I am a retired elementary school teacher of 32 years; and a novice at researching the genealogy of my family. I have only just begun to research graveyards to locate family members, a new hobby that my family does not share. I enjoy collecting bells, snow globes, Susan Lordi's willowtrees, roosters, Kim Anderson figurines and teaching memorabilia. My husband and I celebrated our 45th anniversary this year. We have two adult sons, two daughters-in-law, and have welcomed our ninth grandchild. My family has experienced the terrible loss of our eldest grandson, Lance Cpl Christopher Shawn Baltazar, Jr who was KIA in Afghanistan on Sept 3, 2009. This terrible pain has forever changed our family; with the loss of both of my in-laws and the loss of my father January '09, my mother December '09 and the loss of our beautiful 19 year old grandson, I feel a real sense of urgency in recording the facts, dates, and locations of the people in our family; so all this has become much more important to me. I welcome any help in learning how to research genealogy and locate the graves of lost loved-one. I have hit a few stumbling blocks in finding some lost family members. I guess when I finally record all the graves I have a personal connection to I will look for a forgotten graveyard to document. My husband continues to remind me not to forget to live among the living while I am researching the dead.

I am a retired elementary school teacher of 32 years; and a novice at researching the genealogy of my family. I have only just begun to research graveyards to locate family members, a new hobby that my family does not share. I enjoy collecting bells, snow globes, Susan Lordi's willowtrees, roosters, Kim Anderson figurines and teaching memorabilia. My husband and I celebrated our 45th anniversary this year. We have two adult sons, two daughters-in-law, and have welcomed our ninth grandchild. My family has experienced the terrible loss of our eldest grandson, Lance Cpl Christopher Shawn Baltazar, Jr who was KIA in Afghanistan on Sept 3, 2009. This terrible pain has forever changed our family; with the loss of both of my in-laws and the loss of my father January '09, my mother December '09 and the loss of our beautiful 19 year old grandson, I feel a real sense of urgency in recording the facts, dates, and locations of the people in our family; so all this has become much more important to me. I welcome any help in learning how to research genealogy and locate the graves of lost loved-one. I have hit a few stumbling blocks in finding some lost family members. I guess when I finally record all the graves I have a personal connection to I will look for a forgotten graveyard to document. My husband continues to remind me not to forget to live among the living while I am researching the dead.