Volunteers of the month – March 2023

The March 2023 Dnangels.org Volunteers of the month are Christine Brown and Lauren Nicole.

Christine Brown

Christine’s profile perhaps sums up her sense of humor the best, “Women are Angels
And when someone breaks our wings, our spirit, or our hearts… We simply continue to fly… on a broomstick…We are flexible like that …”

When asked what the Angels thought about her,Case Manager Rachel Kiley Trout said, “Don’t let Christine’s quiet, unassuming nature fool you, she is a force to be reckoned with. She will methodically hunt down the proper records for a family, to make sure everything is set straight in the tree. She is also tenacious, I’ve seen her revisit particularly challenging cases, day after day, leaving no stone unturned, trying to identify any key piece of information.” And Kate Penney Howard added, “Christine is OBSESSED! We have been working on trying to identify the true identity of an elusive, made-up-name ancestor (Amohamed Milai, do you know him?) and we’re lucky he is deceased because if he wasn’t, Christine would be peeking in his windows and going through his trash!” Even Cindy Billingsley Arocha, Assistant Team Lead for Intake said, “I’ve heard great things about her.”

Indeed who is this Christine? Christine has a soft spot for cats. She has her Pretty Penny, Mr. Willa, and a recent addition, a shy pregnant feral cat that showed up on her Lanai (that’s Floridian for “porch” y’all) she has dubbed “Black Betty.” She also enjoys gardening that much I can tell from stalking her Facebook, and there are some adorable children on there too. But this enigma wrapped in a mystery is best known for her persistent research skillz. Her Team Lead, Ashlee Krump says, Christine Brown has been a GEM! A true unique and rare identify. She is tenacious! She is detailed! She is reliable! She is very kind and just all-around a fabulous team member to have. I have had more than one case where Christine has been such an enormous help, I am not sure what I would have done without her.” Case Manager Heidi Billingsley Keuper says she does fantastic WATOs.

I was able to uncover this about her. She’s a former archaeologist, former medical biller, and current Stay-at-home-mom and homeschooling parent. She LOVES all things research and enjoy beating down brick walls. If international search is needed,she is able to research civil records recorded in Italian and Spanish and can muddle her way through French and German civil records with Google Translate.

And now you know!

Lauren Nicole

I’d like to echo the words of Rachel Kiley Trout, “I can sum up Lauren in 4 words, ‘Rookie of the Year’. Her nearly overnight transformation from no experience in Genetic Genealogy to her recent case-solve stats is truly incredible. My guess is that she observed the best of what each veteran angel had to offer, and then combined them into some ultra-efficient method. Regardless of how she created it, I for one would love a peek at the recipe to her ‘secret-sauce’.” Lauren came to us as a client, but she pretty much solved her own case. She joined DNAngels first as an Intake Specialist, but quickly became a Research Assistant too, and had a knack for identifing living people that others could not. She quickly moved up to Apprentice Angel and knocked out her required cases and earned her wings in record time. And she continually gets positive feedback from her clients who are just in love with this Texan.

Fellow Texan and Case Manager Heidi Billingsley Keuper said, “Lauren impressed me from the very beginning. I had her assist on some of my cases and thought then that she was going to go places in the organization and FAST! She is one of the quickest learners I have ever worked with. Her genuine personality and great sense of humor is an added bonus!” Assistant Intake Team Lead, Cindy Billingsley Arocha said, “Lauren is a force to be reckoned with – She is smart, driven, and has a passion for helping others identify their truth. She brings so much to our organization and we are lucky that she joined us! I first met Lauren when I screened her as a client and then I stayed in her room to follow her journey. I was amazed at how involved she was with her own case and how she wasn’t afraid to do the hard work of reaching out to matches and helping to identify the connections, even on the smallest of matches. Then when Lauren joined DNAngels as an Intake Specialist I was impressed by her ability to quickly learn as well as her great attitude. I was so glad to have her on our Intake Team! When I heard she helped an angel with a case she had screened (because she had mutual relatives with the client and knew of the match), I asked her if she had an interest in also being on the Research team, which she did. Once joining the Research team, she proved to be a valuable research assistant and even solved some of the cases with her identifys. Then Lauren was promoted to Angel in training where she quickly earned her Angel Wings. In a very short time, Lauren has gone from Client to Intake Specialist to Research, to Angel, excelling in all of her roles.” Intake Team Lead Enjoli DeLeon agrees, “She started with us and I was so impressed as to how fast she picked up training! She is amazing addition to our team and I’m so thankful to have her!”

Lauren has a degree in Computer Science is married with two children and enjoys true crime documentaries and researching her own family tree.