Your Chelan County Coordinator
Hello! Here is a little bit of background on your new/current (as of July
2021) Chelan County Coordinator for WAGenWeb.
I was born in Wenatchee
and raised in East Wenatchee, Washington. My husband never understood why I
needed to stress the fact that I lived in "East" Wenatchee. I guess it's
unusual to have two different counties across the river from each other! I
live in Arizona now but have siblings and many cousins in Wenatchee who hold
an annual family reunion. My paternal grandparents left Arizona sometime in
the late 1940s when my dad was a small child and headed to Seattle where my
grandpa required medical attention for a serious health condition. They
eventually settled in Wenatchee where my dad grew up and met my mom who was
born in Leavenworth and had relocated to Wenatchee with her family. After my
parents married, they settled in East Wenatchee where my brothers and I grew
up.
My brothers and I were truly blessed to grow up near both sets of
grandparents. I have many fond memories as a small child spending time with
my paternal grandparents in Number One Canyon where they had no electricity,
running water, or indoor plumbing! Eventually they came to have all of the
modern conveniences, including indoor plumbing. Still, I'm glad to have had
the experiences I had before that time. A couple of times when my parents
went on hunting trips, my grandparents would come and stay at our house to
watch over us. My brothers and I could've gotten away with anything, lol. We
were a close knit family. My dad had nine siblings, so there were many
cousins my age nearby. I especially loved spending time with my maternal
grandma who lived inside the town limits. We walked everywhere as she never
learned to drive, even after my grandpa passed away.
It was my
maternal grandma who got me interested in our family history when she showed
me a chart of her maternal line. I made a copy of it but I didn't have the
time to really get involved until after my boys were grown and I retired. By
then both sets of grandparents and my parents were gone. How I wish I had
asked questions when they were alive but all was not lost. I still had a 90
year old aunt who I never knew growing up. She was as sharp as a tack with a
wicked sense of humor and shared many family stories with me. And with
today's technology we can find an abundance of records, photos, and
documents online and piece together our family history which I have done.
As the family historian, by default because no one else wanted the
title, I was handed a large box of photos that belonged to my maternal great
grandparents. Although many had no names written on the back, I've been able
to identify them because distant cousins posted the same or similar photos
on their online family trees! I have learned so much I never would have know
about my family history and always enjoy meeting my many distant cousins,
some even in person, due to dna testing.
Thanks go to former Chelan
County WAGenWeb coordinators Tiffany Nash and Cheryl Webber for all of their
work on this site.
It is now my privilege to serve the genealogy
community as the Chelan County GenWeb Coordinator. Please don't hesitate to
let me know how I can be of assistance in the quest to learn your family
history. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I warn you, it can be
addictive!
The site has been redesigned and will continue to be a work in progress. It
will be updated as new information is received. I am also county coordinator
for four other counties in two states. Please don't hesitate to contact me
for any reason using the links at the bottom of any page.
