My wife Anna is my best friend and my sweetheart. In March 2016 we celebrated spending fifty wonderful years together. We've proved that a boy from "sticks" and a girl from the big city (Long Beach, California) can not only get along together, but thrive. Anna is an exceptionally talented pianist who fills my life with good music.

Anna shares my love for genealogy and we enjoy doing research together whether at home, in the library or in the field. A very exciting event in our lives occurred in Mid-March 1997. Anna received her acceptance into BYU's Family History degree program which she started in the fall of 1997. Almost 30 years before she was nearing a degree in Business Education at BYU when I rudely graduated and accepted a job out in Washington, D.C. We are both very excited that she was able to resume her studies and earn a Bachelor's Degree. We were even more excited when her first semester's grade point average came back as 4.0!! She continued an unbelievable grade record and finished her course work with one B+, one A-, and every thing else as A. I am both very proud of her effort and achievement, and very thankful that we all survived it alive! Her graduation took place in August 1999.

A computer and communications professional by trade, I'm now retired and enjoying a more laid back life.

I spent a good part of my working career helping implement computers and networks at the U. S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. While there I helped implement the first terminal-based computer systems in support of the House; also one of the earliest large-scale local area networks in the country, connecting thousands of terminals and hundreds of computers on Capitol Hill. I enjoyed and learned a great deal from the technical challenges involved. It was also very interesting (although sometimes disheartening!) to learn more about our country's political process from the Washington perspective. But I survived that experience, and returned from it having seen far more positive than negative about the institutions there. And I met and worked for two individuals at polar opposites on the spectrum of politicians I'm sure. At the top end was Congressman Augustus Hawkins of California, and at the bottom was Congressman Wayne Hayes of Ohio, both of whom supervised the computer organization during part of my time in Washington. There is no doubt that Mr. Hawkins was the best loved and Mr. Hayes the most hated. Guess who was responsible for the most progress? It sure wasn't the congressman from Ohio!

For seven years, I was Manager of Network Administration for Geneva Steel in Utah Valley where I was responsible for building a plant-wide fiber optic backbone and planning for implementation of ATM. Geneva was the only integrated manufacturer (from raw materials) of steel in the Western United States and they had a well-earned reputation as one of the cleanest steel mills in the world. Alas, in recent years they were seriously impacted by the general problems in the U.S. steel industry and they are now gone for good.

For another seven years I provided similar support for Dynix in Provo, Utah. Over time they were also known as Ameritech Library Services and epixtech. They have now merged with another company named Sirsi. There I was a working, hands-on manager of a group managing internal company networks and computers that supported internal company systems. Since we were heavily involved with the Internet and with libraries all around the world, I was really excited to be there. I love libraries and use them a lot.

During my college years, while my buddies were falling in love with co-eds, I fell in love with computers and took every computer-related class I could find. (Aha! I saw that word "nerd" flash through your mind! I'll have you know that back during the pre-cyber days they called us "brains" and it was usually a positive statement, not a put-down.) During my senior year studying accounting, Brigham Young University began offering a computer science degree. By sticking around a little longer, I met the requirements for both degrees and I became a member of the first class of computer scientists to graduate from BYU. I REALLY enjoy working (and playing) with computers. Sometimes it seems almost a sin to get paid for doing something that's so much fun. Whoops! I hope my boss doesn't read this far.

In order to harness and meld my enthusiasm for family, computers, and genealogy I've become a writer and electronic publisher for genealogists. My work has appeared in publications like the NGS/CIG Digest, Genealogical Computing, Pioneers, and the Journal of Online Genealogy. My other "publications" circulate on computer bulletin board systems, commercial electronic networks, and the Internet. In some cases I'm the author; in others I've cooperated with the author to create an electronic version of a publication I feel has value to the online community of genealogists; in yet other cases I've just helped get something online that was totally created by someone else. Elsewhere in these pages you will find links to my other web pages.

During May 1998, while enjoying a great National Genealogical Society Conference in Denver, I received the surprise of my life. I had been told that I should be in attendance at the Friday night banquet as I would be receiving an award. When Anna and I arrived, we were surprised to be escorted to the front to sit at a table with President Shirley Wilcox, Executive Director Fran Shane, and several NGS Directors. At the end of the awards ceremony, it was announced that I had been elected a Fellow of the Society, rarified company indeed. It was a great honor, which I do not feel worthy of, but that I will treasure always. The esteem of such a classy organization, and such great individuals, means a lot to me. I'm grateful for the opportunity I've had to be a part of NGS and through it to provide service to the world-wide community of genealogists.

Having been a long time publisher on the Internet, I've been through the web hosting wars and have tried many different hosting providers. Unfortunately, in the process I have had some very unpleasant experiences as providers have failed, servers have gone belly up, and support organizations have treated their clients badly. I think I have finally found a provider that is inexpensive while watching out for their customers needs. They provide phone support, not just trouble ticket based support, and to my delight I found them to be located within a few miles of my home. If good support and excellent performance, and low prices for a massive unlimited GB of disk storage and including a free domain name sounds unbelievable, you should take a look at "bluehost" which I now use exclusively.

This is part of the personal home page of Mike St. Clair. It is located on the Web at
http://www.saintclair.org/index.html
and was last updated on 30 January 2019.