masterplan
The Hutchison Family Reunion
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he descendants of Josiah and Catherine (Hixon) Hutchison (married 1831) Family Reunion meet annually on a Sunday from noon to about 5:00 PM. A committee of family members tried a few places in Central Indiana, but most liked Turkey Run State Park in Marshall, Indiana, where the family has met at the Old Log Shelter for the last 10 to 12 years. Some camp for the weekend, and others stay at the Park Inn or in family cabins. They use fliers and phone calls to promote the reunion. They continue to look in the phone book to contact ones who didn’t know of the reunion. They found one cousin just one and a half miles away. They are planning a website to draw relatives of uncles, great uncles, etc., to the reunion. There is really not a budget or collection of donations. The committee pitches in to rent the shelter. Each car pays its own way into the park. The committee of the same relatives take care of the planning, mailing fliers, setup and cleanup. After dinner, members report about events of the past year within their own family to the group. Usually when the family reports start, the young people 16 and under go on trails or swimming. They plan to begin videotaping these reports, as they have no video of several members who have died. They share pictures and take photos of family groups. Sometimes there is singing, including patriotic songs. One relative who makes his own violins provides old-time fiddlin’! A member, now deceased, compiled the Hutchison and Whitaker genealogy into a book which is in the local history section in the library; copies of this book are available for purchase at the reunion. One of the committee members is compiling records about more recent generations to give relatives an up-to-date family genealogy. It will be kept in a black 3-ring binder to add deaths and births each year. Someone found a person who knew late family members and he consented to talk at the next reunion about ones he knew. Reported by Michael D. Hutchison, Crawfordsville, Indiana.
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he Whitehurst family had a fabulous reunion with great turnout in Norfolk, Virginia, according to planner Ne’El Whitehurst, Houston, Texas. The weather was perfect and there were four days of fun as the family enjoyed the beach. It was the first time at a beach for some. 24 Reunions v reunionsmag.com
Centennial reunion attracts over 600
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ohn Rotz immigrated from Adony, Hungary, to Canada in 1912 and was joined later by Elizabeth Rotz and their six children. The couple decided to make Elk River, Minnesota, home, and their family tree has grown outward ever since. More than 600 members signed up for a recent Rotz Family Centennial Reunion (rotzreunion.org) in Elk River, Minnesota. Descendants came from all over the country, although many remain local. Five of the seven generations who have lived in America were represented at the reunion. Each family was assigned a color and asked to wear that color shirt to help make family distinctions. Some families design their own shirts, others just wear colored shirts. The reunion starts in the morning and includes a catered lunch and program followed by Hungarian pastries. From a story in the Star News, Elk River, Minnesota.
Family reunions are a reminder of who we are
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arolyn Alford wrote in the Jacksonville, North Carolina, Daily News that reunions are a time to celebrate family heritage. There’s usually a new marriage and a new baby or two, and the aunts want to know everything about the past year. Sometimes there are holes left by family members who died. Those holes never get filled and are spoken of year after year. There are new stories and old family stories to retell. Recipes and clippings from flowers and plants are shared. Heritage and traditions are shared and taught. Each year, we take family photographs. Family reunions always make me feel so loved. It’s worth the time and trouble because we’re family, we share a common ancestry. Like it or not, we are cut from the same mold, we share the same interests, goals and values. We belong to each other.
For a fundraiser they made a DVD of events to sell and help pay for the cost of making the DVD and have some extra funds to go to reunion events. Their next meeting in 2014 will be in California. Visit whitehurstfamilyreunion2012.myevent.com.