I am an art education professor at a small, liberal arts university in South Carolina. Formerly, I taught art for 21 years in the public schools, served another 7 years as a principal and district administrator before retiring from public education. Now, I teach, paint, and garden. As a 5 + year breast cancer survivor, I know it may sound trite, but when life sends you lemons, you have to make lemonade. Thus began my journey into genealogy to document what I could for my family. As my parents' individual lines end with my sister and me, this is a gift to my many cousins and friends.

Awards:

• Kathryne Amelia Brown Award for Teaching Excellence, Converse College, now Converse University
• South Carolina Higher Education Level Art Educator of the Year, SC Art Education Association
• Alumni Service to Education Award, Limestone College
• Paul M. Dorman High School Teacher of the Year, Spartanburg School District Six, SC
• South Carolina Art Educator of the Year, SC Art Education Association
• South Carolina Secondary Art Educator of the Year, SC Art Education Association
• Union County Educator of the Year, Union County Schools, SC
• Union High School Teacher of the Year; Union County Schools, SC.

I have humbly served as historian for the South Carolina Education Association and the South Carolina Art Education Association. My hope has been to preserve records and documents to memorialize the efforts of educators of the past. I have also humbly served as the National Association of Schools of Art and Design Chair of the Ethics Committee; on the Editorial Board of Art Education, the journal of the National Art Education Association; and on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Life Long Learning in Art Education.

I wish I understood DNA as I have taken all the tests. Family Tree DNA, Ancestry DNA and My Heritage DNA test results are available for me on their sites. GEDmatch kit # YE9921519. mtDNA Haplogroup - V1a1a

I have been working with cousins and great collaborators on my paternal lines in the American Colonies and through the American Civil War. Through Geni, I have come into contact with relatives on my maternal side in Finland and renewed family ties that had been lost for 90 years with the immigration to America of my maternal grandparents.

Direct ancestors who supported the American Revolution found thus far:

Daniel Alderman

John Alderman

William Bland

Rev Isaac Newton

Capt. Daniel Cannon

Thomas Finklea

Francis Floyd

First Lieutenant John Grainger, Sr.

Nathan Merrick Minshew, I

Rev Isaac Newton

Hopson Pinckney

Roger Roberts

John Smith IV

Samuel Smith

John Sarvis, II

Lodwick Alford

My Finnish side is not without their patriots. I am a direct descendant of Pentti Tyniuksenpoika Piri a freedom fighter in the Medieval Cudgel War and a cousin of Marshal of Finland C. G. E. Mannerheim, 6th President of Finland. I would not have been able to find this for my family had it not been for Geni and finding wonderful relatives who helped me connect into the World Tree. There are many more in Finland that I am just getting to know.

Lately, I am working with some folks to figure out Native American connections in some of my family lines. Uncle Elbert was wrong we are not descended from Pocahontas, but apparently from her niece Nikettii. It has been a fascinating journey to work on Harrelson, Lewis, Floyd, Alford, and Skipper lines with wonderful collaborators to find out just who our relations are. I am a member of the Tsalagiyi Nvdagi of Texas Cherokee through my native Cheraw line as Su Four Rivers.

Never forget what the Geni curators and support staff do for us. We may not always understand their methods, but it does take special people to sort out the messes. They have their specialties and know we want to make it right.

Most of my family and yours are everyday ordinary people who went about their lives trying to make the world a better place for their children and those of us who came many generations later. We need to celebrate them.

Do not be afraid. The world is out there. Your family is out there. It is good.

There comes a time in your life when you understand the nature of mortality. I survived spinal meningitis at six weeks of age in December of 1958, where I was packed in a washtub of ice, given new antibiotics, and for some reason had a muscle cut in my arm as part of my treatment. But by the grace of God, I survived. I have always known that I had a purpose in life because of that event - teaching, training teachers, making art, writing family stories, righting history through research - all of these things. Since I have no children or spouse, I wish that if anything happens to me that my profile be made public upon my death and profile management pass to my cousins Annika Koskinen for my matrenal Finnish side, and Private User for my paternal United States of America side. Geni has given me a side of my family that I did not know and helped me answer questions that I had wondered about my whole lifetime. I have found family and friends. It is home. I wish that everyone can find this place. SFG