealogy to Bernice. Bernice began her own research in the 1970's, including New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Germany, Kentucky and Indiana. That is a lot of ground to cover! Bernice still finds new information about her ancestors as more and more resources and tools become available. 
 
One of her first and still, memorable experiences at SGS was a beginning genealogy class taught by our Past President,  Marilyn Rose. Bernice has volunteered with our seminars, at the front desk (monthly), as a library trustee and with the archives committee (weekly). Bernice enjoys greeting new people and introducing them to our library and online research tools. As a member of the our archives committee, Bernice enjoys working with other SGS members and finding treasures in the archives donated to SGS.
 
Besides her passion for genealogy and dedication to the Seattle Genealogical Society, Bernice enjoys hiking, gardening, church activities and spending time with her family, including four great-grandchildren.
 
This is our second time recognizing Bernice as Volunteer of the Quarter - she was Volunteer of the Quarter for Spring, 2012.

 
June 2019 - SGS Website Team

This amazing team of volunteers have put together a fabulous website for the Seattle Genealogical Society. The Society hired ENS (Easy Net Sites) to build the website; however, ENS needed our people to assemble the content. This Team has worked many hours to get the basic structure, wording and content ready for the Easy Net Site company to do their work and release the website. The new Seattle Genealogical Society website can be found at: www.seagensoc.org

The SGS Website Team members are: David Rimmer - SGS Director of Technology, Ann Wright: Webmaster, Christine Schomaker: SGS Director of Membership, Julia Marconi: Former SGS Director of Publications, Heidi Mair: SGS Director of Volunteers, Janice Lovelace: SGS Director of Education 

We are pleased to honor this Team as the Volunteer of the Quarter and really appreciate all the hard work they did to get the new website operational.
 
 

2018 Washington State Genealogical Society WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award

Reiley Kidd

Thirty local genealogical society members were honored as Outstanding Volunteers at the Washington State Genealogical Society Annual Meeting in Vancouver, WA, on May 26, 2018.

Congratulations to Reiley Kidd, who was nominated by the Seattle Genealogical Society as our recipient of a 2018 WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award! Reiley was selected for his steadfast support of numerous SGS projects.

Reiley has been a member of SGS for over 30 years. He served on our Board of Trustees, as both Secretary and Library Trustee. Under his leadership, the society's policies and procedures were revamped and the hard files of the organization were placed "in the cloud". Currently he leads the Family Tree Maker SIG, writes grant applications, and coordinates the KC3I (King County Court Cases Index, 1881 - 1980) queries,  handling over 300 requests for case file information.

Committed to giving back to the society for the years of services he participated in, Mr. Kidd likes to "find things for people", whether it is a King County Court case file number, or helping a prison inmate find the Civil War record of his ancestor. 

Mr. Kidd is a respected and diligent member of the SGS, and so richly deserves this recognition.  Again, congratulations to Reiley.