We had a great time in Salt Lake City. The weather was *perfect*. Everyone
stayed at the Plaza Hotel next to the Family History Library. We went to a
rehearsal of the Tabernacle Choir Thursday evening. Because the
sister-in-law of the CFAA president sang with it for 17-plus years (she
retired last spring) we were able to meet the choir's director beforehand.
The rehearsal took place in the 21,000-seat Convention Center, just two
blocks away from the hotel.
Greg Parker, the other admin of the DNA project, and I had lunch together
twice and sat next to one another during the banquet. I enjoyed immensely,
as I did two years ago, talking with him. Friday night, David Cooley, the
former president, Patty Cooley of San Mateo, a descendant of the
Cooley-Lippincott line (who *loved* the new DNA findings), and I spent the
evening in a wine bar. (Whoopee!)
At the business meeting Saturday, I was promoted from 2nd VP to VP, David
Cooley and Patty Cooley were voted into the new "at-large" board
positions, and Randy Smith was given the new board position of Past
President.
It's customary every ten years for the CFAA to meet in Longmeadow, MA
where immigrant Benjamin Cooley lived. I suggested two years ago that we
meet on the West Coast. That was discussed lightly during the business
meeting but I *think* there's a broad consensus that it's a good idea for
2018. I'll suggest to Patty--the San Mateo resident--that we begin
researching soon so that we can make a strong recommendation for it in two
years.
Most of the attendees this year were descendants of not only Benjamin
Cooley but of Andrew Wood Cooley, an early immigrant to Utah. In fact, the
Cooley/Lippincott descendant (and the spouses) and I were the only
non-Benjamin Cooleys there. Because the Longmeadow meeting will also tend
to be strongly Benjamin-biased, I suggested that its location might be a
good opportunity to appeal to some of the Southern (and other) Cooley
clans to attend. We'll see how that goes. (BTW, one does not need to be a
member to attend the reunions.)
Although it might not make a great deal of sense without the audio part of
my presentation, here are the slides from it (by far best viewed with
Chrome):
http://ancestraldata.com/Presentations/cfaa2014/slides/title.html
Here is the handout:
http://ancestraldata.com/Presentations/cfaa2014/cfaa2014_successes.pdf
I had a blast!
-Michael
--
VP, the Cooley Family Association of America
Administrator, the Akins DNA Project
Administrator, the Ashenhurst DNA Project
Administrator, the Bishop DNA Project
Administrator, the Eldridge DNA Project
Administrator, the Fisk DNA Project
Administrator, the alt-McDowell DNA Project
Co-Administrator, the Cooley DNA Project
Co-Administrator, the McDougall DNA Project
Co-Administrator, the Pickens DNA Project
Co-Administrator, the Strother DNA Project
Instructor, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI)
B.A. Humboldt State University, History
Received on Mon Aug 04 2014 - 22:07:49 CDT