Meet your executive board!
These are the individuals working hard each month to deliver exceptional programming, leadership of our varied projects, and ensure your informed. (and the coffee!).
Tammy Patascher
President
Tammy is a recent past Vice President of FGS and the current President. She was born on Long Island in New York and is one of 7 children. She received a Bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from Hodges University. Tammy is currently a member of APG and various genealogical societies. She started her journey into genealogy to discover the roots of both of her grandmothers who were adopted, one in New York and one in Boston.
Dave Glogowski
Vice President
Dave began searching for his family origins in the 1990s as a way to understand his Polish heritage and traditions. Upon retiring from a 26 year Air Force career, he moved to the Tampa area. He began his family history research in earnest; joining FGS in 2010. Leveraging his degrees in Mathematics, Computer Science, as well as his software development experience, Dave took on stewardship of the FGS website in 2017 and was a Director from 2017 – 2019. As Vice President, Dave seeks to continue to our history of current, relevant, and renowned speakers as well as foster a greater sense of community among our members.
Rue Lynn Galbraith
Secretary
Rue Lynn was reared in Blanding, a small rural town in Southeastern Utah. His interest in genealogy began as a child, as he sat on his mother’s lap looking over a large volume of family records. In his youth he began to copy pedigree charts and family group records into his own Family History book, and he began monthly trips to the old LDS Genealogy Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, to do research. At the age of fifteen, he was asked to be the Area Genealogy Youth Leader for his church – conducting lessons and speaking at genealogical seminars. His passion for genealogy and family history continues to the present day taking him from the Mormon Colonies in Mexico to the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts.
Mary Rivers
Treasurer
Mary was always interested in family stories, but didn’t formally begin her research until both of her parents had passed away, and she was trying to record information from all of the newspaper clippings and obituaries that her mother had saved throughout the years. That was over 20 years ago, and she has learned so much about her family and relatives. Most of her research is in Virginia and Delaware. Mary joined the society in 2003. She soon became a Board member and later took over the Treasurer’s position. She continues to research her family and loves learning new information and techniques from the monthly speakers as well as her fellow FGS members.
Shirley Besch
Director
Shirley, a Tampa native and 7thgeneration Floridian, has been interested in family history since childhood. She is a self-taught genealogist and began her research the “old-fashioned” way by interviewing her parents and family, handwriting letters, visiting libraries, cemeteries and courthouses and cranking the handles of microfilm machines, after being inspired by the original “Roots” TV program. Shirley has been researching her family history and helping others with their family history for 40 years. She has received the award for being a Hillsborough County Century Family from FGS-Tampa and the Florida Pioneer Descendant Certificate from the Florida State Genealogical Society. Shirley has been a member of the Florida Geological Society for over 20 years and has been a volunteer for many projects, such as “Ask A Genealogist”, annual seminar and the Florida State Fair during that time. She has served as Director since 2008.
Rosemarie Neville
Director
Rosemarie was born in Brooklyn, NY and moved to Tampa at age 11, when her family relocated here. A graduate of Sacred Heart Academy and St. Leo University with a degree in business. The oldest of six children, they were told as children that their great-grandmother was born on an Indian Reservation in upstate New York. When she retired, she decided to see if she It was true. It wasn’t, but it was too late. She was hooked on researching her ancestors and still is.
Jean Sanner
Director
Jean was born and raised in the Richmond, Virginia area where she lived until Fall 2018, until her family moved for warmer and sunny Florida. Her love for genealogy focuses on Virginia, Minnesota and DNA research. She served as President of her local genealogy society in Richmond and started their DNA special interest group. She is excited to serve with her new genealogy friends in the Tampa Bay Area.