Genealogy Club: Seminars, Individual Help, and Camaraderie

By Diane M. Loeffler, Photos by Bill Simmons

Do you want to delve into your family history for the first time? Have you been dabbling (or maybe even extensively searching) into your genealogy, but now you are stuck? Would like to talk to others about your adventures in genealogy? If you have answered “yes” to any of these questions, the South Bay Genealogy Society (SBGS) is the club for you.

What started as a computer club special interest idea, grew to twelve members meeting on April 18, 1991. President Bill Love says there are now over 130 household memberships in SBGS.

The club holds monthly meetings from September through May. They offer technology seminars at SouthShore Library from September through April. SBGS volunteers help in the SouthShore Library’s Genealogy room on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. until noon all year round. Also, members receive an electronic monthly newsletter, “The Links.”

Monthly meetings are held on the third Tuesday of the month at the United Methodist Church of Sun City Center in their Life Enrichment Center. Vice-President, Dr. William Simmons, says, “The monthly meeting begins at 10:30 a.m. with the Round Table Discussions where members interact and try to overcome their ‘brick walls’ or barriers that have stumped them in trying to put together their family tree. Then at noon, the members gather for a luncheon, prepared by volunteers from the United Methodist Church. At 1 p.m., the guest speaker is given the floor. Each month an expert in their field presents a different topic.

Reservations and payment for meals need to be made two weeks before each luncheon. Memberships are $25 per year for each household. For further information, call Dotty Love at 813.634.2749. Membership forms can be found in the Genealogy Center at SouthShore Regional Library, on the corner of Beth Shields Way and 19th Avenue NE. Mailings should be sent to SBGS, P.O. Box 5202, Sun City Center, FL 33571.

PHOTO: SouthBay Genealogical Society Officers and the Speaker pose for a photo. Front row: (left to right) Vice President Bill Simmons, Director Dotty Love. Middle row: Director Beth Clarke, Past President and current Treasurer Terri Cardoza, Director Linda Vitale, Director Dru Thomas. Back row: Director Scott Niblick, President Bill Love, February 19 speaker Joanne Ryder, Secretary Lynne Freeland.