Summary of May’s Meeting

Today’s OCGS meeting was conducted using the Zoom Video Conferencing software. Again, everyone seemed to appreciate being able to meet using this technology. Darrell Lewis filled in as acting President.

The public library will not be reopening this month and it is unknown when it will open or under what restrictions. Therefore, we will once again plan on using Zoom for the June 22 meeting. If anything changes, we will inform the membership.

Traci has volunteered to go to member’s homes to set up Zoom. She emphasized there is no reason to be intimidated by this technology and she will show you how easy it is to use. With an internet connection, it can be used with a computer, tablet, or cell phone. Or you can you use a cell phone without an internet connection, but this will use your data. You can plan on using about 600 Mb for the 40 minute call if you are on a limited data plan and need to calculate whether you have enough usage to spare. Please contact her if interested. By now everyone has been informed and she will not be contacting you unless asked. But please ask! We want as many people as possible to participate!

In old business. –It was decided to remove the Okmulgee Cemetery project as old business until such time as we hear from the Cemetery Association. The complexity of the project coupled with the current situation caused by the Covid19 restrictions has probably postponed this project indefinitely. –Regarding feasibility of getting magnetic signs for use in possible parades, the committee was not available to report. This topic will be tabled as old business until such time as the committee can report back to us. As Okmulgee now has only 2 parades per year, Jo Bennett pointed out Henryetta has parades we could join to get more recognition as a County wide organization. – Regarding the Henryetta Funeral Home records project, it was reported the OCGS website now has information telling people these records exist and how they can be accessed. Surnames A thru E have been electronically indexed while all cards have been alphabetized for manual searching by OCGS volunteers. Almost 10,000 of the estimated 15,000 cards have been scanned for preservation. Take a look and give us feedback on what we can do differently. –Finally, it was reported Ancestry has been renewed, effective in June, and most of the books ordered last month have been received.

Under new business. – Traci was asked to distribute a list, and description, of the all the books purchased during the last 3 years. Many of us have forgotten what was purchased and may have an interest in checking them out. –The Society consists of 4 Officer positions (Pres., Sec., Treas., and Correspondence) plus a Chair position (Public Relations). For several years the Treasurer and Correspondence positions have been filled by one person. In addition to creating double duty for one person, it sets up the situation of having only 3 officers. Quite often only 2 of the 3 are available for meetings and sometimes only 1 has been available. Traci resigned her position as Correspondence in favor of bringing the officers back up to 4. Members present were asked for interested parties. Darrell Lewis volunteered to perform double duty with the Public Relations Chair, with the provision the situation be revisited at the annual meeting. If anyone is interested in taking on this position, or would like to know what duties are involved, please let us know. – Lastly, it was noted the Treasury Balance is at an all time high and it has been harder to come up with book purchase suggestions. The acting President suggested we may wish to solicit ideas for equipment the Society could purchase either for use in our meetings or for checkout by Members. Jo Bennett suggested contacting other societies to find out what might be in use. We will follow up with contacting other societies and are asking our members to email or call us with any idea that comes to mind. We hope to have a list of potential ideas by next month’s meeting. If you are against the idea of spending money on equipment versus books please let us know that as well.

Thanks to all who were able to attend in these unusual times. We hope to get back to our idea of holding classes and exchanging genealogical search techniques once we can start getting together.