Obituaries are short notices or articles, generally appearing in newspapers, reporting a person's death. The notices often contain information about surviving family members, biographical information, or other details about the person's life and death that are useful for the genealogy enthusiast.

  Ruth Moses began an obituary project in the early 1980s; later she gave the files to her cousin, Leland Meitzler, for the Heritage Quest Research Library. Since that time, many volunteers have continued that project to render the existing paper card file into an online data base.

  In general, the index focuses on local communities surrounding Sumner, Pierce County, Washington although there is a sprinkling of obituaries from the Seattle WA area as well. Dates of the obits run from late 1890's to the current date. A unique feature of the HQRL Index is that it includes a significant listing of Sumner WA pioneer residents, those local residents who filled the valley in the late 1800's.

The Library of Congess has a project to make all the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps available on-line. Check out which states are now loaded and the ones on their to-do list.

Evelyn - printing flyers and folding them, and the use of the big coffee pot.
Carolyn P. - Your help on Saturday.
Phil - Your help on Saturday and the use of your ice chests.
Linda Johnson - Your help on Saturday with the computer connections and collecting the trash.
Cass for helping me to scout another location and assembling the folders.
Jean, Doug, James, Gordon - for clearing out the books in the classroom. That was hard work!
Gordon also helped with sweeping the floor.
Doug also helped assemble folders. Sharon - Hard boiling the eggs (Phil wants to know how she got them so white!), the Keurig coffee pot, the use of the baskets and being a sounding board.
Jo-Anne for being a sounding board and suggestions.
Renae for the ice chest and cold packs.
Sue and Eileen for scrubbing the tables.
Andee for copies, copies, and more copies.
Judy for helping on Saturday.
Nancy for the use of the ice chest.
Carolyn H. for help in $ accounting and the use of your desk, when you were not around.
Patricia helping to size and cut the tablecloths.
Sandy for having the DNA books for sale.
Those volunteers not mentioned held down the fort so others could help!
Thank you. You are the best group ever,
Dee

Yesterday's class was quite an experience. 14 people were registered and 22 attended. This is amazing for a Beginner's class. Let's work together to keep their interest.