User:Kmmarshall



Kathryn Miller Marshall (Kathy)

Having served as the Director of the Lodi CA FamilySearch Center for 14 years, I was delighted to respond when invited to join the FamilySearch Wiki Team as of August 7, 2017. I am a frequent speaker at genealogical conferences and workshops. Currently serving as the Lodi Stake Communications Director, I also teach the 12-13 year old youth, Visit Teach, create publications for the California Living History Church Service Mission, design educational activities for stake and public affairs events, and do historic re-enactments of early California Mormon Pioneers. I have been much blessed by previous callings as a Seminary teacher; Gospel Doctrine, Relief Society, Nursery and Youth Sunday School teacher; Ward Activities Director; Girls Camp instructor and Scouting advisor; and by serving in Relief Society and Primary presidencies. As the wife of a Rotary Club President, there have been additional opportunities to be active with international humanitarian service projects, such as Polio Plus, Rotaplast, and bringing electricity to villages in Ghana.

With a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, where I taught for many years, my work involved developing school-based substance abuse prevention programs funded by private foundations and three National Institutes of Health. As a Senior Research Scientist in Bethesda, Maryland, I evaluated the nation's substance abuse programs for annual Congressional reports while doing a humanitarian service mission with a Cambodian refugee camp in Alexandria, Virginia. Back in California for my husband's last assignment as a career military officer, I served on the selection board for National Blue Ribbon Public Schools, and designed curriculum for Odyssey of the Mind, a program for gifted students. I began to concentrate on the history of California between 1840 and 1865 when asked to present a paper at a Mormon History Association Conference, prepare interpretive panels for county museums, edit books for historians, and write books of my own on the Gold Rush era. I take pleasure in replicating antique maps and creating maps of my own for publication. I'm much involved in writing a young readers book about the ship Brooklyn suitable for schools, and the more complex, inspiring story for adults. I've been working with the California Pioneer Heritage Foundation and Mission President Dennis Holland for a decade in chronicling the crucial role that members of The Church played in California's early history, and disseminating that information to the general public through state historic parks and other venues.

My home is filled with love, learning, and the delightful squeals of my daughter's family, now back from Germany -- bringing me my first two grandchildren. The Lord has been good to us in so many ways. It's a privilege to serve in any way I can.