Gloria Parker – May 2023
Volunteers comes in all varieties. Volunteer Appreciation Awards try to honor different varieties of volunteer experiences. Some awards have been to long time members who have pitched in over the years to fill many roles. Some have been for members with special skills that have used them on behalf of WVGS. Some have been for long term projects, some for one-off projects.
This month we are honoring a NEW volunteer – she’s been a member for a year and a half and started volunteering almost immediately as an Aide. Then she volunteered to help with the Seminar, and she’s just finished a stint on the Bylaws Committee. She’s trying out different activities, helping where she can, finding her niche, getting to know the Society.
Gloria Parker is who I’m talking about. She was born and grew up in the Detroit area, served in the Marines for four years and then moved to Washington with her husband to raise a family of three sons. When her husband died at 49, Gloria finished raising the boys and now has three grandsons. After a career in Snohomish County government, she retired to Bend, Oregon and then came to Arizona – following one of her sons – for more sun than she could find in Bend.
She got interested in genealogy early when she had to listen to her Uncle Ernie tell family stories Gloria was sure couldn’t possibly be true. She vowed to prove him wrong but ended up only proving all his stories. Their family had indeed spent a couple hundred years in Pennsylvania as very early pioneers. One result of all that research is that she’s a DAR member. But those ancestors were ALL in Pennsylvania. She went to a lot of classes and conferences to hone skills she couldn’t use because all of her ancestors were in Pennsylvania! She finally took up her husband’s family – at least she could do research in other states!
We need a lot more volunteers like Gloria. Come join us.