Sankofa bird; public domain image. "The “Sankofa” is a metaphorical symbol used by the Akan people of Ghana, generally depicted as a bird with its head turned backward taking an egg from its back. It expresses the importance of reaching back to knowledge gained in the past and bringing it into the present in order to make positive progress."  https://sankofa.org/about   Looking Back; Looking Forward Thoughtful week here. For many reasons, I've been looking back—and forward, and thinking deeply about both.  My term as president of the South King County Genealogical Society ends May 2025. If you are considering stepping up to ask the membership to entrust you with that responsibility, please contact me or another Board member for help to prepare you. Read about the duties of the President here .  Term Limits According to our Bylaws  Section 5.4.3: "No President or Vice President shall serve more than two consecutive terms in the same office." I want to choose how...

South King County Genealogical Society September Happenings Welcome back to a new program year! The Society has been so busy adopting new Bylaws and Standing Rules this summer that it does not feel as though we have been away. I am excited to begin working with the new governance structure developed by our hard-working Bylaws Committee. Dorothy Pretare, Marilyn Schunke, and Valorie Zimmerman have devoted countless hours during the past eleven months to bring the structure of our Society up-to-date. Please say “thank you” to each one of them when you see them. The Standing Rules were adopted at a Special Meeting of the Board of Directors, Monday, August 19. The President’s recommendations to fill the four Directors of Standing Committees were approved by the Board, and we now have a complete slate of Directors. Thank you to those who have agreed to serve: Education – Janet Camarata, Publicity – Valorie Zimmerman, Outreach – Rich Thayer, and Resource Management – Mari...

                     August Society News and Activities It has not been a “lazy” summer for hard-working Society volunteers.  At a Special Membership Meeting, July 13, at the Black Diamond Library, the Bylaws Committee presented proposed new Bylaws for the Society.  Over the past year, the Bylaws Committee ably led by Dorothy Pretare with Marilyn Schunke and Valorie Zimmerman devoted countless hours of study and thought into developing a completely new governing document for our Society.  The members present adopted them after an active question and discussion period.   The next step is the adoption of Standing Rules at the Board Retreat on August 24th.  The proposed new structure will require many new volunteers to distribute the work required to achieve our mission of furthering genealogical research and promoting interest in family and local history.  Please say yes when I call you to reque...

by Valorie Zimmerman You're busy, I know. You barely have time to do your genealogy work. So why would you take on yet another job? It's really quite simple. Think about how you want to make the world a better place, and make your life richer and more valuable. Working with partners whom you respect has a lot of value in itself. However, bringing a big project to fruition with those people feels incredible! And there is still time to do genealogy research. Almost a year ago, two women whom I barely knew - Dorothy Pretare and Marilyn Schunke - and I began meeting to review and improve our society bylaws. Looking back, I see that we were extraordinarily well matched for the work, although we didn't realize that at first. Fortunately they both knew how to start, which was with lots of research. We reached out to our contacts in and out of SKCGS, to get our Articles of Incorporation, all the old SKCGS Bylaws we could find, as well as many other Washington and US so...