The Authors
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Dr. John P. Elcik, IVCo-Author, Webmaster Email: john@mycousins.org |
| John’s parents were John P. Elcik, III (1928-2011) and Jacqueline Skillin (1930-1993). They divorced, and both had second marriages. John, III saw that all three sons (John, James, and Jeffrey) received college educations. Dr. John P. Elcik, IV married Pamela McClanahan, and they have two children: J.P. and Michelle Elcik. John retired from a marketing career for administrative software in Higher Education. His interests include child advocacy (as a Mason and Shriner), animal rescue, education (especially eLearning), mysteries, and science fiction.
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John nominated himself to write an eBook about a genealogy journey through family closets and garages. And while there are few skeletons found in the closets, there are some scary garages to visit. We have photos. John’s cousin Jack made the mistake of volunteering his wife
The Authors
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Beth Purinton GamacheCo-Author, Genealogist, Photographer Email: beth@mycousins.org |
| Beth’s parents were Norman Allan Purinton (1919-2010) and Alberta Phyllis Goddard (1922-2010). She has 3 brothers, Carl R., Lewis G., and Allan N. Purinton. She grew up in Durham, Maine, attended Durham Schools, and graduated from Lisbon High School. Beth graduated from business college in 1969 and was married to Jack Gamache that same year. They have two children Loni Beth and Derek Gamache. When their children were in 3rd and 5th grade, Beth took a job at the local elementary school as an Ed Tech in Kindergarten and spent 19 years doing what she loved. She was known as Mrs. G. because the teacher she worked with was Mrs. Gamache, so they shortened her name to “Mrs. G.” Mrs. Gamache is married to Dan Gamache, Jack’s 2nd cousin. Beth started her Ancestry journey after having found a 2nd cousin living in Bowdoin, Maine. She never knew he existed only 5 miles from where she lived. Beth called him after visiting a cemetery and finding a poster with his name and phone # on it. They met at his house, and she discovered his mother had done some family genealogy, all handwritten. That was before Ancestry.com existed. Her cousin let Beth bring home the album his mother created, and Beth’s interest soared from there.
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Beth spent the next 2 years working on her family genealogy. Beth started with the Purinton surname. She would add Gamache, Elcik, Byrus family trees and eventually have six separate family trees.