Recently, in her Monday blog, Diahan  Southard reflected on leadership   by relating how she followed her sister to get to an unknown location.   Thanks to GPS, I hadn’t followed someone through traffic in years. That is, until I found myself trailing my sister through Seattle the old-fashioned way.   Not far into our drive, we got stuck behind a slow truck in the right lane. But my sister couldn’t pass without risking losing me, so I had to make the first move, change lanes, and then let her slide in ahead.   The rest of the way to our destination I thought about the seeming incongruity of this situation. I didn’t know where I was going, so I was following someone else. But then to get there most efficiently, I had to be willing to go first. I had to step out and actually make a space for my leader to lead. [1]   This is a profound way to view leadership, especially for someone who is...

2025: What Happened, and a peek into 2026 “Father Time” by Linnaea Mallette: Public Domain license In south King County, Washington, 2025 began with most folks still recovering from a major storm, a "bomb cyclone." Unfortunately, winter storms were punishing at the end of the year as well, with near-record flooding in much of western Washington. However, our society  handled disaster as our ancestors did: with courage, creativity and by working together. We had nine amazing speakers this year and were active weekly in small groups. Volunteers staff monthly Genealogy Help desks in three local libraries, and SKCGS publishes a weekly blog.  2025 Speaker Series January:  Dr. Carol Gorman Friedel "The Invisible Man—Moving Through a Pre-1840 Burned County Brick Wall" February:  Michael Strauss “The Road to Independence: Revolutionary War Research” March:  Amber Oldenburg " Women's Committee of the Council of National Defense Registration Cards: The Largest...

Tina Lawson has been selected by the South King County Genealogical Society as its recipient of a WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award. Tina has made a quiet impact since she joined our society, volunteering to solve problems as we moved from mostly in-person meetings to a mostly online group during COVID. She took our Google workspace, and made it work for both the board, our members, and eventually, our website. She even figured out how to keep our website constantly updated, teaching all responsible parties how to edit the shared calendar, spreadsheet, or PDF document, which show up on SKCGS.org. She figured out how to include our blog posts and index in the website. Tina also quietly created a publicity team who worked together seamlessly, sharing information about our meetings and our mission widely. She also volunteered to lead the bylaws team, which brought us into compliance with the new Washington State non-profit law. As a board member, Tina helped each of us use our online tools...

created by Bing ImageGenerator, February 4, 2024 As we approach the end of 2024, the South King County Genealogical Society (SKCGS) is brimming with exciting opportunities for community-minded individuals passionate about preserving local history. We see a bright future and many opportunities ahead in 2025. Leadership Positions Available Our society is seeking motivated individuals to step into key roles: Society President With our current president completing a second term in May, we're looking for a new leader to guide our organization. No prior experience necessary—just a passion for genealogy and community! Interested? Contact Board@skcgs.org or President@skcgs.org to learn more about this rewarding leadership opportunity. We are waiting to hear from you. Resources and Outreach Team Leaders We have vacancies in both our Resources and Outreach teams. While our current president has plans to lead Outreach beginning in May, we welcome enthusiastic volunteers. Want to make a dif...

Miners Day Sign on the way to the event Join SKCGS at Black Diamond Miners Day! We'll be there all day. Early birds can show up around 7 am to help us set up, or show up any time before 4 to help us greet people, answer their questions, or ask them about their family history.  At 4 pm, as the event ends, we would welcome help to pack up  and clean up.  Please write to Outreach@skcgs.org to volunteer.  Chalk drawing from 2023 Miners Day Black Diamond Area a Favorite Topic Over the history of SKCGS Blog and our previous newsletter, the Black Diamond and Franklin Mine areas have been a great source for stories.  We are especially grateful for the volumes of information available at the Black Diamond Museum and Historical Society. People who live in South King County, especially on the eastern side are familiar with the coal mining communities of Newcastle, Renton, and Black Diamond; some may even remember the names of Franklin, Cedar Mountain and other towns from l...

Courtesy of Islington.gov.uk Thank You! Volunteer Recognition Day is observed every year on April 20. In addition, National Volunteer Week is celebrated from April 14 to 20. During this week, volunteers are recognized for their selfless contributions to help others and promote good causes. At SKCGS we are always appreciative of the efforts of our many volunteers, regardless of the size of the job or amount of time of involvement.  As in an exquisite machine, every cog, regardless of size, is important for the smooth operation of the whole. SKCGS operates totally on the service of its volunteers.  Among those are the elected officers of the Board of Directors.  Nominations are now open for the positions of Vice President and Secretary, to be elected at the annual meeting, May 18, 2024. We are happy to announce that we have a candidate for each of the pending positions, but more nominations are welcome.    Nominees Alexis Hacker Scholz Currently Vice President of...

Do you remember 40 years ago? Our SKCGS newsletter does!    South King County Genealogical Society Newsletter, V. 1, No. 1 Above is the top of Volume 1, Number 1 of the Newsletter, which later became SoKingNews. Thank you to Katie Hanzeli who scanned these newsletters from her own collection, Rich Thayer who kept our digital files safe, Michele Mattoon who uploaded them, and Tina Lawson who has been getting them onto our website .  SKCGS incorporated in September 1984  and put out the first newsletter one year later. Amazing to look at that old tech - remember typing  mimeograph "masters?" not a fun job.  What fun that they were celebrating their first picnic!  We've been searching for creative ways to celebrate our 40th anniversary, and a picnic this summer would be lovely. We just need someone to volunteer to organize it.  You can see MaryLynn's contribution of the top image in this post, and in our new blog header, at  https://skcgs.blogs...

Winona Hahn Laird, SKCGS Volunteer of the Year Winona Hahn Laird is our Volunteer of the Year 2023. The Washington State Genealogical Society asks each member society to select one volunteer or team to honor, and in 2023 Winona was chosen unanimously by the South King County Genealogical Society Board.  ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ How it Started Winona has been doing genealogy for over 60 years.  She started as a young girl in a church class. One of the projects was to get her mother, father, and grandparents to write a one-page story of their lives and they all wrote their stories.  Some years later, after Winona’s grandmother had passed, the family found reams of paper among her possessions which contained notes and stories she had written. Winona used this information to write and publish a book about her grandmother,  "Have You Ever Lived in a Mining Town;" see on Amazon or her website store . Winona has researched most of her family lines back to the 16th and 17th centurie...