Pursuing The Past with Pat Biallas

 

I’m a baby boomer.

 

I’m the youngest of eight children produced by a proud graduate of the University of Notre Dame (class of 1931) and a mother who never quite finished high school.

 

I grew up in an Irish, Catholic working class neighborhood in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the 1960s and 1970s where the Desmonds, McGuires, McGoffs and Cagneys all rooted for the green and white “Fighting Irish” of St. Augustine grade school and Msgrs. Hackett and O’Brien High Schools.

 

Like so many other boomers, I’ve been a witness to history: man on the moon, race riots, hippies, Viet Nam, civil unrest, and an assassination of a U.S. president. And that was just in the 1960s…

 

I’m a happily married mother of two college-educated daughters. I was incredibly blessed as a stay-at-home mom to be with them daily as I both guided them and watched them grow into the beautiful, successful, young women they are today.

 

I have a BA degree in Journalism from the University of Detroit-Mercy (Detroit, MI), and an AAS in Graphic Arts Technology from the College of DuPage, (Glen Ellyn, Illinois).

 

I’m an empty nester (sort of…).

 

I’m a substitute teacher in the local public schools.

 

I’m a writer whose journalistic pursuits have included writing and editing for magazines; doing public and community relations for both profits and non-profits; and producing a weekly column (before there were blogs!) for my local community newspaper.

 

I’m a volunteer who has served on both the Parent Board of Butler University (Indianapolis, IN) and the Parent Advisory Committee of the Children’s Theatre of Western Springs (Western Springs, IL).

 

I’m a driver with the American Cancer Society’s Road to Recovery Program driving patients who need rides to their cancer treatments.

 

I’m also a person with a passion for the past as it relates to my family’s history—particularly Irish history and Chicago history of the late 19th and early 20th century.

 

And in the months ahead I’ll be applying that same passion to what I research and write for Pursuing the Past—a new column I’ll be penning for The In-Depth Genealogist.

 

I’m both honored and excited to be welcomed into the IDG family as one of its featured columnists. I look forward with anticipation to what I can offer (and what I can learn!) as it relates to Pursuing Our Past.

 

See you online at IDG!