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91-646: While some claim that RootsTech is an outgrowth of three former conferences, the Conference on Computerized Family History and Genealogy, the Family History Technology Workshop and the FamilySearch Developers Conference, these three conferences were invited to participate in the original 2011 RootsTech, but some of them remain in existence today. The RootsTech conference was an entirely new and different event. Rootstech began as

182-414: A USA Today / CBS / Gallup poll recorded her approval rating at 82 percent and disapproval at 13 percent. That places Bush as one of the most popular first ladies. Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said, "She is more popular, and more welcome, in many parts of the country than the president ... In races where the moderates are in the most trouble, Laura Bush is the one who can do

273-722: A Master of Science degree in Library Science from the University of Texas at Austin . She was soon employed as a librarian at the Kashmere Gardens Branch at the Houston Public Library . The following year, she moved back to Austin and took another job as a librarian in the Austin Independent School District school Dawson Elementary until 1977. She reflected on her employment experiences to

364-500: A July 2004 interview, Teresa Heinz , wife of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry , said, "Well, you know, I don't know Laura Bush. But she seems to be calm, and she has a sparkle in her eye, which is good. But I don't know that she's ever had a real job—I mean, since she's been grown up." Heinz later apologized for the remark, stating that she had forgotten that Laura Bush was a teacher and librarian prior to her marriage. Bush stated that she forgave her while insisting her apology

455-540: A campaign speech." She soon relented and gave her first stump speech for him in 1978 on the courthouse steps in Muleshoe, Texas . After narrowly winning the primary , he lost the general election. Bush attended the inauguration of her father-in-law George H. W. Bush as Ronald Reagan 's vice-president in January 1981, after Reagan won the 1980 United States presidential election . She credited her father-in-law's election to

546-422: A concept discussed by former CEO of FamilySearch, Jay Verkler and FamilySearch Chief Genealogical Officer David Rencher to help draw attention to the development problems faced in the world of genealogy. In July of 2010 Anne Teerlink, AG©, CG® (formerly Anne Roach) was asked to design, roadmap, and develop the conference from scratch and have it ready by the beginning of February 2011. She was brought in to work on

637-461: A conference in London , with almost 10,000 people attending. RootsTech Connect 2021 was transitioned to a free virtual experience hosted online in 11 languages. It was attended by over 1 million participants from 242 countries who were able to watch approximately 2,000 genealogical class sessions on-demand taught by experts, archivists and companies. The 2021 conference included a Genetic Genealogy track,

728-548: A dry, environment-controlled facility built into Granite Mountain in Little Cottonwood Canyon , near Salt Lake City , Utah . The storage facility is known as the Granite Mountain Records Vault. The vault stores over 2.4 million rolls of microfilm and 1 million microfiches. FamilySearch operates over 6,300 FamilySearch Centers in 140 countries around the world as of 2023. The centers are branches of

819-612: A group of children in 2003, saying, "I worked as a teacher and librarian and I learned how important reading is in school and in life." Bush met her husband in July 1977 when mutual friends Joe and Jan O'Neill invited them to a backyard barbecue at their home. He proposed to her at the end of September and they were married on November 5 of that year, the day after her 31st birthday, at the First United Methodist Church in Midland,

910-501: A little red dress can save lives." She has undertaken a signature personal element of traveling around the country and talking to women at hospital and community events featuring the experiences of women who live, or had lived, with the condition. This outreach was credited with directly saving the life of at least one woman who went to the hospital after experiencing symptoms of a heart attack after hearing her message. With her predecessor, former First Lady Nancy Reagan , Bush dedicated

1001-596: A lot of difficult challenges right now in the United States ;... All of those decisions that the President has to make surrounding each one of these very difficult challenges are hard. They're hard decisions to make. And of course some people are unhappy about what some of those decisions are. But I think people know that he is doing what he thinks is right for the United States, that he's doing what he – especially in

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1092-698: A number of databases. While access to the records is always free, some records have restricted access, and can only be viewed at a FamilySearch Center, an Affiliate Library or by LDS members. FamilySearch.org also contains the catalog of the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. The library holds genealogical records for over 110 countries, territories, and possessions, including over 2.4 million rolls of microfilmed genealogical records; 742,000 microfiche ; 490,000 books, serials, and other formats; and 4,500 periodicals. FamilySearch FamilyTree (FSFT)

1183-586: A pediatric reading program; and Ready to Read, an early childhood educational program. She raised money for public libraries through her establishment of the Texas Book Festival , in 1995. She established the First Lady's Family Literacy Initiative, which encouraged families to read together. Bush further established "Rainbow Rooms" across the state, in an effort to provide emergency services for neglected or abused children. Through this, she promoted

1274-481: A president to deliver the weekly presidential radio address. She used the opportunity to discuss the plight of women in Afghanistan leading up to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan , saying "The brutal oppression of women is a central goal of the terrorists." Her husband was originally to give the address but he felt that she should do it; she later recalled, "At that moment, it was not that I found my voice. Instead, it

1365-703: A result of her many trips abroad where she witnessed how literacy benefited children in poorer nations. On July 28, 2008, she visited Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in Flat Rock, North Carolina , where she met with superintendent Connie Backlund and the Friends of Carl Sandburg Home's President Linda Holt as well as various students from Boys and Girls Club of Henderson County, North Carolina . On October 3, 2008, she visited Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum where she praised her works such as Farmer Boy , These Happy Golden Years and Little House on

1456-491: A single formal event, Laura worked for women's and children's causes including health, education, and literacy . She implemented four major initiatives: Take Time For Kids, an awareness campaign to educate parents and caregivers on parenting; family literacy, through cooperation with the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy , she urged Texas communities to establish family literacy programs; Reach Out and Read,

1547-647: A small-scale yet important event directed only at developers using the FamilySearch Platform. The FamilySearch Developer's Conference was easily incorporated into RootsTech since Gordon Clarke became a critical part of bringing in software developers who trusted him to participate in RootsTech. Clarke was at every meeting of the inaugural RootsTech and developed the initial call-for-papers system for speakers overnight among other essential roles. Teerlink had previously worked with Christophe Giraud-Carrier, who chaired

1638-466: A song contest and a virtual expo hall with 85 exhibitors. FamilySearch FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization and website offering genealogical records, education, and software. It is operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and is part of the church's Family History Department (FHD). The Family History Department was originally established in 1894, as

1729-645: Is a "one world tree," or a unified database that aims to contain one entry for each person recorded in genealogical records. All FamilySearch users are able to add persons, link them to existing persons or merge duplicates. Sources, images, and audio files can also be attached to persons in the tree. There are also several features specific to the membership of the LDS Church, facilitating temple ordinance work. In keeping with an agreement with Jewish groups and to prevent abuse, performing LDS ordinances for Holocaust victims or celebrities results in account suspension until

1820-553: Is also credited with creating a national initiative called "Ready to Read, Ready to Learn", which promotes reading at a young age. To promote American patriotic heritage in schools, she helped launch the National Anthem Project . In 2006, Bush and media executives worked together to provide a $ 500,000 grant for school libraries along the Gulf Coast which had been devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Immediately following

1911-566: Is the world's largest family history and technology conference in the world. It is the successor to three former conferences: the Conference on Computerized Family History and Genealogy, the Family History Technology Workshop and the FamilySearch Developers Conference. The main service of the FamilySearch website is to offer access to digital images and indexes of genealogical records. These images can be searched along with

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2002-668: Is treated like a rock star on the campaign trail – with local Republicans lining up for photographs and autographs – as she criss-crosses the country to help candidates." Bush relied on a strategy of praising the Republican candidate for their achievements and attending events alongside them. In September 2008, Bush spoke during the first night of the 2008 Republican National Convention , her joint appearance with Cindy McCain geared toward raising hurricane relief funds for victims of Hurricane Gustav . Laura Bush's approval ratings have consistently ranked very high. In January 2006,

2093-484: The FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah . The Family Tree section allows user-generated content to be contributed to the genealogical database. As of March 2023 , there are over 1.5 billion individuals in the tree and the historical records database contains over 5.7 billion digital images, including digitized books, digitized microfilm, and other digital records. GSU, the predecessor of FamilySearch,

2184-674: The Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU); it is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch maintains a collection of records, resources, and services designed to help people learn more about their family history. Facilitating the performance of Latter-day Saint ordinances for deceased relatives is another major aim of the organization. Although it requires user account registration, it offers free access to its resources and service online at FamilySearch.org. In addition, FamilySearch offers personal assistance at more than 6,400 FamilySearch centers in 140 countries, including

2275-603: The Library of Congress to launch the annual National Book Festival . More than 60 organizations that promote reading, literacy, and libraries—including the National Basketball Association participated. Bush served as Honorary Chair from 2001 to 2008. In January 2002, Bush testified before the Senate Committee on Education, asking for higher teachers' salaries and better training for Head Start programs. She

2366-634: The September 11 attacks , Bush was taken to inside the White House and placed in an underground bunker, later being met by her husband, who had returned to Washington from Florida. Two weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks, Bush inaugurated a music concert at the Kennedy Center , organized to raise funds for families of the victims. Though she received applause, she returned the compliment to members of

2457-532: The September 11, 2001 attacks , Bush spoke regarding America's children: "We need to reassure our children that they are safe in their homes and schools. We need to reassure them that many people love them and care for them, and that while there are some bad people in the world, there are many more good people." The following day, she composed open letters to America's families, focusing on elementary and middle school students, which she distributed through state education officials. She took an interest in mitigating

2548-706: The Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine from 1910 to 1940. The GSU began microfilming records of genealogical importance in 1938. In 1963, the microfilm collection was moved to the newly completed Granite Mountain Records Vault for long-term preservation. In 1975, the GSU became the LDS Church's Genealogical Department, which later became the FHD. At that time, its head officer was renamed president from executive director, starting during Theodore M. Burton 's term. However,

2639-405: The war on terror , what he thinks he is obligated to do for the people in the United States, and that is to protect them ... When his polls were really high they weren't on the front page." During the January 2005 second inauguration ceremonies for her husband, Laura Bush was looked highly upon by People magazine, The Washington Post , and others for her elegance and fashion sense. At

2730-519: The 43rd president of the United States. Bush was previously the first lady of Texas from 1995 to 2000 when her husband was governor. Born in Midland, Texas , Bush graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in education , and took a job as a second grade teacher. After attaining her master's degree in library science at the University of Texas at Austin , she

2821-647: The Adopt-a-Caseworker Program to provide support for Child Protective Services . She used her position to advocate Alzheimer's disease and breast cancer awareness as well. Her husband announced his campaign for President of the United States in mid-1999, something that she agreed to. She did say, however, that she had never dreamed that he would run for office. The Bush campaign worked to assure voters that as First Lady, she would not seek to emulate then-First Lady Hillary Clinton , who had faced controversy for leading several policy initiatives from within

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2912-615: The BYU Computer Science Department. Cash prizes were also available for student computer science contests. Class tracks included Technology Users (TU) and Technology Creators (TC) although anyone was welcome to attend either track. Also, since technology submitted up to a year in advance can become outdated, the "unconferencing sessions" allowed anyone to sign up the morning of each conference day to present their newest cutting-edge technologies and methodologies presented in 15 minute speed sessions. Meetingplaces were set up in

3003-598: The Family History Department was separated from the Church History Department , becoming its own department. In 2008, the Vatican issued a statement calling the practice known as baptism for the dead "erroneous" and directing Catholic dioceses to keep parish records from Latter-day Saints performing genealogical research . In 1998, the GSU began digital imaging of records and in about August 1998

3094-588: The FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City , Utah . The library was built in 1985 as a successor to previous libraries run by the Genealogical Society of Utah. The library is open to the public and has a large collection of international genealogical materials, including microfilm, books, and digital materials. The library's catalog and many of their digital materials are located at the FamilySearch website. FamilySearch stores copies of their records in

3185-423: The FamilySearch Library, often located within LDS Church buildings. Their purpose is to help people with their genealogy and provide access to and help with genealogical materials and software provided by FamilySearch. Laura Bush Laura Lane Bush ( née Welch ; born November 4, 1946) is an American educator who was the first lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009 as the wife of George W. Bush ,

3276-703: The First Ladies Red Dress Collection at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in May 2005. It is an exhibit containing red suits worn by former First Ladies Lady Bird Johnson , Betty Ford , Rosalynn Carter , Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush , Hillary Clinton , and Laura Bush meant to raise awareness by highlighting America's first ladies. She has participated in fashion shows displaying red dresses worn on celebrities as well. Bush's mother, Jenna Welch,

3367-888: The LDS Church receiving free subscriptions with these companies. They also have a standing relationship with BillionGraves, in which the photographed and indexed images of graves are both searchable on FamilySearch and are linked to individuals in the family tree. At the end of 2015, FamilyTree had 1.1 billion persons added by 2.47 million contributors. In August 2017, FamilySearch discontinued distribution of physical microfilm to its family history centers due to large-scale availability of digital images of those films and planned digitization of remaining films. In May 2018, FamilySearch added and digitized its 2 billionth record. In September 2020, FamilySearch announced that it now includes 8 billion names, 3.2 billion digital images, and 490,000 digital books, with over 1 million new records each day. 7 billion names from almost every country were added within

3458-488: The LDS Church. On 16 April 2013 FamilySearch completely revamped the site design generally, with new features and a changed color scheme. Some of the new features include an interactive fan chart and some printing capabilities, as well as the ability to add photos to Family Tree. In February 2014, FamilySearch announced partnerships with Ancestry.com , findmypast and MyHeritage , which includes sharing massive amounts of their databases with those companies, and members of

3549-610: The LDS Church. FamilySearch is currently working with genealogical societies all around the world to index local projects. At the end of 2010, 548 million vital records had been transcribed and made publicly available through the FamilySearch website. In April 2013, FamilySearch Indexing completed their goal to offer 1 billion indexed records online. FamilySearch offers free lessons on FamilySearch.org to help people learn how to find their ancestors. The topics range from basic research to training on specific record types and are designed for both beginners and experienced researchers. Most of

3640-483: The Prairie , the last of which she had felt an association with as a child. During the same Laura Ingalls Wilder's estate visit, she said that she read her books to her daughters and gave the writer Save America's Treasures grant. On September 11, 2001, Bush had been hosting her in-laws George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush at the White House and was scheduled to give a testimony to Congress on education. Instead, during

3731-466: The Salt Palace where nearly 13,000 attended in person with over 100,000 remote participants. At the 2015 RootsTech conference, Laura Bush and her daughter were keynote speakers. Over 25,000 people were reported to have attended the 2016 RootsTech from 50 US states and 30 countries. In 2019 paid attendees dropped by 10% and live stream views dropped by 28% compared to 2018. In October 2019, RootsTech held

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3822-444: The White House despite being unelected. When asked who she would be like out of the past First Ladies, she insisted it would be herself. In July, she delivered a keynote address to the delegates at the 2000 Republican National Convention, which put her on the national stage. In December 2000, her husband resigned as Governor of Texas to prepare for his inauguration as President of the United States in January 2001. As First Lady, Bush

3913-760: The accident report released by the city of Midland in 2000, in response to an open-records request, she was not charged in the incident. In 2000 Laura Bush's spokesman said, "It was a very tragic accident that deeply affected the families and was very painful for all involved, including the community at large." In her book Spoken from the Heart , she said that the crash caused her to lose her faith "for many, many years". She attended James Bowie Elementary School, San Jacinto Junior High School, and Robert E. Lee High School in Midland. She graduated from Lee in 1964 and went on to attend Southern Methodist University in Dallas where she

4004-462: The addition of more databases as well as some digitized and indexed microfilms. On 16 November 2012, it was announced that the new Family Tree database would be available to all users of New FamilySearch, and that the New FamilySearch database would eventually be phased out. On 5 March 2013, it was announced that Family Tree would now be available to everyone, whether or not they were members of

4095-479: The annual National Book Festival in 2001. She encouraged education on a worldwide scale. She also advanced women's causes through The Heart Truth and Susan G. Komen for the Cure organizations. She represented the United States during her foreign trips, which tended to focus on HIV/AIDS and malaria awareness. She is the oldest living former First Lady, following the death of Rosalynn Carter in 2023. Laura Lane Welch

4186-438: The annual Family History Technology Workshop. Teerlink invited the students and developers from that conference to present their new developments and receive awards at the inaugural RootsTech 2011. The Family History Technology Workshop continues to operate separate from RootsTech as of 2023. Teerlink built a business model for RootsTech that was not common in 2011, forever changing the face of genealogy conferences. She knew that

4277-401: The audience and added that although the event was tragic, Americans had deepened their appreciation "of life itself, how fragile it can be, what a gift it is and how much we need each other". Senator Ted Kennedy , who introduced Bush at the event, praised her and said he knew his late brother, President John F. Kennedy , would also be proud of her. Bush believes the September 11 attacks ignited

4368-466: The best way to boost the number of conference attendees was to provide a free sample of the sessions by broadcasting select sessions for free. "Sometimes the only way to sell a delicious peach pie is to give everyone a free sample so that they want to buy more," Teerlink said, using Chick-fil-A as a model. Teerlink worked with Speaker Coordinator and Session chair Devon Ashby and monitored the enrollment of each course. She chose to stream those sessions with

4459-497: The building or the buildings falling." Later in her tenure, she was honored by the United Nations, as the body named her honorary ambassador for the United Nations' Decade of Literacy. In this position, she announced that she would host a Conference on Global Literacy. The conference, held in September 2006, encouraged a constant effort to promote literacy and highlighted many successful literacy programs. She coordinated this as

4550-466: The campaign trail, including in battleground states such as Florida. She advocated for his re-election in a speech at the 2004 Republican National Convention , and was credited with having raised $ 15 million for her husband's campaign as well as the Republican Party while still succeeding in keeping a separate schedule that allowed for her to tend to the traditional duties she had as First Lady. In

4641-664: The classes come from research consultants in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, but FamilySearch is also collaborating with partners such as the Mid-Continent Public Library in Independence, Missouri, to record and post classes. In 2007, it was decided to start a FamilySearch Research Wiki to help FamilySearch users and others researching genealogy and family history to find and share information on data sources and research tips. The first version of

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4732-467: The compound is where Bush family gatherings have been held for nearly 100 years. Bush became the First Lady of Texas when her husband was elected as the Governor of Texas and served as first lady of that state from January 17, 1995, to December 21, 2000. When asked about her interest in politics, she responded "It doesn't drive me." Though during her years in the Governor's Mansion , she did not hold

4823-472: The condition. She serves in the honorary position of ambassador for the program leading the federal government's effort to give women a "wake up call" about the risk of heart disease. She commented on the disease: "Like many women, I assumed heart disease was a man's disease and cancer was what we would fear the most. Yet heart disease kills more women in our country than all forms of cancer combined. When it comes to heart disease, education, prevention, and even

4914-427: The conference because of her experience in both the fields of technology and genealogy. From the beginning of her work on the 2011 Conference, Teerlink claimed that she was designing it to operate without her and that she had no plans to continue as the conference chair in the future. She prepared the original budget plans, did user testing to come up with the name of the conference, selected the chairs for each element of

5005-570: The conference, met with and selected the venue designers and food vendors, designed and created the entire roadmap for RootsTech, and incorporated elements not currently present in any genealogy conference in the world. According to Teerlink, she designed RootsTech was after the JavaOne conference, including the elements of unconferencing, gaming and fun in the expo hall, competitions and prizes offered to developers for solving genealogy-related problems, and primarily unpaid presenters. In order to help meet

5096-505: The country in 2002 for that year's midterm elections, attending and hosting fundraisers as well as giving speeches. Opponents deemed this as the Bush administration "working against women's rights issues and using women to do their dirty work" and partly a test for Bush on how well she could campaign for her husband in the impending two years when he sought re-election. During the 2004 election cycle, Bush made joint appearances with her husband on

5187-416: The decision was made by LDS Church leaders to build a genealogical website. In May 1999, the website first opened to the public as FamilySearch . The beta version, released April 1, almost immediately went offline, overloaded because of high popularity. Only a few days after the official launch, the website had received an estimated 100 million hits. To handle the load, site visitors were only given access to

5278-420: The delight of conference attendees Novell donated hundreds of bags and allowed Teerlink to select remnants from previous Novell conferences. Novell also added the RootsTech logo to the bags. Microsoft set up a gaming station working with Expo Hall Chair Carol Smith, and offered free operating systems and prizes for drawings. iPads were hot items that were offered as prizes for conference attendees. A Blogger's Booth

5369-406: The emotional effects of the attacks on children, particularly the disturbing images repeatedly replayed on television. On the one-year anniversary, she encouraged parents to instead read to their children, and perhaps light a candle in memoriam, saying, "Don't let your children see the images, especially on September 11, when you know it'll probably be on television again and again – the plane hitting

5460-622: The expo hall where genealogists and software developers could meet on equal ground to try to find solutions together. Computer labs, scanning stations, and research consultants were also incorporated in the expo hall to allow attendees to use the FamilySearch Library without leaving the conference. Keynote Speakers included Hewlett–Packard's Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Technology Officer Shane Robison, Internet Archive Founder Brewster Kahle, Allen County Public Library Historical Genealogy Department Manager Curt B. Witcher, and FamilySearch International CEO Jay Verkler. The 2011 conference

5551-537: The harshest criticism that could be bestowed upon her was that she was boring. She disagreed with Fox News ' Chris Wallace in 2006 when Wallace asked why the American people were beginning to lose confidence in President Bush, saying, "Well, I don't think they are. And I don't really believe those polls. I travel around the country, I see people, I see their response to my husband, I see their response to me. There are

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5642-534: The highest enrollment in order to provide the best possible experience for skeptics of this new conference. The free live-streaming of sessions has continued to be a successful element of the RootsTech Conference. Working with Family Search's strategic relations team, Teerlink helped define sponsor packages at Silver, Gold and Platinum packages. These included sponsors for prizes, speaker gifts, and special events that were not common to genealogy conferences. To

5733-451: The inauguration she wore a winter white cashmere dress and matching coat designed by Oscar de la Renta . Following the inauguration were the inaugural galas, to which Bush wore a pale, aqua lace gown, sprinkled with crystals, with long sleeves in a silver blue mist. The tulle gown was also designed for her by de la Renta. According to The Washington Post , "[I]t made her look radiant and glamorous." During her husband's second term , Bush

5824-491: The initial desired attendee numbers, Teerlink met with BYU's manager of Conferences and Workshops and offered remuneration for the use of their mailing list for their genealogy conference attendees. In return, John Best who worked for BYU's Conferences and Workshops organized and printed the syllabus for RootsTech 2011 and Teerlink named Best as co-chair of RootsTech 2011. Teerlink was already working closely with Gordon Clarke who held an annual FamilySearch Developer's Conference,

5915-589: The interest in the way Afghan women were treated. Another of her signature issues were those relating to the health and well-being of women. She established the Women's Health and Wellness Initiative and became involved with two major campaigns. Bush first became involved with The Heart Truth awareness campaign in 2003. It is an organization established by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to raise awareness about heart disease in women, and how to prevent

6006-495: The last 10 years. Since 2011, FamilySearch International has organized an annual family history and technology conference called RootsTech . It is held annually in the Salt Palace Convention Center , Salt Lake City, Utah . The conference is attended by professional and amateur genealogists, technology developers, and members of the LDS Church. In 2014 there were nearly 13,000 people in attendance. As of 2020, it

6097-419: The most good." Jude Ellison Sady Doyle reasoned that Bush was hard to dislike due to her adopting "the least partisan causes" such as literacy and breast cancer, which would attract the support of most Americans and her coming off as a "mild, polite, ordinary woman who might go to church with your mother, or organize suburban potlucks". Doyle furthered that her statements were never enough to offend others and

6188-445: The night of November 6, 1963, two days after her 17th birthday, Laura Bush ran a stop sign and struck another car, killing its driver. The victim was her close friend and classmate Michael Dutton Douglas. By some accounts, Douglas had been Bush's boyfriend at one time, but she stated that he was not her boyfriend at that time but rather a very close friend. Bush and her passenger, both 17, were treated for minor injuries. According to

6279-635: The person he is today." Bush traveled to Kuwait in April 1993, accompanying her in-laws as well as brothers-in-law Jeb and Marvin Bush after former president Bush was invited to return to the Middle East for the first time since his presidency. Several times a year, Bush and her husband travel to their sprawling family estate, the Bush compound , better known as Walker's Point. Located in Kennebunkport , Maine ,

6370-487: The presidency in a number of ways, such as delivering a keynote address at the 2000 Republican National Convention , which gained her national attention. She became first lady after her husband was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2001. Polled by The Gallup Organization as one of the most popular first ladies, Bush was involved in national and global concerns during her tenure. She continued to advance her trademark interests of education and literacy by establishing

6461-507: The researcher proves a legitimate family connection to the subject of their search. FamilySearch allows users to input same-sex marriages or other unions. Searchable indexes of the records on FamilySearch are created by volunteers of the FamilySearch Indexing program. To ensure greater accuracy, each batch of records is indexed by an indexer and is then checked by a more experienced indexer. Indexing volunteers need not be members of

6552-616: The same church in which she had been baptized . The couple honeymooned in Cozumel , Mexico. George W. Bush detailed his choice to marry Laura as the "best decision of [his] life". Laura, an only child, said she gained "brothers and sisters and wonderful in-laws" who all accepted her after she wed George W. Bush. The year after their marriage, the couple began campaigning for George W. Bush's 1978 Congressional candidacy. According to George Bush, when he asked her to marry him, she had said, "Yes. But only if you promise me that I'll never have to make

6643-534: The site for 15 minutes at a time. In November 1999, 240 million names were added, bringing the total number of entries to 640 million. In 2009, the LDS Church launched a collaborative tree known as "New FamilySearch". It was the precursor to the current "FamilySearch Family Tree", and was only available to church members. The system was an attempt to combine multiple genealogical submissions to FamilySearch's databases into one single tree, but it did not allow users to edit information that they had not submitted. It also

6734-448: The title "President of the Genealogical Society of Utah" and other GSU titles were still used and bestowed upon department officers. In 2000, the Church consolidated its Family History and Historical departments into the Family and Church History Department, and Richard E. Turley Jr. became managing director of the new department and president of the GSU. Later this decision was reversed and

6825-702: The vice presidency with giving her and her husband national exposure. The Bushes had tried to conceive for three years, but pregnancy did not happen easily. On November 25, 1981, Laura Bush gave birth to fraternal twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna . The twins were born five weeks early by an emergency Caesarean section in Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas , as Laura had developed life-threatening pre-eclampsia (toxemia). George W. Bush credited his wife with his decision to stop drinking in 1986. She reflected that she thought her husband "was drinking too much" amid her knowing it

6916-664: The wiki was built on the Plone wiki software product, but it was soon discovered that MediaWiki software was much more suitable, so in January 2008 it was moved to the MediaWiki platform. In the intervening years it was rolled out in other languages, and as of July 2014 it was available in 11 languages. The other language wikis are found via links at the bottom of the wiki homepage. The wiki in English had over 79,500 articles and over 150,000 registered users as of July 2014. FamilySearch operates

7007-575: The work of the Komen Foundation ... more women and men are beating breast cancer and beating the odds." She used her position to gain international support for the foundation through the Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research of the Americas, an initiative that unites experts from the United States, Brazil , Costa Rica and Mexico. In November 2001, she became the first person other than

7098-488: Was a little girl, my mother would read stories to me. I have loved books and going to the library ever since. In the summer, I liked to spend afternoons reading in the library. I enjoyed the Little House on the Prairie and Little Women books, and many others ... Reading gives you enjoyment throughout your life." Bush has also credited her second grade teacher, Charlene Gnagy, for inspiring her interest in education. On

7189-552: Was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta . She graduated in 1968 with a Bachelor of Science degree in education. After graduating from SMU, she began her career as a school teacher at Longfellow Elementary School in the Dallas Independent School District . She then taught for three years at John F. Kennedy Elementary School, a Houston Independent School District school in Houston , until 1972. In 1973, Bush attained

7280-405: Was as if my voice found me." Her words summarized one of the goals and moral rationales of the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and it became one of the more famous speeches of his administration. In May 2002, she made a speech to the people of Afghanistan through Radio Liberty . In March 2005, she made the first of three trips to that country as First Lady. Bush campaigned for Republicans around

7371-534: Was born on November 4, 1946, at Midland Memorial Hospital in Midland, Texas , the only child of Harold Bruce Welch and Jenna Louise ( née Hawkins) Welch. She is of English, French, and Swiss ancestry. Her father was a house builder and later successful real estate developer, while her mother worked as the bookkeeper for her father's business. Early on, her parents encouraged her to read, leading to what would become her love of reading. She said, "I learned [how important reading is] at home from my mother. When I

7462-454: Was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 78. She endured surgery and had no further signs of cancer. Laura Bush has become a breast cancer activist on her mother's behalf through her involvement in the Susan G. Komen for the Cure . She applauded the foundation's efforts in eliminating cancer and said, "A few short years ago, a diagnosis of breast cancer left little hope of recovery. But thanks to

7553-451: Was difficult to add sources to individuals in the tree or determine what was the correct information among multiple submissions. By April 2011, plans were in place to redesign the database into a more collaborative platform. In 2011, the FamilySearch website received a major redesign. The previous site had allowed users to only search one database at a time, but the new version allowed sitewide searches of multiple databases. It also included

7644-422: Was emceed by Anne Teerlink. Additional team members of the inaugural RootsTech who helped shape the face of future conferences were: Shipley Munson, Vice President of Marketing Ann Harrison, RootsTech Marketing Manager Gordon Clarke, RootsTech Affiliate Manager Carol Smith, Expo Hall Chair Ransome Love, Strategic Relations Manager Devon Ashby, Speaker Coordinator and Session Chair The first RootsTech conference

7735-604: Was employed as a librarian. Bush met her future husband, George W. Bush, in 1977, and they were married later that year. The couple had twin daughters in 1981. Bush's political involvement began during her marriage. She campaigned with her husband during his unsuccessful 1978 run for the United States Congress , and later for his successful Texas gubernatorial campaign. As First Lady of Texas, Bush implemented many initiatives focused on health, education, and literacy . In 1999–2000, she aided her husband in campaigning for

7826-582: Was established for the first time in genealogy history, using genealogy bloggers as a primary source of communicating the events surrounding RootsTech 2011. Chris Van der Kuyl of BrightSolid sponsored an evening event at the Clark Planetarium. Matthew and Brian Monahan, owners of Inflection offered leather journals and pens as speaker gifts. Additional sponsors for luncheons and other items included Ancestry.com, Federation for Genealogical Societies, New England Historic Genealogical Society, SharingTime.com and

7917-499: Was founded on 1 November 1894. Its purpose was to create a genealogical library to be used both by its members and other people, to share educational information about genealogy , and to gather genealogical records in order to perform religious ordinances for the dead. It was founded under the direction of LDS Church leaders, when the First Presidency appointed Franklin D. Richards as the first president. The society published

8008-510: Was held in Salt Lake City in February 2011, drawing around 3,000 people. It was held again in 2012, drawing 4,500 people. In 2013, it drew 6,700 registered attendees with over 13,600 remote attendees and many attendees and vendors coming from other countries around the world. RootsTech had become the largest genealogy and family history conference held in North America. The 2014 event was held at

8099-480: Was involved in issues of concern to children and women, both nationally and internationally. Her major initiatives included education and women's health. Early into the administration, Bush made it known that she would focus much of her attention on education. This included recruiting highly qualified teachers to ensure that young children would be taught well. She also focused on early child development. In 2001, to promote reading and education, she partnered with

8190-411: Was not his desired way of living. Approaching him, she related that her father had been alcoholic and it was not a pattern she wished to repeat in their family. She is also credited with having a stabilizing effect on his private life. According to People magazine reporter Jane Simms Podesta, "She is the steel in his back. She is a civilizing influence on him. I think she built him, in many ways, into

8281-429: Was unnecessary, citing her understanding of the "trick questions" asked by the media. Bush was a participant in the 2006 midterm elections, beginning her campaigning in April. Though her poll numbers had decreased from an 80% approval rating, they still superseded that of President Bush, whose approval rating was only praised by a third of Americans. Ed Henry of CNN noted Bush's popularity, writing, "The first lady

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