Paisley Family Association

Members

• Diane Langston, Paisley Family DNA Project Leader, PFA Newsletter Editor, Genealogist, and PFA Librarian
• Harvey Lee McCollum, PFA Past President
• Gary Paisley, Clan Paisley Database Project Leader

Friends

• Martha Brown, Clan Paisley USA Commissioner Emerita
• Eugenia Vogel, Clan Paisley USA Commissioner Emerita

In Memoriam

DIANE LANGSTON

Diane Jones Langston is the administrator of the Paisley Family DNA Project, the editor of the Paisley Family Association newsletter, a genealogist, and custodian of an extensive collection of Paisley-related papers, documents, photos, and books. She graduated from James Madison University with a degree in Library Science and a minor in History. She received her Master’s degree from Longwood University as a Reading Specialist.

Diane grew up in Chesterfield County, Virginia and has been attending family reunions her whole life. Once extended relatives noticed Diane’s interest in the family, they started donating materials to her. At age 18, she was accepted into the Daughters of the American Revolution using her 5^th great-grandfather William Paisley Jr.’s Revolutionary War service record. Diane and family have been to Scotland twice to participate in Clan Paisley gatherings.

Diane recently retired after having served as a school librarian for 36 years. Her husband Jay Langston took a new job in the Shenandoah Valley, which led them to buy 20 acres in the Allegheny Mountains and build a little house with a fantastic view. They have three grown children: Ashley, David, and Candler.

GARY PAISLEY

Gary Vance Paisley manages the PFA’s Clan Paisley Database Project.  He is a retired engineer living in Monroe, Georgia, east of Atlanta.  He grew up in Grayson County, Virginia, a member of a Paisley family group that has lived in the Upper New River Valley of Virginia and North Carolina for over 200 years, and which descends from American Revolutionary War veteran, John Paisley (served in the Guilford County, North Carolina Militia).

In 1982, as an experiment in using a very primitive version of today’s personal computer, Gary began digitizing genealogical information on his extended family.  This was several years before made-for-the-purpose ‘family tree” software was developed.  Through the years since, Gary continued this activity as a hobby, while keeping pace with ever-improving computer technology, the expanding internet, and various genealogy software developments.  After retiring from a frequently globe-trotting and sometimes “mildly-adventurous” engineering role with The Coca-Cola Company, he volunteered to make his database available to others, and to expand it to include all persons surnamed Paisley, as well as their descendants.

In recent years, Gary’s efforts have been helped along by additional volunteers who have participated by either directly digitizing records, providing their own already-developed family trees that Gary has merged into the database, or providing handwritten or typewritten family records still needing to be digitized.  As a result, the database continues to grow, now containing well over 1 million records and expanding at an average pace of about 1,500 new records per week.

Gary’s passion for the database project comes with the tolerance and support of his loving wife, Cathy Thurman Paisley.  They have two adult children, Zachary (wife, Molly) and Rebecca, and one beautiful grandchild, Genevieve Paisley.

Gary predicts that the Clan Paisley Database will continue its rapid growth for at least another decade, aligned with an ultimate goal of tracing our Clan all the way back in time to its Scottish roots.  He firmly believes that great discoveries are in store for us as we continue to collect and digitally document all our ancestry!