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. Over the last year, you were introduced to each of the 2023 award recipients and learned why they received the 2023 WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.

Today we’re introducing Jan WellsMinzel of Shelton, Washington, who were nominated by the Mason County Genealogical Society (MCGS).

To assist visitors seeking information about their Civil War ancestors in Mason County, MCGS in partnership with Mason County Historical Society Museum (MCHS) decided to assemble the vital records of Civil War veterans residing in Mason County as identified in the 1890 U.S. Veteran’s Census. Jan took on researching and writing a narrative page for more than 33 veterans. Her narratives are well written and contain the vital records required for sound genealogical practices.

Jan has completed 90 percent of the Civil War veterans that Mason County is tracking. The society is building a three-ring binder containing Jan’s narratives with headstone photos for use at the MCHS Museum.  Jan also recognized our newsletter editor needed help when she was ill and immediately pitched in to assist the editor and keep the newsletter on schedule. Jan’s super power is she recognizes when help is needed and acts.

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” in the subject line.

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 weeks, you will be introduced to each of the 2022 award recipients and learn why they received the 2022 WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.

Today we’re introducing Pat Tostevin who was nominated by the Mason County Genealogical Society.

When Pat joined MCGS in 2009, she hit the ground running by taking on their library, bringing order out of chaos by inventorying and organizing all the books and uploading them to LibraryThing. She carefully tracked where all the books were stored, keeping the inventory in pristine order. Pat led the society into the 21st century by guiding them to acquire tiny “cat” scanners and barcode labels.

Pat unexpectedly passed away in the middle of the barcode project, but her team was able to continue due to her excellent training and instructions. Consequently, Pam Harrell, Barbara Moore, and Sue Sheldon successfully completed the project.

Pat was truly one-of-a-kind, and the Mason County Genealogical Society is so grateful for all she did for them. Also, they are extremely gratified that the WSGS Awards program has returned so they can honor Pat by presenting this posthumous certificate to her children.

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” in the subject line.

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.

Today we’re introducing Carolyn Gibbons of Elma, Washington, who was nominated by the Mason County Genealogical Society (MCGS).

Carolyn has been the editor of our monthly newsletter since joining MCGS in 2020, after moving here from North Carolina. Although she has no family history in our state, she jumped in and started researching articles from the local paper dating back to 1889. She painstakingly created abstracts of any article that included a specific person’s name, then included a surname index at the back of every newsletter issue. She also carefully itemized a list of Mason County birth and death registers, justice dockets, homestead patents and many more records on FamilySearch that could be abstracted. This project has been a wonderful way for MCGS members to participate during the past two years while staying at home. The society newsletter, which is now over 20 pages long, has grown to be a valuable resource for anyone researching Mason County records.

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.”

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.

Today we’re introducing the Cemetery and Obituary Project that was nominated by the Mason County Genealogical Society (MCGS).  The team was comprised of Susie Graham, Elizebeth Lawson, Albert Conklin, Roger Newman, Barbara Moore (posthumous), Stan Graham and Sue Sheldon.

During 2017-18, Susie Graham led the Cemetery and Obituary project team that researched over 7,000 obituaries published in the Mason County Journal from 1915 on and identified where these people were buried. She organized the project and recruited volunteers who read each obituary and sorted them by according to the more than 360 cemeteries they were buried in; or if a cemetery wasn’t mentioned, they looked for which of over 150 funeral homes was used. If neither cemetery nor funeral home was mentioned, the researchers went online, looking for relevant information. One team member, Elizebeth Lawson, deserves special mention for creating an invaluable spreadsheet used to track the data. Currently, the 7,000+ obituaries and 11,000+ headstone photos resulting from this work are published online in Archive-in-a-Box, free to the public.

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”

Since 2003, the Washington State Genealogical Society has recognized over 500 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 2017 award recipients and learn why they received the 2017 WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.

Jody Alfiere

Today we’re introducing Jody Alfiere of Olympia, Washington, who was nominated by the Mason County Genealogical Society (MCGS). She was recognized for her exceptional efforts to preserve and document the headstones in a local cemetery in the Mason County area.

Single-handedly, Ms. Alfiere took on the task of documenting more than 11,000 headstones in Shelton Memorial Park. Some years ago, MCGS took on the task of correcting the errors and omissions of their cemetery’s records and to photograph the headstones. The project floundered for some time, however, until Ms. Alfiere took it upon herself to get the job done. She mapped out the project, section by section, and recruited volunteers to help. On many mornings for the past three years, Ms. Alfiere was seen documenting and photographing headstones, and even identifying unearthed sunken grave markers by herself.  On other mornings, she enlisted some helpers, but her commitment to documenting and photographing the headstones never wavered.

Now, thanks to Ms. Alfiere’s untiring work, the MCGS is closer to completing this project.  Her dedication to this task, and to the MCGS, is remarkable. It is for these reasons, Ms. Alfiere richly deserved being a recipient of a 2017 WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award.

For more information on the WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award program, visit the Recognition page of the WSGS website or contact Roxanne Lowe, Interim Recognition Chair, at Roxanne@thekeeffes.com.