Selected RootsTech 2018 Memories

Larry and I attended RootsTech 2018 Feb. 26-Mar 4, 2018. That’s an exaggeration of the actual dates of the Family History Conference, but we celebrate the event for a full week! We have beloved family members in the Salt Lake City area so we fly in on Monday and spend the day with our family. The Registration lines started forming at 10:30 am on Tuesday and I was number 10 in line. My husband was no. 9 and our good friends from Mesa, AZ were numbers 7 and 8. We reconnect with Bobbie Rogers and Debbie Allen (pictured below with my husband Larry Jamison) each year as we stand in lines and save seats for the events on the Main Stage each morning.

My cousin Barbara Doying, from Clearfield, UT (pictured below) and her daughter-in-law Karen Doying from Darien, CT experienced RootsTech for the first time this year. I met them as they were standing in the 1-1/2 hour Registration line Tuesday afternoon and we caught up on all things genealogy! Barbara’s mother Esta Becker Batchman was a sister of my maternal grandmother Nannie Becker Flanders. 


I’m pictured above with Barbara and Karen Doying (standing) and Sue Maxwell, seated. I’ve become friends with Sue over the years as she’s helped me so much with Consultant work and now The Family History Guide (http://thefhguide.com), of which she’s one of the original creators.

I was especially fortunate this year , actually very blessed, to be joined at each class and event by my niece Lisa Jamison. Lisa's mother-in-law Linda Jamison of West Jordan, UT is my sister-in-law. We planned our schedules so we could attend each class together so it was wonderful to have her constant companionship throughout the week. 

In the above picture,  I’m waiting for an event to start on the Main Stage, along with (l to r) Debbie Allen (AZ), Bobbie Rogers (AZ), Miles Meyer (Vero Beach, FL) and Lisa Jamison (River Heights, UT).

A very special moment for me arose as I was able to say hello and thank Ron Tanner for the exceptional work his teams perform on the Family Tree at FamilySearch. Ron is THE MAN in charge of the Family Tree.

Each year a group of bloggers who are associated with the GeneaBlogger group on Facebook assemble for a group photo. In past years I’ve chosen to attend classes at the time of the photo-op, but this year over a lunch hour I joined many in the group for the annual group photo. I’ve been a member of the GeneaBloggers for 10 years. You may notice we’re all wearing the GeneaBlogger beads that are gifted to us by DearMYRTLE.

I was delighted to “run into” my blogging friend Miss Peggy Lauritzen in the Expo Hall, as Lisa and I were perusing the displays. 

Peggy reminded me that my blog was the first she’d ever read, back in 2008 and it stimulated her to start writing her own blog. Peggy is an Accredited Genealogist and authors “Anxiously Engaged”. http://misspeggy55.weebly.com/ It’s interesting to note, as I introduced Peggy to my niece Lisa (pictured below), that Peggy’s sister-in-law and Lisa’s sister-in-law had a history of working together in the film industry! We never know when or where we’re going to discover meaningful connections, which appropriately follows the theme of RootsTech this year: Connect. Belong.

No RootsTech visit would be complete without time to say HI to my genealogy mentor, friend and my Cousin, Russ Worthington. Russ was staffing the Family Tree Maker booth this year, as that is one of his fields of expertise. Just one of them!

I was thrilled beyond measure that my cousin Jacqui Maxfield was able to attend one day of the Conference this year. As a busy wife and mother of 8 children still in school, Jacqui is to be commended for being able to chisel a full day out of her busy schedule to assist with Registration and attend a few classes that Wednesday. We were delighted to meet up for a few minutes, as I was also able to introduce her to my niece Lisa. Jacqui’s great- grandfather Fred Michaelis was married to my great aunt Eva Margheim, sister of my paternal grandfather John Margheim. So Jacqui’s grandpa Reuben Michaelis and my Dad, Ernest Margheim were first cousins. I had never met Jacqui until each of us attended RootsTech about 5 years ago.

I wouldn’t complete a review of my fabulous week in the Salt Palace without honoring our friend Janet Weiss, who is a member of the Custodial staff at the Salt Palace. It was during the 2nd RootsTech back in 2009 or so that we met Janet as she was cleaning up after diners in the Cyber Cafe. We thanked her for her faithful service and acknowledged that we were aware of and appreciative of her hard work. Each year we’ve found Janet and renewed our friendship and thanked her again for her hard work and faithful service. We’ve become friends and next year plan to join Janet and her husband for lunch or dinner!

I’m sharing a few more photos to give you an idea of the activities, fellowship, friendships and energy of the Conference.

Me and my friend Miles Meyer of Vero Beach, FL. Miles advised me and directed me on many genealogy topics in my "Early” days, since about the year 2000.

It was an honor to meet and be interviewed by Scot and Maureen Proctor as one of the Humans of RootsTech article he was preparing. 

It was fun to see my cousin Crista Cowan, the Barefoot Genealogist, who was indeed barefoot as she represented Ancestry.com in many presentations and one-on-one help.

My friend Renee Zamora, of RootsMagic, joins me each morning for breakfast at 6:15 am at the Radisson Hotel. One morning we were blessed to be joined by Jason Hewlett (http://jasonhewlett.com/) who served as the excellent and very entertaining MC of the Conference .

The best talk I’ve ever witnessed at RootsTech was delivered this year by Scott Hamilton, Olympic GOLD ice skating champion, author and inspiring Speaker. I bought two of his books and hoped to get them autographed. However, I got in line at 12:15 for the 1-2pm signing and was told the line had been closed. Just too many people were wanting his autograph during the time allotted. Scott is being interviewed in the Media hub at the Conference in the photo below.

I couldn’t begin to relay the extent of the excitement, instruction, and energy offered this year at RootsTech. I invite you to go to http://rootstech.org and watch many of the classes and special talks that were delivered. They’re available for us to watch at our leisure. I’m so grateful that my husband and I are still able to travel. We did experience a few “hitches” along the way, like a Scooter that wouldn’t start in the airport, a temporarily lost iphone, long and trying exams getting through Security in the airports, and weather delays due to a snowstorm in Salt Lake City on the day of our departure, but each time the good Lord provided us with assistance and we had a successful trip. While I haven’t fully recovered from the fatigue I brought home, I’m certainly looking forward to RootsTech 2019!

Finding another Cousin Connection through Family History Friends

Throughout the many years that we’ve attended the RootsTech genealogy conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, we’ve become acquainted with good friends Bobbie Rogers and Debbie Allen (pictured below). We renew our friendship as we save seats and sit together at the morning Keynote addresses. Debbie and Bobbi live in Arizona and of course we live in Colorado. We’d have never met if we hadn’t happened to start a conversation with them while waiting for the conference to start.

A few days ago Debbie posted this photo on facebook which identified her friend from School Days, Robyn Nielsen Behunin.

As a Genealogist, I tend to notice NAMES and recognized the Behunin name as that of one my 2nd cousins. So I posted a facebook comment asking Debbie if she knew if Robyn Behunin might be in some way connected to my cousin Lynne Behunin. Robyn replied that her husband Ray’s first cousin was Paul Behunin. I knew that Paul was the (deceased) husband of my cousin Lynne.  Yes, go ahead and say it. “It’s a small world”. I developed this chart that show all these connections. And you’ll notice that Debbie Allen is also a distant cousin of my husband, Larry Jamison. Many people would react with a “So What?” But I love discovering connections like this. They’re meaningful to me!

Memorable Quotes from RootsTech 2017

Some of my favorite quotes from the RootsTech 2017 Conference:

"Ornament our Family Tree with the culture of our family." Steve Rockwood

"No one wants to be alone in heaven. No one wants to be alone doing our family history." Elder Bradley Foster

"When we're starting a new search, do a search of the geographic areas. Look for COLLECTIONS, not names and dates" D. Joshua Taylor

"We don't know what we don't know until we know it." D. Joshua Taylor

"We don't OWN our ancestors." D. Joshua Taylor

"Be nice or leave." Thomas MacEntee

"Oftentimes people die. Check on the newly dead and update our files." Ron Tanner

"The root is the place where the tree starts." Ron Tanner 

"When we die we become stories in other peoples' minds." Emily Doolin Aulicino

"We die when the LAST PERSON says our name". Emily Doolin Aulicino

"Why set a goal when you can make a promise?" Jason Hewlitt

Family, Friends and Cousins meet up at RootsTech 2017

It was a blessing to "bump into" my friend Shari Mehling Stone, who I met two years ago at RootsTech. The niece of her great grandfather married my great grandfather, so we call ourselves cousins. (And yes, I was as tired as I look. Those 5:30am mornings catch up with me). 

I'm happy that I get to eat breakfast each morning at RootsTech
with my distant cousin Renee Zamora, blogger and RootsMagic employee.

It's always a treat and privilege to get to visit with my "Friend in Genealogy" DearMYRTLE
(Pat Richley-Erickson).

Our friends from Florence, Colorado, Tom and Linda Goff, accompanied us to the conference this year. It was wonderful to have them near, as we laughed, enjoyed concerts, classes, keynotes, visited together and saved seats for each other!

And finally, motivated and inspired, but exhausted, we truly did enjoy our Delta Airlines flight back to Colorado Springs. When the wheels of the jet came off the ground and the plane lifted into the air, I again felt a thrill and was grateful that we had the opportunity to travel.

Before we left Salt Lake City, we had a fun and rewarding visit with Larry's brother Dick Jamison, sister-in-law Linda, and their daughters Tracy and Mindy. In a moment of good fortune and answer to prayer after the Thursday evening concert by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at the LDS Conference Center, we also had the chance to greet and hug their son Scott Jamison and his wife Lisa! (I was so surprised I forgot to take a picture). 

By the way, Larry even took a picture of the beautiful Delta flight attendant, Kristen, who took our picture as we were leaving Salt Lake City. 

The signage at RootsTech were works of art

Everyone in downtown Salt Lake City knew what was going on at the Salt Palace Feb 8-11, 2017. The signage this year was remarkable!

Every classroom had a large sign that told what classes were being held by the hour and were changed each day! And every corridor and hotel lobby had a recap of the week's events.

Left to right: Bobbi Rogers and Debbie Allen with
Becky Jamison, the first friends we ran into
after we registered Wednesday morning.

Taking time to thank a friend who works behind the scenes at RootsTech 2017

Left to right: Larry Jamison, Janet, Becky Jamison

This is not a picture you'll see on ANYONE else's news from RootsTech 2017. In this picture with me and my husband Larry is "Janet" a member of the 
Housekeeping crew at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. Each year that we attend the family history conference in Salt Lake City, we renew a friendship with Janet that began in 2012 as we met Janet while she was cleaning floors and tables in the lunch area of the Expo Hall at RootsTech. Larry made a special point to thank her for her diligent service that made our visit to the Salt Palace enjoyable. We renew our visit with Janet each year at RootsTech and express our gratitude to her for the wonderful work she and her fellow housekeeping team members do that help make our conference experience enjoyable. 

Larry and Janet in 2012

Larry and Janet in 2015

Larry Jamison and Janet in 2016

My One Minute in the Spotlight with The Lower Lights

On February 6, 2016 the very popular family history conference RootsTech concluded in Salt Lake City. It was attended by about 26,000 genealogy enthusiasts in the Salt Palace in downtown Salt Lake City. The hosts of the conference incorporate good entertainment during the 4 days of classes and presentations. The final event at this year's conference was a musical concert presented by the group "The Lower Lights".

My husband Larry Jamison and I really enjoyed their concert, "A Hymn Revival", as did the several thousand people in attendance, judging from the applause and enthusiasm. Larry left his seat near the end of the concert to purchase some CDs of their music and to return to our motel room for rest after a long and physically demanding day. The group ended their concert with a beautiful rendition of "God Be With You Til We Meet Again". But a standing ovation brought them back to the stage for an encore of "This Little Light of Mine". 

As you view the brief video at the top of this post, you can see how I was surprised to become involved in the singing of that final song. It brought back memories of the days when I was 6 or 7 years old attending the Christian Church in Stafford, Kansas, while visiting my mother and grandparents, as I learned to sing "This Little Light of Mine" in Sunday School. 

Thank you to my dear friend Renee Zamora for thinking to make a video of the selection and thank you, The Lower Lights, for putting a big smile on my face at the conclusion of a very successful and enjoyable family history gathering with my friends and family members. 

My Out-takes from RootsTech 2015

Before I have to re-enter the real world at work tomorrow, I want to spend my last few hours of vacation sharing with you my impression and involvement in the RootsTech genealogy conference last week in Salt Lake City. 

We flew into Salt Lake City on Tuesday so I had free time Wednesday morning to visit my favorite shopping spot downtown: Deseret Book. 

After I shopped, I took a tour of the Family Discovery Center in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

Merrill White explains the procedure for exploring the Discovery Center. 

The first stop I made on my discovery journey was to find out the meaning of my name. 

This map shows where my ancestors lived. 

Also enjoying the tour was Shari Mehling Stone, whom I met last year at RootsTech. If I remember this right, Shari's great grandfather's niece was married to my great grandfather! 

This display tells me how many other people in the world share my first name of Mary. 

The 'Record My Story' room in the Center.

The ipad issued at the beginning of the tour is docked at this display which illustrates the migration of my family, with information taken from the familysearch.org site. 

Also on the tour was my Facebook friend Michelle Ganus Taggart. We had so much fun visiting about our ancestors and learned that some of Michelle's ancestors lived in the same community in Southern Colorado as relatives of my husband!

I call this new Family Discovery Center the "Magic Kingdom of Genealogy". It was exciting to see all the features and anticipate how it can help families get excited about their ancestry too. You can read more about the Family Discovery Center in this article. 

 My husband's brother and sister-in-law and their family live in the area so we were fortunate to have time Wednesday afternoon to visit with them and share old photos, dinner and lots of stories. 

As I was standing in line at 7 am for the opening of Hall D on Thursday, the first morning, for the Keynote Address, I was joined by friends Debbie Merrill Allen and Bobbi Twining Rogers. We met two years ago as we sat near each other at the opening Keynote address at Rootstech 2013. 

Bobbi Twining Rogers at left and Debbie Merrill Allen at right. 

Since we're members of the LDS church, I'm very supportive of FamilySearch and quite impressed with the advancements Dennis Brimhall has accomplished as its Director. He told us of those at the Thursday morning Keynote address. It can be viewed here.

The best class I attended on Thursday was given by D. Joshua Taylor on "30 pieces of tech I can't live without" which can be viewed here.

Watching the concert given by Alex Boye and the One Voice Children's Choir Thursday evening was the perfect end to our first day at the conference. 

Each morning Larry and I arose at 5:00 am so we could enjoy the breakfast buffet provided by the Radisson Hotel at 6:00 am. On Thursday morning we met Facebook friends Terri O'Connell and Jen Alford, of the In-Depth Genealogist, pictured below. 

Terri and Jen, photo courtesy of J. Paul Hawthorne. 

We also renewed our friendship and had a wonderful visit with Lisa Alzo, the Accidental Genealogist.

Lisa Alzo, photo courtesy of Randy Seaver, 2014

One of the greatest pleasures I experienced at the conference was listening to former First Lady Laura Bush, as she delivered the Keynote address on Friday morning. 

The very gracious and interesting Laura Bush. 

You can read good coverage of her talk here. This story in the Deseret News includes the photo below, where I happen to be visible at the green arrow!

My schedule on Friday was full of classes that were offered by FamilySearch for Consultants of the Family History Centers. I was particularly amused at the stories shared by Devin Ashby in his class on "What's New at FamilySearch". You can watch his presentation here.

On Saturday morning my day started with a wonderful visit at breakfast with fellow Blogger Renee Zamora.

I really, really enjoyed Donny Osmond's Keynote Address and the beautiful songs he shared with us. You can read about it here. He is still so very handsome and has a gorgeous voice! I was in high school watching the weekly Andy Williams Show when Donny made his debut as the 6 year old member of the Osmond Brothers. 

The sessions I attended on Saturday were part of the Family Discovery Day offered to members of the LDS church. R. Scott Lloyd of the Deseret News wrote here about the day better than I can. 

The Conference wrapped up Saturday evening with a concert by David Archuleta and a quick sketch session by the cast of Studio C. 

Bits and Pieces

Every year Larry and I visit with Janet, a member of the Salt Palace Housekeeping Staff, with whom we've become friends over the 4 years of our attendance at the conference. 

In 2013 Larry and I met Ruth Young Barnes as we sat together at one of the Keynote addresses. We've remained friends since and were able to meet up again this year and have a nice visit. 

Since I've been archiving my father's estate, and since I met Denise Levenick as we rode the hotel shuttle together last year, I attended her mini-class in the Expo Hall titled "Heirloom Roadshow". Denise is the author of "How to Archive Family Keepsakes".

Assorted photos as I wandered around

The FamilySearch Center in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Howland Family Chart showing famous descendants of John Howland, my husband's 10th great grandfather. 

The Salt Lake Temple in the early morning sun last Wednesday, February 11, 2015.

The temple through the trees.

The Salt Palace, home of the RootsTech conference.

The hallway outside the Expo Hall.

Attractive floral bouquets outside each room.

Registration Desk

The view from upstairs

The front Entrance

Bagpipes in the Expo Hall on Cultural Night

Polynesian Dancing in the Expo Hall

The view as we walked from the Salt Palace back to the Radisson Hotel.

My husband lost his wallet in the airplane and was blessed when the woman in the seat behind his noticed it under his airplane seat. He immediately bought a cord to attach it to his pocket! 

I will stop and have a chat with James Tanner and his wife every chance I get!

It was a pleasure to photograph Larry with Mary Tedesco (above) and Kenyatta Berry, (below) of the popular Genealogy Roadshow TV series. 

Caroline Cohoe Schultz and I were so happy to finally meet after being Facebook friends for several years!