Kindly RSVP by April 12, 2022

The 2022 American Ancestors®/American Ancestors Annual Family History Benefit Gala and Lifetime Achievement Awards, hosted by D. Brenton Simons and Ryan J. Woods, will honor Charles D. Baker, 72nd Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with our Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Public Service.  As part of a special presentation, Governor Baker will also be given an expertly researched, hand-bound volume of his family history. 

Our 2022 Preservation and History Award honorees are Linda Coombs, Thomas Bailey Hagen, Peter Lynch, and Paula Peters.

American Ancestors®/American Ancestors is a National Center for Family History, Heritage & Culture

Proceeds of the Family History Benefit Gala help fund our groundbreaking work, including educational programs, youth outreach, original research and scholarship, diversity programming, publications, and online services and content development.

Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient

Charles D. Baker has served as the 72nd Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since January 8, 2015. Throughout his term in office, Governor Baker has assembled a diverse team and put forth a “get stuff done” approach to build a state government that is as thrifty, hard-working, and creative as the people of Massachusetts. Nonpartisan polls consistently list him as one of the most popular governors in the country.

Over the course of his career, Governor Baker has been a highly successful leader of complex business and government organizations. As a cabinet secretary under Governors William Weld and Paul Cellucci, he helped lead efforts to reform and modernize state government, turn a billion-dollar deficit into a surplus, create a half million jobs, and enact an ambitious education reform agenda.

Raised in Needham, Governor Baker attended Massachusetts public schools and is a graduate of Harvard College. He went on to earn a master of business administration from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, where he met his wife, Lauren. The Bakers reside in Swampscott, have been heavily involved in numerous civic and charitable endeavors, and are the proud parents of their three children, Charlie, AJ, and Caroline.

2022 Preservation and History Award Recipients

Linda Coombs, author, and historian of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) 

Thomas Bailey Hagen, Business leader, preservationist, and philanthropist 

Peter Lynch, American investor, author, and philanthropist   

Paula Peters, journalist, educator, and activist for the Wampanoag tribe

 

Gold Benefactors 

Mark Nichols and Lowell Massey
Betsy and Michael Vitton 

SIT Investment Associates 
 

Silver Benefactors 

Sumner E. Anderson 
Susan and Gary Carlson
Thomas Bailey Hagen
Gerry and MaryLee Halpin 
Nancy S. Maulsby
M. David and Mary Alice Sherrill
Nancy and John W. Webster 

Eastern Bank Foundation 
Welch & Forbes LLC