Who am I? I'm a Yuman being hailing from Yuma, Arizona, a "Yuma Criminal" (my high school mascot - yes it's true!), and a graduate of Northern Arizona University. I guess you could say I am a "tride and true" Arizonan. I am a Trial Consultant and Paralegal Supervisor in Phoenix by day, and a genealogist by night (and weekends, of course!).
My extended family has been telling family stories and sharing genealogy for years, but the "genealogy bug" alighted me when my Mom gave me all of her genealogy research in 1988. With my dual floppy disk DOS computer, I began digitizing my Mom's genealogy. (Can you tell I am also a technology nut?!) I took genealogy classes at the local community college and began conducting my own research. At first I was mostly documenting her research and finding a few extended family members here and there. Then I got married to an Englishman in 2000, and everything changed. England genealogy - what a challenge! I had to start from scratch with his family. What a wonderful journey it has been finding over 800 ancestors to date. (That's a lot for me, especially when I had no prior experience in English research!)
I've been a Family History Consultant for about five years now with the Phoenix Family History Library (formerly the Ashland Branch LDS Family History Library). In July of 2010 I became the Newsletter Editor for the News Leaf, a publication of the Phoenix Family History Library. (Luckily I have some experience in this department, having spent four years serving as Newsletter Chair of the Arizona Paralegal Association). My paralegal research skills have come in handy in my genealogy research, and vice versa. Yes, I have even searched genealogy databases to find the living. I also train on various software programs in my "real" job, and I really enjoyed training my fellow Family History Consultants recently on Advanced Google Research. I love training and helping others, and look forward to doing more.
Jirene's Genealogy Tips is a place where I share genealogy research tid bits I find along the way. Jirene's Genealogy Treasures is a place where I am preserving our family histories and genealogies. I have lots to add for both, so if I could make one request to God: please give me more hours in a day!
"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me." Erma Bombeck
