2027 Suzanne Johnston Memorial Scholarship
Deadline December 31, 2026.
The Suzanne Johnston Memorial Scholarship is a yearly award of up to $250 to a current WPGS member to assist with the cost of attendance at a local, regional, or national event. or virtual genealogy conference. Suzie passed away in 2019 after 44 years of WPGS volunteering, serving as a Board member, chairperson of several committees, First Families reviewer, and genealogical researcher extraordinaire. She studied new techniques not only to further her own research but also to assist others, making this scholarship a fitting way to honor her memory.
The Scholarship, only available to current WPGS members (you can join here), has been awarded every year since its creation. To be considered, members must write a 250-400-word statement explaining how attendance at their chosen conference will benefit their family history research. Consider the following suggestions for your application:
- Describe why you chose this particular conference. Was it the speakers? The syllabus? The location?
- Explain how you expect this conference to help in your family history research.
- Describe how this conference might aid in a research issue specific to Western Pennsylvania, if any.
- If you chose this conference because it offered information you could not get elsewhere, explain your reasoning.
- Briefly describe your genealogical training to date (if any). This may be a separate document and does not need to be included in the word count.
Please make your response readable, using proper grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure, and stay within the required word limit.
Download the application form. The deadline for receipt of this Application Submission for 2026 conferences is December 31, 2025. Submit your completed application via PDF to scholarship@wpgs.org or mail to:
Scholarship Committee
Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Third Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-4007
2025-2026 Winner: Congratulations to Dianne O’Shea, recipient of this year’s Suzanne Johnston Memorial Scholarship! Dianne will use the scholarship to attend the virtual course Adoption in Genealogy: Research and Recording offered by the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy in Fall 2026. She is researching her paternal grandfather, who was born at the Roselia Foundling Home in Pittsburgh in 1897, and hopes this course will help her break through her brick wall.
2024-2025 Winner: Kaityln Pauley will attend GRIP in July, taking “Mining and Extraction: Building Skills with the Coal Industry.” Kaitlyn lives in coal country in West Virginia, and this class will help her understand the records available for the coal industry while improving her methodology. “The topic is close to my heart as my husband’s family has a proud history of coal mining, and it will provide me the opportunity to learn more about his family as well as supplement the life stories of those I professionally research for in West Virginia, Western Pennsylvania, and beyond.”
2023-2024 Winners: In honor of WPGS’ 50th year, we have awarded a regular scholarship and one for the 50th conference.
Trish Buben has always had a passion for the people and stories of the past. With a bachelor’s degree in history, she is now focusing her efforts on genealogy. She is currently enrolled in ProGen and plans to attend the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR) this summer to learn the Fundamentals of DNA for Genealogists.
Susan Rogers has been researching her family history for fourteen years and now teaches genealogy classes for the Sierra College OLLI program. She is retired from a 40-year career in marketing communications and has lived with her husband and son in the Sierra foothills of Grass Valley, California, for 23 years. She is thrilled to come to the Conference in person.
2022-2023 Winner: Lindsay Downs is the recipient of the Suzanne Johnston Memorial Scholarship for this membership year. Lindsay plans to use the scholarship to enroll in Mastering Genealogical Documentation at the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh in June 2023. As a self-taught genealogist, Lindsay is pursuing a more formal education to enhance her skills and eventually pursue genealogy as a career. As one of the editors of the Quarterly, Lindsay also hopes to apply what she learns about genealogical documentation to her work, helping authors ensure their articles meet WPGS’s evidence standards.
2021-2022 Winners: Since the pandemic has taken a toll on the availability of the WPGS resources, we have decided to award two scholarships. The full $250 scholarship winner is Erica Curtis, Member #8397. Erica enrolled in Walking in Penn’s Woods: Pennsylvania Research, a course at the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP.) The second $150 award went to Cynthia Steinhoff, Member #8344, to attend Beyond Name and Date: Advanced Practices in Social History, which is also offered at GRIP.
2020-2021 Winner: Laura Cubbage-Draper, a WPGS member from Metuchen, New Jersey, was awarded the Suzanne Johnston Memorial Scholarship this membership year. She chose the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, January 20-15, 2021, and since she was previously registered, she was reimbursed by check for the $250 award.
If you are interested in submitting an application for the 2026-2027 Scholarship, download the application form at https://wpgs.org/about-page/scholarship/