Barbara is a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) who was also recognized multiple times by her district and peers for the quality of her teaching. In addition to K-12 teaching, Barbara also worked as an adjunct at a local university teaching preservice teachers for 15 years. Barbara currently serves as Vice-President of the Minnesota Jewish Genealogical Society (MNJGS).

Barbara started her genealogical journey while planning for her American-born grandmother’s 100th birthday celebration. Census and other records confirmed all the vital information her grandmother remembered and Barbara started to research additional branches of her family. A connection from an Ancestry tree turned out to be a 2nd cousin 1X removed who knew her grandmother well. She remembers the thrill she felt when she uncovered her other grandmother’s passenger record into the United States as a 6 year old, something her grandmother never spoke about.

After retirement from public school teacher, these family history research experiences led Barbara to sign up for JewishGen classes with Phyllis Kramer where she learned to extract all the details from records and discovered unknown family branches in the US. Spellbound by genealogical research, Barbara joined Phyllis Kramer’s Galician research class and discovered records in Galicia for her family. Additional educational experiences include Basic Genealogy at the University of Strathsclyde and “All About the Mishpochah" at the Center for Jewish History in New York. Barbara enjoys solving puzzles and research so genealogy is a natural fit for her interests. She enjoys guiding others to make their own genealogical discoveries.