Wednesday, August 25, 2010

CVGS Weekender Program on "Surnames" - Sunday, 29 August

The August Weekender Program for the Chula Vista Genealogical Society (CVGS) will be on Sunday, 29 August, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the Auditorium of the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street in Chula Vista).

The program speaker will be CVGS President Gary Brock on the subject of "Surnames: Origins and Meanings.”

In this talk, Gary will discuss the origins of some of the different languages, their different migration patterns and how naming conventions in these different languages have influenced many of the surnames and given names we see today. Then he will analyze each of the surnames collected at our annual picnic and see if we can discover what language it most likely originated in, how it may have evolved and why it takes on the form we see today.


Gary grew up in Michigan and was relocated to Miramar Naval Air Station by the Navy in 1957. After discharge in June of 1960 he returned to Michigan for six months during which time he met and became engaged to his wife of 49 years, Wanda. When January arrived in Michigan, he convinced Wanda to accompany him back to California where they settled in Santa Monica. He attended Santa Monica City College and later was employed at the UCLA Physics Department engaged in Nuclear Physics research. After five years at UCLA he transferred to UCSD and continued research in Nuclear Medicine for another five years.

He left the University in 1973 to start his own data processing business, San Dieguito Data Services, based in Carlsbad, CA. In 1979, he and Wanda moved to the Bay Area where he started another data processing consulting business, Brock & Associates, which he still operates on a reduced basis after retiring in 2002.

Gary is an ex-president of San Dieguito Little League in Encinitas, CA., ex-member of the Town Council, Encinitas, CA., an ex-commissioner, Boys Scouts of America, San Diego and current president of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society, Chula Vista, CA. He is an avid gardener and a Life Member of the Handyman Club of America.

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