My interest in genealogy started about 15 years ago when my oldest son had a school project in which he collected information from his oldest living relatives and what it was like when they were his age. After the project was done, I read what each of his grandparents wrote and was amazed that they wrote interesting things that I didn't know about them, so I decided to save their essays. Around that time my aunt Cassie had also recently retired and she decided to take a class on writing down her family and childhood memories. She would sometimes mention them to me and I soon started asking questions. Before I knew it, the "genealogy bug" bit me.

In the early 90's, internet access started to become available and since I was an early AOL subscriber, I collected and contributed information on resources, places, how-to-do research in the genealogy forum. I spent so much time sharing and helping others that I became a volunteer AOL Genealogy Forum Staff member using the name: GFS CHRIS. I specialized in the East European section of the forum since all of my grandparents immigrated from Poland and my husband's grandparents came from Lithuania (as well as Sicily and Greece--Elia is a shortened form of the Greek name ELIADES).

Through others I found out about other organizations that might be useful to my research and subscribed to some of their newsletters. PGS-CA is the only organization that is local so I try to attend their meetings and hear the speakers, when possible.

One speaker who spoke on Oral History inspired me to tape record conversations about family history when I interviewed older relatives. Once I realized that all of my and my husband's immigrant ancestors came to the U.S. during the same 12-year time span, I decided to focus the oral history on these immigrants and their transition in the "New World". This also helped take the focus off of those I interviewed, thus enabling some of them to speak easier. My aunt, who was my genealogy partner until she died last year, has transcribed many of these recordings. I plan to edit and publish them as a book to increase the interest in family history among my relatives.

About 9 years ago, I visited our ancestral homes in Poland, Lithuania, and Sicily and met relatives in each town and in some cases, saw the house where a grandparent was born. I am fortunate to be able to make these contacts and gather more stories on our family's past. I hope to return and visit again.

Earlier this year, I went to Salt Lake City for the first time to attend the UPGS conference and do research in the Mormon's Family History Library. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting other genealogists there and exchanging ideas. I'm ready to go back for the next conference.

It was just over a year ago when my youngest son asked me for the names, dates, and places of birth for his grandparents, their siblings, and his great-grandparents for a school project. Without looking at any notes, I was able to answer all his questions. Then he asked how I knew so much!