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Ellen Beller - President (acting)

Ellen was born and raised on the Jersey Shore. She came to Denver in 1973 to attend the University of Denver. Graduating with a BSBA in Finance she became the first woman sales person for Samsonite Luggage. At 34 she went back to school to get a design degree as she had been painting since grammar school. She now works in glass. Having lost her mother as a child she knew very little about her family. Her parents were only children so there was no one to ask. A lover of history and a voracious reader researching her genealogy was a natural progression.

Bonnee Oderberg - Membership VP

Bonnee Shafner Oderberg began her professional career 50 years ago at the Colorado Department of Health, Office of Tuberculosis Control. She tracked active TB patients by county, ensured their treatment, and compiled the annual statistical publication. For the past 19 years, she has served as a practice manager in geriatric primary care. Bonnee is passionate about research, especially all things medical or Jewish genealogy-related. She volunteers monthly at the DU Beck Archives, inputting data for genealogical research of patients who resided at the JCRS TB sanitarium during the early 1900s.

Jill Weinstein - Programming VP

Jill was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. After graduating the University of Michigan with a Natural Resources degree, she worked as an environmental consultant helping industry comply with environmental laws and regulations. Jill has also worked as a technical editor of chemical databases used by poison control centers and hazardous waste response teams. Once retired, Jill began doing genealogy research of her family and has located many cousins she wasn't aware of while growing up. She also volunteers with the JGSCO at DU Beck Archives, helping to digitize patient records of the Jewish Consumptive Relief Society to aid others in their genealogy research.

Patricia Murphy - Secretary

  I have been a member of JGSCO since around 2003. After my retirement (September 30, 2025), I hope to be able to    devote more time to: kids / grandkids, getting in better physical shape, my long-neglected genealogical research,       Jewish learning / activities, and learning languages (Hebrew and Spanish). I have skills as an administrative   assistant, word processing / manuscript preparation specialist, and, more recently, in criminal justice system   work. About my _first_ career: I took a very long detour from my CU-Boulder studies in the late 1970s to have children. I ended up working for the State of Colorado. I worked for about 21 years at the University of Colorado-Boulder, including 18 years helping professors and students in the Department of History. [I also spent two years at the CU-Boulder's Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences Clinic, and four and a half years at the Colorado Developmental Disabilities Council (Colorado Department of Human Services).]  I was a single mom from 1995 onward. In the early 2000s, I felt drawn to help victims of crime. I went back to school in 2004, while also working full-time and finishing bringing up my three children. I obtained my B.S. degree in Criminal Justice and Criminology from Metro State in 2009. About my _second_ career:  after five years of volunteering for various non-profit agencies and one law enforcement agency, I was able to put my B.S. to use. I served for ten years as the Victim Assistance Coordinator for Recovery Monitoring Solutions (RMS), a "private probation" contractor in the 8th and 18th Judicial Districts of Colorado. It was tough but fulfilling, and I learned a lot! (I also spent some time working with probationers under supervision for misdemeanor crimes such as Driving Under the Influence.) In 2025, I wrote a desk manual for the "VAC" position, so the person who took over for me wouldn't have to "reinvent the wheel." I was able to train that person, and am confident that the VAC position is in good hands.  

Randy Getz - Treasurer

Randy has been researching his family on and off for 20 years, kick-started by a relative who was able to collate over 1000 family members before information was available on the Internet into a 2-inch binder of printed pages. Randy is working hard to understand his family's "vertical genealogy" (ancestors) as well as "horizontal genealogy" (living relatives). The latter has led to many new relationships around the world in both his and his wife's families.

Elliot Cohen - Director at Large

Dr. Elliot Cohen has practiced general psychiatry in Colorado Springs for forty years and recently has retired. He was born in Brooklyn Jewish hospital and raised in Silver Spring Maryland. He matriculated at the University of Maryland  for his undergraduate degree in psychology, and his medical degree at the Baltimore campus of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. After medical school and an internship in Honolulu, Hawaii he served as a general medical officer in the U.S. Navy for six years, followed by seven years as a psychiatrist in the U.S. Army which brought him to Ft. Carson in Colorado. His passion for genealogy began in 1977, while serving in Europe, he visited his ancestral village in Checiny, Poland. In addition, he has supported the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass. for twenty five years, in memory of the mother tongue of his ancestors.

Gail Marcus - Past President

Gail Marcus is a second generation Coloradan who traces her maternal family to the Cotopaxi Colony and her paternal family to Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society (JCRS). She served as President of JGSCO from 2013 - 2015 and continues to serve on the board as a past president. Gail is a retired French teacher who sits on the North Side High School Alumni Association Board as vice-president and is a precinct organizer for the Denver Democrats.

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Ellen Beller - Communications

Ellen was born and raised on the Jersey Shore. She came to Denver in 1973 to attend the University of Denver. Graduating with a BSBA in Finance she became the first woman sales person for Samsonite Luggage. At 34 she went back to school to get a design degree as she had been painting since grammar school. She now works in glass. Having lost her mother as a child she knew very little about her family. Her parents were only children so there was no one to ask. A lover of history and a voracious reader researching her genealogy was a natural progression.
 

Ron Miller - Webmaster

A Chicago native, Ron moved to Littleton in 2025.  He has traveled to over 40 countries, and has lived in Japan (Okinawa), Germany, Italy (Sicily), and England (London). He earned a bachelors degree (BA Government) from Southern Illinois University (Carbondale), and masters degree  (MPA) from the Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago). Served on active duty in the Air Force and Navy, retiring after 24 years.  Taught high school and college, and currently a Jefferson County substitute teacher. A self taught genealogist (since 1995) with a current interest is DNA genealogy.  His genealogy interest began after retiring with the goal of discovering my maternal grandfather’s ‘real name’.  He has successfully researched, with and without DNA, family 'brick wall' branches to the 1700’s. Ron’s genealogy related volunteer activities include Webmaster for a Jewish Genealogy Society from 2009 to 2020. Webmaster for a non-profit honoring WWI soldiers, Volunteer at JewishGen, creating KehilaLinks community websites web pages commemorating the places where Jews have lived, and a RAOGK volunteer (Random Acts of Genealogy Kindness).