John S. Shirk Memorial Heritage Award
This award has been established in honour and memory of the late John S. Shirk, 1916 - 2008, who made multifaceted contributions to the Schürch Family Association. The purpose of the award is to recognize an outstanding contribution on the part of any Schürch descendant that contributes to, encourages, or advances our understanding of our Schürch heritage, and to encourage participation in the Schürch Family Association, particularly among younger people.
Recipients
August 11, 2012 Justin K. Houser
August 2, 2014 Thomas A. Sherk
August 6, 2016 René Schürch
July 28, 2018 LaVerne G. Schirch
August 5, 2022 Susan Shirk
August 27, 2024 Nora Hassal
July 25, 2026 Carolyn Strecker
The award this year, as confirmed by the Executive Committee, goes to Carolyn Strecker. Carolyn is a native of Lock Haven, PA, and a descendant of Code E Ulrich through his son Johannes. Her code is E326313713.
Through her interest in genealogy she has helped many Schürch descendants by painstakingly entering thousands of descendants from various resources into our genealogical database, checking and re-checking for accuracy, and regularly making sure that the database is updated on various websites for the public to access.
Carolyn is meticulous in recording information in the database. When she finds something that looks off, she spends hours or days doing her own research to sort things out. She is detail-oriented, an exacting researcher in her own right and has a wonderful way with people. She has a lovely way of extracting and challenging information.
Carolyn receiving the John S. Shirk award the 2026 reunion from president Stephen Shirk.