Meet
The
Board
Of
Directors

Michael Frederic Chenoweth

Chairperson


Michael Chenoweth was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1942. His father, Karl Chenoweth, was a commercial artist and his mother, Rosalind Barrows Chenoweth was a social worker.

Michael, the oldest of five children, grew up in central Indiana, where he attended North Central High School. After high school, he attended Butler University for a year and a half, then moved to Miami, Florida, to pursue his true love, boats. There he attended Miami-Dade College, the University of Miami, and finally Florida International University, where he graduated in 1974 with a BS degree in Environmental Technology.

Along the way, his education was interrupted by the US Army, which decided he should be an officer in the Corps of Engineers. His military career included infrastructure construction in Thailand in the 1960s, disaster management in the Southeast United States in the 1990s, and an assignment as the senior military environmental officer in Bosnia, Croatia and Hungary in 1996 and 1997. Michael retired from the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1998 as a Lieutenant Colonel. From 1977 to 1981, Michael attended the University of Miami Law School, eventually receiving a JD degree and LLM in Estate Planning. Michael opened his own law office and represented a variety of clients, including many environmental organizations. Most of his current legal work is advisory. He is on the boards of many nonprofit organizations, including the Chenoweth Family Association. He lives with his wife, Pamela Pierce, in Key Largo, Florida. His Chenoweth genealogy is John (1), John (2), Absolum (3), Absolum, Jr. (4), Ephriam B. (5), Clinton Lafayette (6), James (7), Karl (8), Michael (9).

Michael is the chairperson of the Chenoweth Family Association.

Lawra Rose Duy

Vice Chairperson


Lawra was born on June 27, 1967 in Santa Clara, CA, daughter of Edith P. Chenoweth. She graduated from William Woods College, Fulton, MO and attended graduate school at San Jose State University In California.

After many years as a ‘professional’ swim instructor, Lawra’s husband, Franz, encouraged her to get out of the pool and get a ‘real’ job. Taking this advice, Lawra found herself in the career of a lifetime, planning and implementing technical events worldwide for a major company in the Silicon Valley. After several years of traveling the world, both for her profession and pleasure, Lawra and Franz started their family. With the birth of their son, Ashlyn, she decided to ‘retire’ and take on a new challenge of being a stay at home mom. Abigael has rounded out the family and with an 8 year gap between the kids, Lawra continues to be a busy mom.

After a lifetime in California, Franz’s career brought their family to Dallas, TX. The move created many professional volunteer opportunities for Lawra including a Board of Directors position for a private school and a stint with the Meadows Foundation. Lawra has also been a Board member of the Chenoweth Family Association for many years.

A 6th generation Chenoweth of the “unknown” line, Lawra descends from John1 (b: 1811, Camelford, Cornwall, England), Frederick2, Edwin3, Percy Hudson4, Edith Pearl5.

Sue Ellen Peglow

Treasurer


A first-tier Baby Boomer born in central Indiana, SUE ELLEN (BLESSING) PEGLOW has also lived in Oklahoma, Illinois, Iowa and (briefly) New Jersey, before settling down in Arkansas in 1972. Married in 1967 to a native Hoosier, David A. Peglow, whom she met at Indiana University, they spent some time apart while he served in the Army in Viet Nam, as so many did then.

Sue Ellen was fortunate to be able to spend her time finishing her Master’s Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling at IU while David was gone.  He returned from service in 1968, to his auditing position with Brunswick Corporation, which led them, in 1972, to Pine Bluff, Arkansas’ Ben Pearson Archery plant.

David and Sue Ellen began their family in Pine Bluff.  Patricia was born there, with Phillip following three years later.  They moved to the Little Rock area in 1977, where David achieved his CPA certification and where Penny was born.  They have given her five grandchildren, three girls and two boys, all of whom have attended at least two Gatherings.  One of her greatest regrets is that David did not live to meet any of his grandchildren – he passed away in January, 2001, after a long illness.

Sue Ellen retired from the Arkansas Department of Health/Center for Health Statistics in 2013, having spent 17 1/2 years there and 17 1/2 years at the Arkansas Department of Human Services in policy and contract management.  It has been interesting to her to reflect that the greater part of her career was spent in positions that were brand new.

Apart from her family and church activities, her passions have always included genealogy, which she began at the age of three, reading and travel.  When she found information about the Chenoweth Gatherings on the Internet in 2008 (Fort Wayne, IN), she immediately made plans to attend and has been to all of them since then.  She has served as Treasurer of the Association for the past three years.

Patti and she are very excited to host the 2020 Chenoweth Gathering in North Little Rock!  They hope that you will attend and will find their brand of Yankee-flavored Southern Hospitality to your liking, as well.

Sue Ellen is a 9th generation Chenoweth (Thomas 2, Arthur 3, Hiram 4, Arthur 5, Jennie 6, Arthur (Blessing) 7, Charles (Blessing) 8, Sue Ellen 9).

Patti Airoldi

Corresponding Secretary


Patti (Peglow) Airoldi is a lifelong resident of Central Arkansas, making her home in North Little Rock, a suburb of the state’s capitol city. She is mother to a precocious daughter, Tori. By day, Patti is a busy Human Resources Manager with one of Arkansas’s oldest and largest real estate firms. By night, she’s an actor who enjoys working on various theatrical projects at local community theaters across Central Arkansas.

Both Patti’s mother and father were avid genealogists, so a fair amount of her upbringing was spent in various genealogy libraries (do you remember microfiche?) and traipsing around overgrown cemeteries looking for headstones.  She still loves when her mother calls with exciting news about some genealogical nugget she found, courtesy of Google or 23andMe.  Some of those surprise findings have even prompted trips abroad to Germany, France, and Poland.  When your mother calls to tell you she’s found the small church in a small town in France where your fifth great-grandfather was married and would you like to go visit – the answer is always YES!

Patti joined the Chenoweth Family Board of Directors in 2016 at the behest of her mother, Sue Ellen Peglow, who was also serving on the board.  Patti has attended bi-annual Chenoweth Reunion/Gatherings since 2010 and loves the social aspect of getting to know and fellowship with ‘relatives’ from all over the world.  Patti loves to travel, so she also enjoys seeing and exploring new sites and cities as the reunion location changes from year to year.  Patti is a 10th generation Chenoweth (John (1), Thomas 2, Arthur 3, Hiram 4, Arthur 5, Jennie 6, Arthur 7, Charles 8, Sue 9, Patti 10))

Joshua Lowell Chenoweth

Member-At-Large


Joshua was born in 1979 in Economy, Indiana. Joshua graduated from Tri-State University (now called Trine University) located in Angola, with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana with a degree in Actuarial Science. At Ball State Joshua met his wife Rebeckah. They have been married since 2012 and have two daughters, Dorothy who was born in 2017 and Pearl who was born in 2020.

Joshua works in electronic forms programming for Reynolds and Reynolds in Dayton, Ohio.  Joshua enjoys road trips, reading, listening to podcasts, running, playing bass guitar, attending church, working on home improvement projects, and pushing his daughters around the neighborhood in their running stroller.

Joshua started on the Chenoweth Family Board of Directors in 2016 at the Indianapolis gathering and enjoys learning about Chenoweth history.  He has found the gatherings to be a great time to spend with family members from across the country.  Joshua is a 10th generation Chenoweth with a line of John1, Arthur2, Arthur3, William4, William5, Benjamin6, John7, Chester8, Lowell9.

Jane McInturf

Member-At-Large


I’m a Janey come lately to the Chenoweths, both the name and the family get togethers. Growing up in Seattle with loving adoptive parents, I often wondered about my bio parents, but knew I had the best of lives, wanted and cared for. Along the way I married, raised a family of 4 children, one of whom we adopted.

After my folks had both passed on, I took the bits of info I had on my birth parents, a name of Jack Chenoweth for father and odd spelling on the mother, put together with my birthplace led me to a marriage license. Amazingly my birth mother was still alive! We’ve met, along with 5 half brothers and a half sister. The Chenoweth side took longer to put together, but with the help of Ancestry DNA a half-first Cousin was found and the story pieced together. Jack had enlisted in the Army March 1941, was enroute to fuel stop at Pearl Harbor on December 7, and stayed in for the duration. His third marriage, to my bio mother was of much shorter duration, just long enough to bring me about, and figure out 6 wild kids were not the peace and quiet he needed. So he took off for Alaska, never to set foot in the continental states again. Being the very definition of an unplanned and unwanted red headed stepchild, I was given up for adoption. Hearing of my half-siblings’ life and neglect, I know it was for my benefit and my folks’ who desperately wanted children.

In researching my genealogy, I discovered the Chenoweth family site, and decided to attend my first get together in 2016 in Indianapolis. Our daughter and family had recently moved near Cleveland, which from Portland was on the way. So at the age of 62 I met other Chenoweths and discovered we were all cousins. I descend from William on birth father’s side, a lightly represented line. Interestingly, my bio mother has a Chenoweth in her line too, my 3x GGM Elizabeth, on John’s line. My parents were 7th cousins 1x removed, not close enough to explain my eccentricities.

Greg Wulker

Member-At-Large


Greg Wulker was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1954, and has lived in Milford, Clermont County, Ohio for most of his life. He is a retired plumber and married in 1979 to wife Jan, a retired school secretary. They have two children, Matt (Laura) Wulker, and McKenna engaged to Zach Roe, marrying in Sept 2023. Matt is a police officer, and McKenna is an Information Governance Regional Manager for a large law firm based in L.A. Both reside near Cincinnati. Mckenna was a great help, as she and Greg hosted the 2012 Reunion.

I was bitten early by the genealogy bug, and am now in my 43rd year of this crazy hobby. In 1981, I was elected President of the Clermont County Genealogical Society, and from there, branched out to research my family and my wife’s family, as well as many others in between.

For four years, 1984-1987, I traveled each fall to search my Chenoweth line in Virginia, and West Virginia. I made copies of wills, estate papers, and sought the graves of those to be found.

Not having a computer until 1998, all my notes and records were hand written.

I started corresponding with Shirley and Richard Harris for about eight years in 1984, when they were living in Hawaii. Shirley compiled the Chenoweth Family History, and after her death, Richard published it. Most of my Chenoweth research at the time I shared with them, and it was published at that time.

After several Chenoweth Reunions, it was important to me to correct the errors in my Chenoweth line, so I returned to my research, and began to share everything.

I am a descendant of two William Chenoweths who were cousins, ending up in Warren County ,Ohio. Three brothers married three sisters.
John 1 is my 6th, and 7th great grandfather as a result.

John 1, John 2, John 3, William 4, Eleanor 5, Joseph 6, Martha 7, Charles 8, Margaret 9 and me.
John 1, William 2, William 3, Absolom 4, Joseph 5, Martha 6, Charles 7, Margaret 8 and me.

John Wilkins

Member-At-Large


My first encounter of the Chenoweth name was with the CHENOWETH & GREEN MUSIC STORE in Enid, Oklahoma.

Enid was venue for the TRI-STATE HIGH SCHOOL BAND FESTIVAL. My sophomore year my central Texas small town participated.

Some years later at the UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN I met a graduate student teaching assistant, Cheryl, with surname Chenoweth.

Some months later we married – in her hometown Rockford, Illinois.

Some more years yet again we learned of the biennial Chenoweth kin gatherings. Our first attended was Indianapolis 2016, our next Mineral Point 2018, and now Little Rock 2022. Had I known about the gatherings and kin earlier I might have married Cheryl sooner (Oklahoma incidental).

Indianapolis incurred more of import – genomics. Pete, John, et al. arranged several presentations by a contact from FAMILY TREE DNA giving introduction to the art and science of genetic genealogy but also discounts on test kits. Cheryl and I subscribed.

In my Wilkins family paternal first cousin brothers JW and Jimmy did extensive genealogical and family and east Texas historical research sixty or so years ago. Although we had generally confirmed anecdotal and some circumstantial material of record , no trace went back farther than five generations.

About six months after getting test I got word from another Y-test subject that he and I were the two genetically closest in the group. We still haven’t tweezed out details, but are pritsure of within 8-plus-or-minus-2 cousinage. Even kinship by marriage can lead to surprise as well as delight.

Like, a small-town country-boy from Texas goes to a kinship gathering in Little Rock and gets taken at-large onto the board. I was and continue deeply touched to have been asked. You have affirmed and honored me. It is trust I hope fruitful for us all.

BeTheme WordPress Theme