LIFETIME MEMBER Donna Potter Phillips

The year was 1975 and the Vietnam War had ended(April 30);  Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft had completed the U.S.-Soviet link-up in space (July 15);  Egypt reopens the Suez Canal after eight years; Margaret Thatcher had been elected and was the first woman to lead Britain's Conservative Party;

AND

Donna Potter Phillips joins Eastern Washington Genealogical Society.

EWGS was founded in 1935 by a small, enthusiastic group of highly motivated genealogists. At the time Donna joined EWGS, it had grown considerably both in reputation and members. She came on board with goals to enhance and promote education and teach research skills for people in our community searching for their heritage.  

For years she has contributed facts and original stories to our “Bulletin” (now retired and given way to the Digital Digest). She has written over 30 articles for the Digital Digest alone! Every week, "The Blog" is her venue for sharing local stories and rarely heard of facts regarding genealogy and local history.

Today, Donna continues to enhance her original goals by employing the newest cutting-edge techniques available for precise and accurate research.   Her creation of multi-class workshops has given the community so much information that many who have attended these workshops are now deep into the details of their heritage.

Mini-Seminars on genealogy topics are now on her radar. She never stops giving all her energy to promoting genealogy and just plain helping people in making their personal discoveries.

Do any of us really know how our behavioral patterns are genetically or socially acquired?   Peruse Donna's blog, join one of her workshops, read some of her articles in the Digital Digest, find out how the events of our lives remain etched in our minds and our DNA to govern and inspire our actions in the present.  Learn from Donna how to utilize those events to do research or express them in a story.

Her latest venture included a very successful "Walking with Ancestors" event coordinated with Spokane Valley Pines Cemetery.  At least a dozen EWGS members carefully researched the lives of the same number of people who lay beneath their memorial stones in the cemetery; then celebrated  those people on Memorial Day by telling ‘their stories’ to the folks who came there to honor their dead that day.  

Thank You Donna!