On Friday, April 5th, TTFO members met together in our semi-annual administrative meeting. We had over a dozen in-person attendees and two via Skype. (Much thanks to Ted Pyper for facilitating the webstreaming!) Here are a few notes…
We went over last meeting’s minutes and talked financials. Adrienne Williams was elected as our new secretary. It was announced that we’ve raised the funds necessary for the Ann Smith Tolton headstone (grandmother of Clara Ann Tolton, Isaac Turley’s second wife), and it’s been ordered. We will have a memorial service in the summer when the stone is set.
Luana Rogers shared a conversation she’d had with Rick Turley over the purposes of an ancestral family organization. He stressed that we should focus on connecting with our ancestors (“turning the hearts of the fathers to the children…”), emphasize a feeling of belonging, and encourage the preservation of records.
We decided against going ahead with plans for a big 2020 Theodore Turley Family Organization reunion in Arizona. Instead, we are going to have a “Digital Reunion” in association with World Family History Day on Wednesday, May 15th. On that day, we want family members to upload a memory (story, photo, document, recipe, etc.) to an ancestor’s profile in FamilySearch’s Family Tree or another public database. It can be a distant ancestor or a close relative, like a grandparent. Then, we want people to report back what they did. We’ll compile a huge list of what our family members accomplished in one day!
Mary Ann Clements reported on the progress of the newsletter, email, and website options. We agreed to use an email marketing service, MailChimp, to send out bulk emails to all members of the organization. We also decided to go with the private TheodoreTurleyFamily.org domain rather than opt for the free Google Sites website. This allows us more flexibility on the design of the website, including a blog. After some discussion, it was decided that we would discontinue the newsletter, relying on emails, website/blog, and announcing items in the Theodore Turley Family Organization Facebook Group. A newsletter archive will still be put up on the website.
Our fourth annual TTFO Temple and Family History Day is coming up this Saturday, April 13th, at the downtown Salt Lake Family History Library at 10am. We are very lucky to have Rick Turley and David R. Turley speaking, and Luana asked that we each invite 6 family members or friends to the event to provide a good turnout.
Our next semi-annual TTFO meeting will be Saturday, October 12th, at 10am. We will meet at the same location, (3510 S 3610 E, Millcreek, Utah).
Detailed minutes of our semi-annual meetings are emailed to family reps.
Top photograph: Back row (L to R): Ted Roy, Monita Robison, Natalie Tanner, Ann Lewis, Steve Turley, Jane Turley, Mary Ann Clements. Front row: Kay Lovell, Richard E. Turley, Sr., Janet Packham, Luana Rogers. Not pictured: Dan Rogers, Adrienne Williams, Diana Glissmeyer, Ted Pyper (Skype), Tony Turley (Skype).
