Tag Archives: WSGS Recognition

2024 WSGS Presidents Award Winner

by Charles Hansen

Roxanne Lowe Named President’s Award Recipient

WSGS President Kathleen Sizer is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2024 President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement: Roxanne Lowe of Grays Harbor Genealogical Society. The announcement was made at the WSGS Annual Meeting on 30 Aug 2024.

Created in 2015, the President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement is designed to single out that rare individual, society or organization who has demonstrated exemplary service above and beyond expectations. The award is not given every year as it is based on merit and accomplishments. This year, to avoid any conflict of interest, an individual from outside WSGS with professional experience assessing proposals, evaluated the submissions. As you’ll see from reading about Roxanne’s dedication, she is worthy of this recognition.

Roxanne Ferbrache Lowe

Roxanne has been described as energetic, enthusiastic, a cheerleader and a positive influence to members of the Grays Harbor Genealogical Society (GHGS), as well as the Washington State Genealogical Society (WSGS) and the Washington Presidents’ Council.

Roxanne has been a member of GHGS since 2006. At one of her first meetings, she volunteered to be the newsletter editor and now, more than 100 issues later, she’s still the editor. She also served as president from 2019 – 2023, shepherding the society through the COVID-19 pandemic shut-down and transitioning to hybrid meetings. She similarly led the effort to recover from the 2018 devastating fire that destroyed the Aberdeen Museum of History where GHGS’s research library was housed. She is currently volunteering at the Museum’s warehouse where post-fire artifacts and new donations are being inventoried for a future museum which will also house the GHGS.

Roxanne’s commitment to the genealogy community doesn’t just stay in Grays Harbor. She joined WSGS in 2008 and has served on the WSGS Board of Directors as Recognition and Special Awards Chair and now as Webmaster. She also became an early member of the newly formed Washington Presidents’ Council. She has volunteered frequently to make presentations to community groups and help with one-on-one research.

Roxanne will receive a personalized pen/pencil set. Her name will be added to the perpetual plaque for display at GHGS for the next year.

More about the award

If you want to know more about the qualities needed for this prestigious award, click here. Previous recipients are listed here.

Imminent Deadline for Recognition Awards

by Roxanne Lowe

Nominations from local societies for the Outstanding Volunteer and Outstanding Team awards are almost due. The deadline to send your nominations to Info@wasgs.org is Saturday, July 1, 2023. The forms are available here. The virtual announcement will be made Thursday, August 31, 2023.

A few FAQs about the Recognition program:

  • Local societies can submit up to two individuals or one team/project for recognition.
  • The Outstanding Volunteer/Team Award program is not a competition – it is locally driven. All nominees from local societies will be honored with an Outstanding Volunteer/Team certificate, but we want these awards to be special, so please don’t nominate your whole society (even though they are outstanding!).
  • Posthumous awards are, of course, acceptable.
  • Nominees may have received an Outstanding Volunteer award previously. Click here for a cumulative list of awardees (alpha by name and by society).

For more information about the awards, check out the Recognition page of the website. For more information, email Info@wasgs.org.

Recognize your Outstanding Volunteers and Team NOW

by Roxanne Lowe

WSGS is proud to announce that the Outstanding Volunteer and Team Awards are back!!

After a three-year hiatus and a global pandemic, it’s time to honor those members who kept societies together and moving forward. Local societies can submit up to four individuals or two teams/projects for special recognition by WSGS.

The process for this year’s Outstanding Volunteer/Team Award program is accelerated and streamlined to recognize our volunteers as quickly as possible. They all deserve it, don’t they?

Letters to local societies and organizations, with additional details, have been emailed to society contacts. If you have not received that information, please contact Roxanne Lowe, WSGS Secretary at Info@wasgs.org. The milestones for this year’s nomination process are:

• No later than May 1, 2022: Submit the name(s), narratives and photographs of your honorees to Info@wasgs.org. The narrative (approximately 150 words) should explain the accomplishments of your nominee and why you are honoring him/her. The photograph should be a good quality digital photograph (at least 300 dpi).
• June 1, 2022: Formal announcement of the recipients will be announced.

Additional details and deadlines, plus indexes of honorees since 2003, may be found at the WSGS website at: https://www.wasgs.org/cpage.php?pt=54

Please contact Roxanne Lowe at Info@wasgs.org if you have questions or suggestions.