Having been nominated as a candidate for the office of State Coordinator I
wanted to make a few comments to my fellow coordinators. Because we haven't
had a lot of intra-project conversation many of you don't know me very well.
This will give me a chance to tell you a bit about my background and my
relationship with and attitude toward USGENWEB and IDGENWEB.
I've been a member of the Idaho state project for a little over five years,
since becoming the coordinator for Teton County in early 2004. Teton Valley
is a beautiful place that some within my family helped settle back even
before the creation of the county. I've visited Teton County at least once a
year during my service as its coordinator.
Although I don't reside in Idaho, I'm close enough that I can cross the
southern border in a couple of hours. I was born (Washington County) and
raised (Ada, Canyon, and Nez Perce Counties) in Idaho and it's my favorite
place to visit.
I have connections through my ancestry, descendants of ancestors, and those
who married into my family with more than half of Idaho's counties. I've
also lived in four of her counties and traveled through all of the forty
other counties I haven't lived in. As a native son, I've always been
fascinated by Idaho's history, natural resources, wildlife, geography,
geology, topography and recreational opportunities.
I am dedicated to the concept of polite and open communication with those I
work with in any venue, be it my family, my employment, my hobbies, my
religion, or my community. If you need my help and contact me, you will hear
back quickly. That is true now and will remain true if I'm elected as the
State Coordinator.
I'm committed to the following:
- ensuring that IDGENWEB is a fun place to participate and a useful place
for researchers to visit
- helping each other by passing on ideas as well as genealogical and
technical assistance
- continual improvement of our state project
- having a coordinator for every county who is interested and able to keep
their website in good working condition
- inviting and encouraging the submission and posting of new material that
will help our visitors in their research
- growing to know and like each other, welcoming and celebrating individual
differences that make us all unique
I know that there are significant differences in the time each of us has
available, the technical skills we have, and the available resources in or
about our counties. Within that range of differences, if each project member
enjoys their work, has a desire to help others, has time available to
maintain and build their website, and will communicate respectfully and
consistently with their fellow project members, I believe there is room for
them within IDGENWEB.
I'm a computer and networking professional who is approaching retirement and
my working career has included employers such as the US House of
Representatives, Bechtel Corporation, Geneva Steel (manufacturing
automation), SirsiDynix (library automation) and Timpanogos Technologies
(School district automation). I've been involved in genealogy for more than
45 years, since I took class just after high school. I am one of just a few
dozen nationally who have been elected a Fellow of the National Genealogical
Society and am married to another genealogist with a BS degree in Family
History.
I love USGENWEB and have been an active participant for a lot of years.
Despite the fact that it has some warts and is not perfect, I believe it is
effectively achieving its goal of providing free genealogical resources to
researchers with ancestry in the US. As a state, I believe Idaho can do a
lot better at that than we have in the recent past. I've served in our
national organization in several roles (Board Secretary, List Admin for
several lists, temporary committees, Election Committee, Representative at
Large, and CC Representative from the SWSC Region) but find that the most
important work and the primary value of our project comes from what the
active coordinators of counties accomplish. If I am elected, I promise that
my focus will be on the State of Idaho, helping and supporting the
coordinators there.