As I look back over the past two years it is with satisfaction with the events that our society has had. From our White Elephant sale, potluck dinners and the state conference, we have all been very busy. Volunteers are the backbone of the society. You are very much appreciated, and I thank all of you that have been of such value during my term of office.
      We have recognized outstanding performance and dedication to our society to two people this past year, Joan Udd, Librarian and Arnold Stewart, past board and publication committee member. It is with sadness that both have been having serious medical problems and I sincerely hope that they have significant recovery in the near future. It is time to again be thinking about someone to recognize for the upcoming year. If any of you would like to nominate someone for one of the Washington State Genealogical Society awards, please let someone on the board know. The board makes the final choice, however all of you should be involved in the process.
      We recently received a generous donation of over 250 genealogy related books by Billie Gilmore of Fir Island. Billie has been collecting genealogy material for over 20 years and she and her husband are downsizing. We thank her for her generosity and preservation of her library. Most of her materials are from the Southeastern states, Virginia, Georgia, etc. She also donated many Family Tree Maker CDs. This collection will be placed in our library as the Library Committee has an opportunity to catalogue them.
      I would like to address an issue that many genealogical and historical societies are experiencing in this day of busy schedules and Internet access – loss of membership. Renew your membership, and encourage family, friends and neighbors interested in genealogy to join and support local societies.
      Internet researchers should be aware that much of the information available on the many research sites is there because genealogical societies, all over the world, have done a wonderful job of abstracting and publishing that information. However, it is extremely important to check your sources. It is very easy to transpose numbers and misspell names. Both financial support and volunteers are needed.
      I would like to welcome our new board members. We have several that are taking on some of our committees, Dottie Chandler, President; Muriel Neely, Secretary, Christine Cooper, Membership; Kevin Osborne, Newsletter/Webmaster; Margie Wilson, Librarian. Dan Royal will be our society Archivist and Jennifer Chandler will be heading the Sunshine Committee. Lorraine Rothenbuhler and Donna Hinds will be retiring from the board. I would like to thank them for their many years of volunteer service. Bob Witherspoon will also be retiring as our WSGS Region Representative and will be replaced by Stephen Baylor beginning in January.

      YOU ARE ALL INVITED to a “Good-bye Luncheon” for those departing the board on January 7, 2009 at Sager’s Homestead Restaurant on College Way in Mount Vernon.

Hazel Rasar, Outgoing President.

Hello SVGS members! I'm Kevin and I have agreed to take on the task of publishing our newsletter and keeping an eye on the web site so Dan can focus his efforts on the society's upcoming book "Skagit County Washington and Its People, 150 Years of Rich History and Heritage". I'm not one for making change just for the sake of change so the newsletter will (for the most part) retain its current look and feel, however there are a couple of additions for the web page. I was looking for a simpler name, one that a normal human could remember fairly easily. SVGS.org was my first choice but the Shenandoah Valley Genealogical Society already had it registered, so I registered SkagitValleyGS.org. So now instead of trying to remember http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ ~wasvgs/ you can use http://SkagitValleyGS.org. The page is still at rootsweb, the new domain name just forwards to it. Now you can pass on the society's web page in casual conversation and there is a pretty good chance the person you are talking with will remember it. I have also heard a few of you were having problems getting to the newsletter on the web site. Let's give this a try; the current newsletters will always be available if you go to http://newsletter.skagitvalleygs.org! Bookmark this link. Previous methods of reaching the newsletter are still available as this address forwards to the old address/location. If you have any questions or suggestions please contact me…Kevin

Looking for a springtime vacation destination?    How about the NGS 2009 Family History Conference? The 2009 National Genealogical Society Family History Conference will be held 13-16 May, 2009 at the Raleigh Convention Center, Raleigh North Carolina. Online registration is set to begin the 1st of December. For more information you can visit the NGS site at.

And it can be found at http://blog.skagitvalleygs.org. What the heck is a blog? Glad you asked! Think of our blog as a live newsletter where the readers can comment on posted articles. I am in the process of adding our current membership to the authors list. I will also be giving a 10ish minute ticker during the November meeting; I will go over logging in and, managing your entries / comments. Questions concerning the blog can be emailed to svgsweb@wrzwaldo.org.

There has been a flurry of activity at the library on Mondays these past few weeks. Thanks to recent book collections generously donated by Billie Gilmore, Shirlee and John Fisher, plus a new family history book by Dan Royal, a team of volunteers has been furiously cataloging, cataloging, cataloging over 250 books. It is rewarding to be part of a team effort filling in for SVGS Librarian Joan Udd while she recovers from a recent illness. It is also exciting to see the genealogy library shelves filling up with valuable new resource materials pertaining to the United States, Native American ancestry, as well as other countries.

Special thanks to genealogy library volunteers Laura Kennedy, Lorraine Rothenbuhler, Dale Hastin, Helen Bretvick, Joyce Liston, Hazel Rasar, Portia Stacey and Colleen Thulen, and many other dedicated Monday volunteers working behind the scenes, for their steadfast help these past few months. There’s no doubt in our minds that it takes a virtual genealogy “village” to attempt to even keep up with Joan Udd’s efficiency, organization and energy! Whew! Hopefully the next time Joan visits the genealogy section of the Burlington Library she will see well organized, fully stocked shelves with many valuable new editions to aid all of us in our research. Hurry back Joan, we miss you!