Joy Reisinger, RIP my friend

It was 1982 or 1983. I was in the audience here in Minnesota listening to a genealogy lecture by a woman dressed in pink. All pink. That aside, she knew her stuff! Thirty years later, that lady, a special friend is gone.

Joy Reisinger was her name. One of her specialties in the field was French-Canadian and Canadian research. Her serial publication Lost in Canada takes up a bunch of space on my bookshelves and I am so grateful for her dedication to that publication. Of course we were cousins a lot of generations back on our French-Canadian lines, but that’s common.

We bonded over research, talking about our kids, and having fun together. She encouraged me to take many big steps in the genealogy world. Way back in 1988 when I was working toward my certification by the Board for Certification of Genealogists, she encouraged me and kept repeating this mantra: document, document, document. Always three times. The meaning was to be dang sure I had the proper documentation aka citations in what I submitted. I got the hint! She was a great mentor. I was tickled when BCG granted her the title of Certified Genealogist Emeritus, a well-deserved honor.

About that time in 1988 she gave me my first opportunity to lecture at a national conference when the National Genealogical Society held the event here in my hometown of St. Paul. I turned down the opportunity because I knew I wasn’t ready.

When my husband received a life-threatening diagnosis of a heart condition, she was there for us. She put us in contact with a relative with the same heart condition. When we felt too shocked by all this to make a planned visit to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, she practically commanded that we still go. She was right. That trip got us motivated to keep on living and enjoying the friendship of others.

I served on the Association of Professional Genealogists Executive Committee with her and her follow Wisconsinites, Jim Hansen and Beth Stahr. We had great meetings and the friendship grew.

I watched her topically index the syllabi from the Federation of Genealogical Societies and NGS conference. We would chat about how to index some of the lectures that just didn’t fit the parameters she had set up. I wonder if I still have some of her early editions of that indexing?

When my personal life fell apart in 2003 she was there to bolster me. She was the conduit between me and a minister who helped me immensely. I am grateful to her for bringing the Reverend Doctor David McDonald into my life. In the last several months, he has kept me informed of Joy’s condition and about the recent death of her daughter, Jane.

If you never saw Joy’s home library and the wonderful working space her husband, Jim, made for her, you missed some real gems. I coveted that space.

As time went one, we had some other common interests as professionals in our chosen field. Then when we became grandmothers it was fun to talk about the new generations in our families. Then she became a great-grandmother and I teased her about that.

The last few times we were in Salt Lake City together I watched her struggle with breathing in the high altitude and due to her own physical issues. We even had one hospital visit there when she was suffering too much. She wanted to go alone but I told her it was my turn to help her. I was so scared we were losing her then.

There’s so much more I could tell you about Joy and what she has done for the field of family history but I should get back to working on my own renewal portfolio for BCG. I am sure she is waving her finger at me and telling me to do so!

Goodbye my friend. Thank you for letting me join you in so many parts of your journey in this life.

David E. Rencher named Chief Genealogical Officer of FamilySearch

I can say I knew him when! A long-time friend, David E. Rencher, AG, CG, FUGA, FIGRS, has been named the Chief Genealogical Officer of FamilySearch. David is well-known in genealogy circles worldwide, yet he remains "one of us."

David is a former President of the Federation of Genealogical Societies and is a dear friend to many in the genealogy world. It was nice to be able to congratulate him in person at the NGS Conference in Raleigh last week.

David will coordinate FamilySearch's activities and presence in the genealogy community and will act as a liaison to key industry communities and associations worldwide. He will also explore third-party affiliation opportunities and related marketing initiatives for FamilySearch.

Rencher is both an Accredited Genealogist and a Certified Genealogist. He holds a BA in Family and Local History from Brigham Young University. He served as president of the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) from 1997 to 2000 and the Utah Genealogical Association (UGA) from 1993 to 1995. He is a Fellow of the UGA and the Irish Genealogical Research Society, London. David is a former Director of the Family History Library. He is currently serving as the chair of the joint Federation of Genealogical Societies and National Genealogical Society committee for Record Preservation and Access and serves as a director for the National Institute of Genealogical Research Alumni Association (NIGRAA). He will continue to serve as the vice president of the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU) and the director of the Planning and Coordination Division of FamilySearch.

Many genealogists appreciate his involvement to ensure that patrons of family history centers had more timely delivery of microfilm, and he has extended microfilm circulation to public libraries. He initiated the book-scanning program for the Family History Library collection, and helped produce the automated indexes for the Social Security Death records, the 1880 U.S. Census, the 1881 British Census, and the military casualty files for Korea and Vietnam.

As if all this isn't enough, David's conference presentations are excellent. He is one of the speakers at the September 2009 Federation of Genealogical Society's Genealogy Conference.

The passing of a special friend

I knew it was coming soon -- but when the call came that told me about the passing of a friend, Chuck Knuthson, it still hit hard. Chuck passed on last Wednesday, February 27th, in Roseville, California after a tough struggle with colon cancer that had spread.

Those of you who met or worked with Chuck in genealogy will agree with my comments on this special ray of hope for our world. A smile that brightened a room, a helping hand when you needed one, a voice of reason in meetings, a volunteer extraordinaire, and he treated genealogists as friends, not just colleagues. He worked for me on occasion and his genealogical work and reports were above and beyond wonderful. He made some great break-throughs in a couple of cases. His police work background brought an extra to the research process. On one client project, he was able to help me understand a rather graphic coroner's report and help with the assessment of whether there was any chance it was a murder rather than a suicide. How many of us know someone who could help with that! He said there was no doubt it was a suicide. On another he located a 500 page probate file for me.

At genealogical conferences, and every year at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, he was the right arm to many of us as we set up our computers and projectors. How did he know to be there if a glitch happened? The Federation of Genealogical Societies has lost a great board member, but he made sure that those now handling the jobs he did were well-suited to the job.

I met his wife, also a Paula, several years ago and one night we ate dinner out in California. One of his granddaughters joined us. Imagine this 4 year old trying to figure out two Grandma Paula's sitting at the table! The love and special bond that Paula and Chuck shared was so evident that it made the rest of us smile.

For those of you who never met Chuck, I am sorry you won't have that opportunity. His obituary appeared in the Sacrmento Bee newspaper last week. Click here to read it and don't neglect the guest book - the messages on there will tell you so much more about him and what he meant to us.

Late next fall join me on a CRUISE

Well, me and a lot of other people. And a whole cadre of excellent genealogy lecturers. The Genealogy Seminar at Sea takes place from October 25 - November 1, 2008. The ship is the beautiful and new Liberty of the Seas from Royal Caribbean International. To see more about the ship and its amenities look here. This website has wonderful pictures, tells you about cruising, what to wear, ports of call, and once you see all this, I am willing to bet you will be eager to join us. Make your reservation and deposit now to ensure you have a spot.

During the three days at sea, you will have a wide choice of educational (and entertaining) lectures to choose from. The extensive list of the lectures complete with a description is here. The speakers include (in alpha order!) John Philip Colletta, Stephen J. Danko, Michael J. Leclerc, Paul Milner, George G. Morgan, Donna M. Moughty, Laura G. Prescott, and Paula Stuart-Warren. (I think I may have heard of that last speaker ) This is a fantastic group of speakers who do know each other and we might just tell a few tales about each other.

I used to think that I would be bored on a cruise -- oh, has that been proven wrong! And a genealogy cruise is the way to go.It give you a special comraderie and is even a chance for the non-genealogist friend or relative to see that we genealogists can be fun. The people you bring along with you will not be bored at all.

By the end of the week, you will have new friends, be relaxed, have eaten well, toured some beautiful places, maybe climbed a rock wall, swam, had a massage, played miniature golf, plunked a few coins in a slot machine, lounged in the whirlpool, visited the ship's library, watched a movie, and of course, enhanced your genealogical education in a fun setting. Bring along a friend, spouse, significant other, or your fellow genealogical society members for a memorable week. The more the merrier and you might find another genealogist who shares an ancestral link or who knows about that town where Great Grandma Annie was born and raised.

To be a part of the genealogical portion of this cruise, you need to reserve your spot with Cindy at Fly Away Travel (800) 837-0295. For more cruise details visit http://www.genealogycruises.com/

NARA & Connie Potter

In its "Off the Beaten Career Path" series, The Washington Post of Sunday, January 27th had an article about a person known to many genealogists. It featured Connie Potter, an archivist at the U.S. National Archives & Records Administration's Washington DC site. Click on the series title to see the full article about a friend to genealogists. I told Connie I can always say "I knew her when . . ."