Well, the reunion was another success story. We had about one hundred and fifty people attend. The weather cooperated with plenty of sunshine, the food was absolutely delicious (I requested at least three new recipes) and of course the company---wow!
My great aunt Berniece was able to attend and she looked super! One of my second cousins brought a book of photos which included my GG grandparents when they were quite young. Of course I couldn't figure out how to take pictures of the pictures with my camera. I have done it many times before, but for whatever reason I couldn't get any of them to focus this particular day, so no luck. My cousin indicated she will try to have her son scan a lot of them for me and email them to me...that will work!
I walked around and visited and asked many questions of course. My nature. I was particularly interested in knowing about my GG grandparents home. What happened to it? My cousins Ronnie and Jerry were very helpful for they grew up across the road from Bert and Eva Hanaway! Ronnie told me that the house was torn down many years ago when someone bought the property. He said all that remains from when my GG grandparents lived there are some huge boulders that marked the entrance to the root cellar. Unfortunately, the house that my great Uncle Jim, Aunt Marge and Ronnie and Jerry grew up in burned down a number of years ago. Jerry still lives on the same property though which is terrific.
I believe that average age of the people who attended had to be over thirty years old. There were a lot of children but not the number from when I was a kid and went to the reunions. My G Aunt Berniece was the oldest and we had two babies that were born in May! It's really an older crowd now gathering and celebrating. Most of the younger generation isn't able to make the time to attend for whatever reasons. Too bad, because I can really see the reunion going away. The traditions and history of our family will be shared only among a few. I was so happy that six of my eight children attended, helped with the set up, take down, and clean up and had a really good time!
The raffles were a success. A number of adults and almost all of the kids left with goodies to take home. Beach gear, toys, automotive supplies, gas cards (we all could use those now), games, coolers, a digital camera and much more were raffled off. Thanks to my cousins Vicki, Susan, and Karla who did a GREAT job again organizing this reunion. When it came time to discuss who will take over and run the next reunion, there were no hands that went up. Another sign of what may be going away. Someone suggested that one of the prizes of the raffle should have been taking over the next organization of the reunion. What a great idea, although it came at the end of the day. Of course, I told my cousin if no one else steps up to the plate I will certainly do it. I can't image no Hanaway reunion!
I left the reunion very tired (it takes a lot of work to talk to people you know....especially when you have so many questions and so little time!). What did I take home? Smiles, and oh so many more wonderful memories....it just doesn't get any better than that!
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