President’s Report by Gayle Stuart

WANDERINGS FROM YOUR PRESIDENT
by Gayle Stuart, WGS President
“Always willing to share my ignorance.”

Taking over as your new president, I hope to keep things moving in the right direction with the help of my officers and all members of the society.

I have been interested in genealogy for many years and, like most of us, wish I had asked more questions of my parents and grandparents. I volunteer at The Family History Center in Elk Horn, Iowa, which I have done for a number of years. They have a qualified consultant in genealogy that I have learned a lot from and can use these facilities, if need be, to help solve problems. I am not from Walnut, but have learned of the families that settled here. Minnesota was my home.

Behind the scenes we have been working on several projects. I am going into the library on Tuesday afternoon from 2 – 5 and on meeting nights from 4 – 7, if anyone wants to come in and help. Some of the things we have been working on are filing, cutting out articles from papers, typing, learning to search the Internet and more.

Ruby Anderson has been working on finding obits for everyone that is buried in the surrounding cemeteries. She is now to the point that the rest are hard to find. If anyone knows where unmarked graves are, she would like to hear from you.

Is all your family history on bits and pieces of paper with no organization? This is the way many of us have our information filed. Why not come and get some advice on how to arrange it, so anyone can pick it up and be able to follow the family through time. We are wanting family histories from anyone who is willing to share a copy with us.

May each of you find a skeleton in your closet and remember what happened in the past is in the past and don’t be afraid to put it in your family history.