May Brings Both Good and Sad News to StLGS

As with life in general, this week brings us some very pleasant, some bittersweet, and some very sad news to report to you. St. Louis Genealogical Society is the recipient of a lovely honor and an award from the National Genealogical Society (NGS). We will be featured in a special segment of the NGS's virtual annual family history conference coming up this month. In addition, we recently celebrated the accomplishments and the retirement of one of our dedicated and hard-working office volunteers, and, sadly, we have to report the deaths of two of our colleagues.

StLGS Wins NGS Award!

Included this year as part of its virtual annual family history conference, the National Genealogical Society is holding a SLAM! Idea Showcase on 18 May 2021. Societies, archives, libraries, and museums (SLAM) throughout the country were asked to submit "poster sessions" consisting of written essays and five-minute recorded presentations highlighting innovative and creative programs benefiting family history researchers. 

StLGS chose to spotlight information about our ongoing Congregations Project. Projects Director, Carol Whitton, and Publications Director, Ilene Murray, collaborated on writing the essay and creating a PowerPoint presentation that Carol narrated. Publicity Director, Laura Mackinson, and StLGS President, Karen Goode, assisted in the process and provided valuable audience feedback. All of their efforts paid off, as StLGS was one of three societies, out of thirty-two that entered, selected to receive a prize of $250 and a year's subscription to a photo-enhancement service provided by one of the contest's sponsors.

All of the digital recordings will be featured in the SLAM! Idea Showcase presentation beginning at 2:00 p.m. (Central) This event is free, but you must register on the NGS conference website. Attendees will be able to view all of the digital recordings and chat with submitters. And, if you want to know more about our Congregations Project, check out our blog from 8 February 2021.

Longtime Volunteer, Mary Ryan, Has Retired

Just about all of our long-term projects during the past two decades have been spearheaded by Mary Ryan, whose dedication to indexing names from cemeteries, funeral homes, and congregations has been extraordinary. Mary has led a cadre of volunteers who have worked countless hours, both at our office and at home, to index, proofread, and organize thousands of names and hundreds of databases for our website. During the past year, Mary has worked closely with StLGS Book Sales Manager, Paula Novak, who will now take over as Remote Data Entry Team Leader. Mary says she plans to continue doing data entry from home, but we will truly miss having her at the office.

During the first week of May, office volunteers surprised Mary with a large basket filled with some of her favorite "goodies" and a special tray for her recliner chair that allows her to work on her laptop computer comfortably instead of balancing it on her lap as she had been doing. Then, she and some of her indexing crew enjoyed a lunch out together. (Thanks to Kelly Cato for the photos.)

                  In Memoriam

                               Don Eckert

Donald Ray Eckert, an office volunteer for most of the early 2000s, died on 3 May 2021. Don worked on our cemetery, congregation, and funeral home data, and he wrote for our Quarterly journal. He was an avid story-teller and helped at many of our special events. His big smile was infectious. We extend heartfelt sympathy to his wife Judy and his children, Douglas and Vicki.

Ken Webb

Ken joined St. Louis Genealogical Society in the early 1980s, and after retiring from his job in the heating/cooling business, he became an active volunteer. As with many at the society, he found ample opportunity to showcase his talents and served in a variety of leadership positions. Ken served as the society's secretary, vice-president of membership, vice-president of programs, and as one of our valued photographers. 

He was leader of our Irish Special Interest Group and helped with the exhibit hall and layout at several annual conferences, including the 2015 National Genealogical Society conference in St. Charles. Ken worked with the staff of the St. Louis County Library to begin a program of genealogy classes at the Cliff Cave branch and taught classes there. He attended almost all of our society special events, usually working in one capacity or another.

For the past few years, Ken and his team of indexers worked painstakingly on a set of 112 oversized charts that were part of the Robert Parkin collection. Using magnifying glasses and squinting at the tiny print on the charts, he and his helpers indexed almost 30,000 names as they prepared the data for placement on our website. He worked with others to get the charts digitized and to write directions for how to use them once they went online. The fruits of their labors are now on the StLGS website as part of the Robert Parkin collection. One of Ken's last projects for StLGS was to update the society's history for our website, which had not been done for several years. 

Ken was an avid gardener and bird watcher. He took pleasure in sharing his crops and in tracking the coming and going of unusual birds to his garden. He loved researching and had abundant curiosity about what he found as he worked. He was generous, kind, and unfailingly pleasant. A big man with a big personality, he will be greatly missed by those of us who worked alongside him for many years. We extend our deepest sympathy to his wife Marge and to his children, Brian, Kim, and Andrew.