Meet the Board


Elected Officers:
                            Gail Arnert – President & Newsletter Editor – I grew up in small town Ohio surrounded                                  by extensive family. My father died when I was 9 months old and my two grandfathers                                    before I was born. I was always asking questions about them and looking at family photo                                albums. History and genealogy were in my blood. My mother remarried in 1959 to a                                        wonderful man and we were off to southern California. I was in California for 19 years                                     living in the southern part, then San Luis Obispo getting my BS in Home Economics, and finally the San Francisco Bay area working as an Industrial Security Manager for TRW (now Northrop-Grumann). I came to Colorado in 1978, went to work for Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin), got married and had two wonderful sons. I really got involved in AGS and have been collecting more dead relatives ever since. I’ve held offices to include CCGS delegate, Librarian, President, and currently Newsletter Editor, and President (again).

                               Jeff Adams – Recording Secretary Colorado Council of Genealogical Societies (CCGS)                                       Delegate. I’ve been a member of the Aurora Genealogical Society (AGS) since November                                 2019 and have lived off and on in Aurora since 2012. I am currently AGS’s delegate to the                                 Colorado Council of Genealogical Societies as well as AGS’s Membership Vice-President. I                              I was born in Dallas, Texas and lived in that area until I joined the army in 1994. While in                                   the army, I was stationed mainly on the east coast and ended up at Buckley Air Force Base in 2012. Additionally, I spent time overseas in Korea, Bosnia, Germany, Iraq, and Afghanistan. I don’t know what got me interested in genealogy, other than a love of history, but I have been researching for at least ten years. I will be attending the genetic genealogy study group beginning January 2023. I was a member of the PROGEN 50 study group, a precursor to becoming a professional genealogist, in 2021. I hope to become a professional genealogist in the next year or two.

                          Judy Holtus – Vice President Programs & Publicity Hello! Let me introduce myself. I am                                    Judy Christensen Holtus and I was born and raised in Denver, making me a native                                            Coloradoan. Moving to Aurora soon after marriage made this eastern suburb my home.                                  Peter and I had two children and I became a homemaker who volunteered at my                                              children’s school, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. I began my employment with Aurora Public                                Library in 1978 and retired after thirty years of service in 2008. My genealogy journey began with the birth of my great nephew, Sören Alexander Christensen, born in 1995. His given name of Sören is very prevalent in my paternal lineage and I desired to know more about my Danish heritage. Thus, I joined Aurora Genealogical Society of Colorado in June, 1996 and was nominated and voted to be the Vice President of Programs/Publicity on the Board two years later. This has been my position at the Board meeting table ever since, some twenty-six years. The friendships, knowledge and growth I have experienced while serving on this Board have been immeasurable. I recommend it to every member of this Society.

                                  Richard Kautt– Treasurer & Parliamentarian I’ve been a member of the AGS for                                                thirty years and served two terms as president and many more terms as                                                          treasurer. I was born and raised in St Paul, Minnesota and graduated from the                                                    University of Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree and a law degree. I served 28                                                years in the Air Force as a military lawyer (JAG) and was stationed around the                                                  world from Viet Nam to Germany and many places in between, including Colorado. After retiring from the Air Force, I settled in Colorado, enjoying the bicycling, skiing, and mountain climbing. Then after 28 more years in private law practice, I finally retired fully and devoted more time to genealogical research. My late wife, Margaret, and I were married for 34 years and had two children; my wife, Missy, and I have been married now for 19 years, and we have eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren between us. I was interested in history and genealogy at an early age, and my sister and I questioned our parents about all they knew about family and ancestors, having German and Polish ancestry. Over the years, I made notes about family information and other data I had collected, but I began serious genealogical research into my family and my late wife’s family about 35 years ago and visited many courthouses and cemeteries over the years to collect data. I’ve branched out researching into related families, as well as helping friends and AGS members with their research. I’ve also tried to do my part in correcting inaccurate data that has appeared in online family trees and records.


Appointed Positions:
                          Barbara Walker – Genealogist I started researching my family about 30 years ago, but                                        not intentionally. I was browsing through Ross one day and found an old version of                                          Family Tree Maker in the discount bin and thought it would be a great help to my                                            mom who was very interested in genealogy. At that time genealogy wasn’t on my                                            radar, but I thought if I taught her how to use the program, she would find                                                        researching and record keeping easier. While learning to use the program, I became addicted. Some of my happiest memories are the road trips she and I took to areas where our ancestors had lived. This was well before online records were easily available and trips to courthouses and cemeteries were the only way to find family records. I knew very little about my extended family and when Mom talked about the pictures of ancestors in her photo album, they meant nothing. As we found old records in old courthouses, they came to life for me and I wanted to know more about them and their lives. How were they affected by events in history such as the Great Depression and world wars? How many of them served in wars and did they all come home? My kids and grandkids aren’t overly interested in genealogy – yet – but they have helped me locate hard-to-find information, especially online, and they accept family mementos with a knowledge of where they fit in our family story.

                                  Vickie Smejkal – Computer Technical Support, Webmaster, and Face Book. I have been                                      working on my family history for over 35 years. I retired from the military after 25                                            years; and retired from the Federal Government after 33 years. I was a Medical
                                  Corpsman in the regular army, and a teacher in the army reserves teaching a career                                        course in Supply, while working concurrently for the Federal Government as a Supply Tech and later a Building Management Tech, which I greatly enjoyed. I assist my daughter, who lives with me, in raising three Special Needs children. I currently serve as a Family Search Director (now called Coordinator), which I enjoy – it keeps my fingers on the pulse of genealogy and the FamilySearch Family Tree program. We are a four generational home which includes: my mother, me, my daughter, 3 grandchildren, and three dogs, one of which is special needs himself. My hobby, when I have the time, is visiting cemeteries to take pictures and post them on Find A Grave and Billion Graves; transcribing when I get a chance as well. And yes, I am still working on my Riverside Cemetery Babies and Veterans projects– www.RiversideCemeteryDenver.Com. You can’t miss me in a parking lot, I have a bumper sticker that states: I brake for Cemeteries.