The 2026 StLGS election includes three positions; once elected, officers will serve for two years, beginning on 1 January 2027. Please read the following biographies and then vote for the candidates. Duties of the elected officers are described in the society’s bylaws.
Please Note: Only members of St. Louis Genealogical Society can vote for officers.
Co-President (Two-year term): Kathy Franke
Currently serving as co-president, Kathy Franke has agreed to run for a second term. She has been a member of St. Louis Genealogical Society for sixteen years and a volunteer for more than ten. She started in the IT department before moving to the Ask Louie team several years later. She loves helping people with their hunt for ancestors and is always welcoming volunteers and clients in the office. Kathy is also part of the team that provides feedback for Ask Louie inquiries and has spearheaded the society’s effort to index the data from Washington Park Cemetery and make it available on our website. In addition, Kathy has served as the society’s delegate for the National Genealogical Society and as the leader of the Irish Special Interest Group (Irish SIG).
Kathy is a native of St. Louis, having grown up in South County and worked in Information Technology until 1999 when she “retired” to stay home with her kids. Kathy enjoys researching her family history (aka banging her head against her brick wall) with trips to Maryland, Kentucky, and Ireland. A “perfect” vacation for her is the society’s annual research trip to Salt Lake City!
Co-President (Two-year term): Jeani Ward
Also currently serving as co-president and agreeing to run for a second term is Jeani Ward, who has been enjoying genealogy since eleventh grade. She has been a member of the society for about eighteen years, volunteering two to three days a week. She has worked on several ongoing projects for our society including indexing the Quarterly and the St. Louis City/County Biographies. Jeani has served on the board of directors as secretary and member at large. She has been in charge of “small” projects that usually take several years: the Parkin files, Parkin cards, family group sheets, Murray Monuments, Washington Park Cemetery and more.
Jeani is a veteran volunteer at the annual Family History Conference as well as other events. When the society hosted both National Genealogy Society Conferences (2015 and 2019), she helped organize local tours and volunteered when needed. She emphasizes that she “would like to see our society flourish. We have a great group of volunteers that keep the society and office running. Please come join us by volunteering, coming to our Family History Conference, taking classes we offer, and listening to our speakers at our monthly meetings.”
Secretary (Two-year term): Debbie Benoit
Debbie Benoit has been a member of StLGS for several years. She started volunteering when she retired from practicing law in 2018. She has been working on the Ask Louie team, and for the past two years, she has been the StLGS secretary. Debbie also works on a variety of scanning/indexing projects. Along with some other volunteers, Debbie has begun a vigorous program of outreach in the community, traveling to many locations throughout the city and county to spread the word about our society.
Debbie started working on her family history many years ago before the internet and has continued to find new information. When she is not doing genealogy, she volunteers at Wild Bird Rehabilitation and Food Outreach.
Vice President of Membership (Two-year term): Marsha Mulherin
Marsha started her genealogy journey when she was in her twenties, through an interaction at her workplace. From that time forward she has uncovered ancestors who were not known by her parents and grandparents.
She has a degree in medical technology from Western Illinois University. Her early career was in the hospital lab, then she ventured into working in the medical diagnostics industry in research and development, technical support, and marketing and sales. Since traveling is a passion she has had the opportunity to visit the towns of her ancestry in the Netherlands and Germany, where she has visited archives to gain more documentation. Since starting to volunteer at StLGS a few years ago, Marsha has brought creativity and enthusiasm to many activities for which she has volunteered. She is currently developing a society outreach program, hoping to make more family historians aware of our society.
