Stephanie Sparks, 1stvp@azwvgs.org
Sheri Erickson
WVGS have been awarding Impressive Service Awards more often lately – a sign that a generational change is going on. Our honoree this month has had VAA awards before, but this one is special. Hailing from Van Buren County, Iowa, she graduated from college and became the county home economist, and then taught home economics at both high school and college levels. Eventually, she became the Administrator of a residential care center.
She got started in genealogy when she was given a copy of her paternal family tree by her Dad’s sister. In reading it, she started noticing errors and decided to fix them. That led to memberships in both the Iowa Genealogy Society and the North Iowa Genealogy Society, researching her Swedish and German ancestors. Her first research repository was the Augustana College Library, and she taught beginning genealogy there as well. In all her research, her favorite ancestor is her great-grandfather, who served in the Civil War and lived to 100.
She is a mother to two daughters and two grown grandchildren and has been coming to Arizona for more than 20 years to escape Iowa winters. She joined WVGS and started volunteering in 2005 as an Aide and with the cleaning team, and then became the Facilitator of the Swedish SIG for ten years. She took on the 1st VP role for two years, when the position was responsible for both classes and speakers, which she considers her most difficult challenge. She’s been part of the Collection Development Committee, where she organizes collections and purchases books for 90-year-olds, then presents the book at the monthly meeting.
When asked what her most significant or exciting discovery in her research was, she said it was all the wonderful people she’s met while doing research and volunteering.
This month we honored Sheri Erickson. She and her husband, Paul, have decided to go back to Iowa full-time. When she was awarded her last volunteer award, I said we were honored and enriched by having her around for 17 years. Now, after 21 years, that is even more true, and we will miss her wonderful smile, welcoming demeanor, and amazing dedication very, very much.
I think everyone appreciates that you will find people to talk with about genealogy when you join WVGS. And I think a lot of volunteers will also tell you how much fun it is to work together doing something that helps the organization thrive. We
invite you to volunteer, too. Help WVGS thrive, find new friends. Come and have fun with us.