Our Volunteer Appreciation Award this month is an Impressive Service Award – that special category of recognition reserved for those who have volunteered for 15 years and made special contributions to the Society. We gave him a certificate and a special round of applause. CEC will be hosting a party in his honor when all the snowbirds return, and there will be a special award then.
This isn’t his first Volunteer Appreciation Award – that came in 2013.
He got interested in genealogy 40 years ago when personal computers were first introduced. His aunt had given the family a hand-drawn family tree of his father’s lineage, and he tried entering it into one of the early genealogy programs called “Brother’s Keeper.” When his mother, who had been orphaned as a young girl, saw the results, she asked if he could find information about her side of the family – and he’s been doing that ever since.
He joined WVGS in 2011, and given his background in computer software, quickly found himself helping with WVGS systems. As is the typical experience of our volunteers, he saw Roger Hanneman and Steve Rippley trying to figure out a problem one day and said, “I know how to fix that,” and a new volunteer was born. He has created or improved every system we have – the calendar, the catalog, the membership system, member lookup, and the sign-in system, among others. During COVID, he was the one who created online voting for us.
As we have gotten smarter and needed more data, Ed has written the programs that allow us to collect it. And he is the one who created the digitizing process we now follow for all those records you love to see from home – obituaries and periodicals in particular.
Last month, he figured out how to solve the problems created by 2 factor authentication in a volunteer organization where everyone is dispersed and only uses the system part-time. Jim Weichel called his solution “brilliant”.
Mike Blachut told Stephanie Sparks, “Ed just showed up and started working; couldn’t have gotten the library put back together without him.” That’s Ed, quiet, soft spoken, and indispensable. Thank you, Ed Crabbe.
We were pleased to honor Ed Crabbe as our recipient for October!