Guest Speaker: Gail Burk

ADVENTURES IN COLLABORATION: EXPLORING OSTFRIESLAND

There is magic to be found in visiting ancestral places, seeing the land, hearing the sounds, breathing our ancestors’ air. Collaboration makes the experience even richer. Gail Burk will share her experience visiting Ostfriesland, and will explain how collaboration not only made her journey possible, but also how it was collaboration that made the trip so memorable. She hopes to encourage other genealogists to accept the challenge of visiting ancestral homelands, even if we don’t know the customs or speak the language.

Gail Burk is a long-time member of the Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz, and has served in a number of Board positions, including President. Currently, she cochairs the Society’s DNA Special Interest Group, and she is a volunteer staffer for the Society in the Genealogy Room at the downtown Santa Cruz Library. Gail has delivered a variety of programs in the Monterey Bay area. Gail graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara, where she majored in art and minored in history. She has been an active genealogist for more than 40 years.