My personal genealogy interests are working on my own family, but don't be surprised if you find me in your tree! It's part of my work as a Geni curator to help clean up the World Tree, so I might end up in your branches. If you see my work in your tree, say hello! I'm delighted to meet you, and happy to be of service. And of course if I've made any mistakes, please let me know, and send me your sources. All of us, curators and users alike, work together here on Geni.

If you are still unsure of what the concept of a World Family Tree is on Geni, please check out the Geni project: Connecting to the Big Tree for more information about it.

I was born in San Jose, California and grew up with two older sisters and a younger brother in the house my parents bought in Santa Clara, California in 1951. Shortly after starting High School my parents divorced and that is when we learned that we had a older sister that was born February 09, 1948 at Stanford Hospital and had been adopted out privately. My parents had separated shortly after being married and my mother lived with her father and step-mother during her pregnancy. She decided to have the baby adopted for at the time there was no thought of reconciliation, she could not depend on her father and step-mother's support as my grandfather was in his 4th tumultuous marriage, he had his regrets later on about the situation. Some time after the daughter was born my parents did reconcile, unfortunately we have not been able to make any contact with our older sister.

I graduated from Santa Clara High and started working about a year later, where I met my husband. We lived in San Jose where we eventually bought a townhouse and after I had our first child we moved up north to Washington where my husband had Grandparents and other family. We lived first in Ferndale and then Bellingham, eventually buying a house in Ferndale after our second child was born. His parents had been living in Florida for about 8 yrs and moved back to Washington and stayed with us until they could get settled.

During the time before my second child was born I became interested in the family history. My Uncle's wife Meda had been keeping records of the family for years and she gifted me a subscription to 'The Genealogical Helper' which she always did for many years until the Internet age came about. I was able to connect through this magazine with a distant cousin of my husband and I sent out multitudes of letters with family group sheets to any of the family I could, sent away for birth and death records and looked through Census microfilm.

It seemed I was keeping my husband's job secure as he was a postal clerk. In 1986 he became Postmaster at Neah Bay so we moved to Sekiu and lived there a little less than two years. During that time my mother moved from my brother's in Denver, Colorado to live with us. My husband was again promoted, to Toledo Postmaster and in 1988 we moved to Toledo, http://www.projectshowcase.org/site/ths-promo-video/, here is where we have lived the longest and made the closest friends. My husband eventually applied and received another office in Rochester but he was able to commute, a lot different then walking two blocks from home to work!

I have always thought using a computer for Genealogy would be a great thing and when the Commodore computers came out I was able to get one in the early 1980's, of course there was no internet yet but I kept my files, and was able to print descendant outlines to send to family and ask for any corrections or any knowledge they had of the family. Then when the Internet came about, BAM!, things became so much easier and faster, finding other family and making contact. Not much documentation and references were there yet but would eventually be available.

Our children grew up and graduated from Toledo High School, my husband again applied and received another office, in Lynden, Washington and began his first day on 9-11-2001. This was a very sad time for the country let alone our family, my husband's mother was ill, she had Cancer, starting with a tumor in her lung which she eventually died in Jul. 2002 of a brain tumor. This was a major reason that my husband had applied for this position being that his parents lived in Lynden, which is in the same county as Ferndale and most of his family is in the area.

Also my mother who had been living on her own in Centralia, Washington was finally diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, she died in Aug. 2002. During my mother's sickness, which was short from the time she was diagnosed, my sisters, one from Calif. and brother from Montana were able to come and see mother before she passed. My elder sister from Missouri, stayed to care for my mother for the last few weeks before her death, and during that time my father and his wife whom he had married in 1994 were able to come up from California and visit us in Lynden. They stopped and saw my sister and mother in Centralia, my step-mother had family also in Washington and while visiting up here she had some spells when she did not feel well, after being back home she also was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away Nov. 2002.

We lived in Lynden until 2006 during which time my husbands sister came back from Spokane to live with and keep their father company, my husband again applied for another office and received Oak Harbor. We sold the house in Lynden and bought another in Toledo aspiring to be living there when he retired since our children had made life connections with spouses that had close family and would most likely never move from this area. Our son had his first child in 2005, and to be able to bond with her I lived in Toledo and cared for her while her parents were working, while my husband lived and worked in Oak Harbor. My son also has a step-daughter whom was just 6 months at the beginning of his relationship, her father being killed in a car accident a few months after she was born, I watch both the girls during the time they are not in school.

After a couple years of us traveling between the two areas my husband was able to transfer over as the Centralia Postmaster and finally was able to stay here in Toledo. Eventually he received an early out retirement and has found many projects and activities to keep himself busy along with helping care for the girls during their time off from school.

I have great respect for my eldest sister who has been staying and caring for our father since his health has been deteriorating, being apart from her husband in Missouri for months at a time since 2009.

Another bit of family history is that before my Aunt past away I was able to gather research with the help of the computer for her lines and found that our families connect back in the 1600's, I also found later that my fathers and mothers line connect, and one of my brother-in-laws, at some points they all connect. I have also found that several of my neighbors have connections with our family, it is a wonder that I have not found a blood connection with my husbands family, yet.

I did and do have other hobbies, which include fish aquariums, but genealogy has been my main focus since joining Geni.com and I wish to make my entries as well documented and referenced as possible.