December 16, 2022
As of the January 2023 General Meeting, Larimer County Genealogical Society will have a new president. Current president Glenn York has served capably and effectively for the last four years. Due to term-limits, he will be stepping down.
The Nominations Committee composed of Bob Larson, Kathy Patrick, Rick Searles and Carol Stetser has spent the last couple of months interviewing Society members for this crucial position. We are pleased that Larry Doyle has agreed to serve as President.
Larry is a longtime member who has been actively involved in the Society in various positions over the years including Web Master and as a one-on-one volunteer at the Poudre Valley Library. Thanks to his involvement in various Society activities, Larry is uniquely qualified to serve as its president. The Nominations Committee feels that Larry will be able to step into the position and help guide the Society’s future.
Many of you may have received an email from the Nominations Committee earlier this month stating that the Society was in danger of dissolution because we had been unable to find anyone to serve as President. Luckily for us, Larry answered the call to serve. The future of the Society is secured, at least for the next two years.
I was a member of the Nominations Committee this year, and I know that the search for a new president was not an easy one. Although the Society has nearly two hundred members, very few of them are interested in volunteering. In this LCGS is not alone, most genealogical societies report that ninety percent of their members don’t volunteer at all. The remaining ten percent, which is often only a handful of people, are responsible for all aspects of running the various societies.
One of the biggest problems for genealogical societies, including LCGS, is the lack of member participation. The same small group does all the work. Why this happens is unknown. It may have something to do with the average ages of members. It probably was exacerbated by the recent pandemic which has resulted in much less face-to-face interaction between members.
Whatever the cause, this situation is something that our new president and the board will be striving to overcome going forward. Hopefully, more members will choose to get involved.
Thanks to Larry Doyle, the existence of LCGS is not in jeopardy, at least not for the short term. If Larimer County Genealogical Society is to thrive long term, more of us will need to do more than just attend general meetings. All of us need to contribute and help the Society to thrive and grow. It’s up to us. We all control what sort of Society we’ll have in the future.
Carol Stetser
Researcher