DGS Newsletter, Volume 22, Number 1, January 1998 Page: 12
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lMonths ago, as planning began on
the recent 1997 FGS/DGS
Conference, the following question
was posed by regional publicity
coordinator Karen Miller: If we build
it, will they come? Now the conference
is history, and we are proud to report
the answer is a definitive YES. We
said Y'all come, and come they did.!
More than seventeen hundred in all:
attendees, exhibitors, workers, and
onlookers!
Many of the attendees took time to
tell us about their conference
experiences. Guess what? It appears a
great time was had by all. The 1997
Dallas conference is being touted as
the best organized and friendliest in
FGS history.
Hope you were there to enjoy the
conference as much as your local
committee enjoyed planning it for you,
and as much as the volunteers enjoyed
putting it on.
Did DGS make money on the
conference? You bet! We just don't
know exactly how much yet because,
as of this writing, the numbers are still
being crunched. What we do know is
the conference made money, and DGS
shares in the profits to the benefit of
the Genealogy Section of the Dallas
Public Library.
Thanks to the national and local
committee.
We did it, but events of this
magnitude do not happen without a ton
of planning by a lot of dedicated
volunteers. Never in the history of
DGS have so many worked so hard to
accomplish so much. Was it worth it?
You bet! Now it is time to say thanks
and heap on the praise for jobs well
done. Where do we begin? At the top!
Karen Green (Galveston, TX), the
national conference chair, brought
previous conference experience and
know-how to the table. She deserves
our thanks and gratitude for herconfidence in the Dallas group and for
working so closely with us to give the
Federation of Genealogical Societies
one of their best ever conferences.
Leslie Collier deserves an A+ as
national program chair for putting
together an outstanding conference
program. It truly lived up to our theme:
Unlock Your Heritage with Creative
Problem Solving. Leslie booked us the
top speakers in genealogy today at
their educational best!
We also appreciate the
contributions of Dawn Slater-Putt
(Fort Wayne, IN), the conference's
national publicity chair and Gary
Mokotoff (Bergenfield, NJ), the FGS
treasurer.
DGS owes a huge debt of gratitude
to the local planning committee's
conference coordinators. They began
planning this event two years ago, and
each poured hundreds of volunteer
hours into their respective positions.
Plus, during the four days of the
conference, each one worked from
morning to night making sure every
aspect of the event ran smoothly. A
grateful thank you from me and from
DGS to the following: Dorothy
Bruce, registration coordinator; Patti
Darnell, hospitality coordinator;
Barbara Dossett, transportation
coordinator & local treasurer; Hallie
Garner, publications coordinator;
Karen Miller, regional publicity
coordinator; Terri 0' Neill, volunteer
coordinator; Art Rubeck, exhibits
coordinator; and Carole Ruska,
banquet & luncheons coordinator.
Your hard work was appreciated by
everyone who attended and especially
by me.
We also owe a special thanks to
Dean Hunter (Salt Lake City), who
accepted the last-minute job of
Audio/Visual Coordinator and did an
outstanding job.
Thanks to Madilyn Crane, FGS
office manager. Madilyn was there toanswer questions, offer a helping
hand, and just keep things running
smoothly between our two societies.
That was in addition to the thousands
of little jobs she did as office manager
for the conference.
We are thankful for the late Mike
Basham who set up the conference
homepage and kept it updated with
details, in addition to offering other
technical support.
Kudos to Stacey Bennett, the
committee rep for the DGS African
American Special Interest Group, for
all her good ideas and hard work,
including the planning of a special
reception for several national African
American genealogical groups
attending the conference.
Thanks to Selenda Billington and
all her helpers who compiled a gigantic
mailing data base.
We appreciate Gene Burris who
took care of so many of those
mailings.
Cliff Slagle gets a huge thanks for
preparing the many signs that were
visible throughout the conference site
providing directions and information.
Thanks to Michael Matthews, the
official conference photographer and
Gene Burris, the unofficial DGS
photographer. Great photos, guys!
We are indebted to Shirley Sloat
for securing the official proclamations
from Governor Bush, the Dallas City
Council, and the Dallas County
Commissioners in recognition of the
conference. A great big thanks to
everyone who served on the committee
as a rep for their society or
organization: Judy Jones of the
Duncanville society; Dixie Bennett
and Martha Ann Post of the Fort
Worth society; John Wylie and Don
Raney of GENTECH, Inc.; Jay D.
Bayne and Barbara Tsirigotis of the
Irving society; Faye Chism of the
Grand Prairie society; Barbara Sloan
of the Kaufman County society; Lana12 Volume 22, Number 1, January 1998 DGS Newsletter
We Built It and They Came: A Thank You Note
From: Sammie Townsend Lee, 1997 FGS/DGS Conference Local Arrangements ChairDGS Newsletter
Volume 22, Number 1, January 1998
12
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Dallas Genealogical Society. DGS Newsletter, Volume 22, Number 1, January 1998, periodical, January 1998; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1261592/m1/12/: accessed June 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Genealogical Society.