[speaker001:] on my father's side we've really there uh
[speaker002:] does your family normally have a reunion do you have one that's been
[speaker001:] on my father's side we've really there uh on my mother's side we've had several not it's not really on a regular basis but usually sometimes every few summers
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] well see all the family lives in one place except for a few of us that are scattered about so they're pretty much just reunited always so it's it's
[speaker002:] right um-hum
[speaker001:] just once in a while we get the special gathering with everyone together
[speaker002:] uh-huh well it might be a good time for you to begin to to start a tradition you could be responsible for that yourself
[speaker001:] I know that's they do that that's true how about your family
[speaker002:] sure well in my family let's see last October was the forty fifth annual uh reunion the first Sunday in October the Jordan family gets together
[speaker001:] wow you're a pro at this oh that's good
[speaker002:] and all of the descendants of the Civil War I mean yeah the Civil War veteran come together and they come as far away as from California and there's usually oh between a hundred and fifty and two hundred and fifty people
[speaker001:] and then where do you meet
[speaker002:] in uh there's a big community hall in Vernon
[speaker001:] okay
[speaker002:] Texas and uh that seems to be sort of a middle ground for all of the Texas family
[speaker001:] okay do you have relatives in Vernon
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] then okay
[speaker002:] right uh-huh a lot of the older family lives in Vernon um all of his direct descendants descendants have now died and the grandchildren are in their seventies and eighties
[speaker001:] right oh
[speaker002:] so we're talking about second and third great children here
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] uh I take my boys well I took them up till this year they're grown and gone from home now so they take their family but uh
[speaker001:] oh right
[speaker002:] but uh let's see that would make them grandfather great grandfather great great grandfather okay so it would be the second great grandchild
[speaker001:] okay so this town hall that you meet in is that like a um
[speaker002:] it's uh well it's a community center it's a community hall it's a great big open building that has a wonderful kitchen in it
[speaker001:] okay
[speaker002:] and uh you just bring the covered dishes every every family brings a a dish of some kind and you get all the wonderful old family recipes that have been handed down for years
[speaker001:] potato salad and the
[speaker002:] well we try to stay away from those things which might have uh salmonella in them
[speaker001:] oh that's good
[speaker002:] and we choose to bring congealed salad you can bring a congealed vegetable salad as opposed to potato salad and we are very conscious of most of us are very conscious of of uh
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] sanitation aspects whatever you've got to carry for any distance I always take home baked bread
[speaker001:] right huh oh that's nice oh that's nice
[speaker002:] uh that happens to be my specialty for that family I do other things very well but there are others in the family who do them better
[speaker001:] do they always have the the one person in the family who knows or everyone thinks they know how to make this the best and that's what they get to cook
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] that's good well I had a professor in anthropology at school who studied family reunions so I learned a lot about them I haven't been to a lot but we talked a lot about the the rituals you she equated the family reunion with the Protestant
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum um-hum
[speaker001:] it was the Protestant version of the Catholic pilgrimage it was it was an interesting theory she talked about the um
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] that Catholics all it's a home centered you know it's all family centered anyway so you usually are living where your parents live and it's all your you don't have to come home so the Catholics would make a pilgrimage in older Europe but when the Protestant ethic happened in America there were people who ever went out and you know went away from the family to seek their fortune and then had to come back home
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] for the reunion so that became their version of the pilgrimage
[speaker002:] um-hum right
[speaker001:] but she had it was interesting you know I don't know how valid it is but she talked about that and how the the big picnic table was the symbolic communion of the people gathering together and um you know about the bread and the ritual placement do you have a a certain way that everything's placed out on the table every every year is there kind of a you know salads go first and things like that
[speaker002:] well it's uh we have uh uh kind of a core group that that serves as quote officers of the organization and they plan the reunions they
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] organize the you know who is going to see to it that the coffee pot gets there who's going to rent the tables who's going to see to it that the silverware gets turned back to the caterer uh and each year it's done a little bit differently because different people serve in those roles
[speaker001:] that's pretty fancy
[speaker002:] we have a biographer who who continues every year to save clippings on any family member and they're entered into a a wonderful uh scrap book and pictures of new babies and new people who have been added and and obituaries to those who are gone And it keeps the family alive even you know even though it's very fluid and they're very dedicated to that
[speaker001:] sure does that's wonderful
[speaker002:] it's been really wonderful it helps you hang on to your roots
[speaker001:] yeah I wish we'd
[speaker002:] and it helps you feel a strong sense of belonging my husband on the other hand was not very close to his family his family was very scattered and very diverse
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] and I asked him I got to talking to him I said well how is his nephew doing well I don't know I haven't talked to my brother in three years well how's your brother doing I don't know um you know my son keeps in touch with him I think but I don't I said hey wouldn't you like to know what's happening with these people yeah but I'm you know it's too much trouble
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] so I got busy got together and put a reunion together for his family and succeeded in getting all of his brothers and sisters and all of their offspring but one
[speaker001:] wow you're just uh oh that's incredible
[speaker002:] to our place down at Lake Tawakoni liked to kill me because I had it was I didn't have that group cooperation I did it by myself
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] and uh nobody brought covered dishes we had a great big fish fry and you know I fixed a salad in a number three tub and and uh
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] it was an enormous task to bring all of those people together with just one or two people helping and uh we had to provide sleeping arrangements for all of them and I told him
[speaker001:] have you have you done this repetitively or just once
[speaker002:] we did it that year and then the following summer we did not have all of the family there we sent invitations we said please let us know if you're coming it was when uh his mother his step father had died the year before his mother was alone and so they came to support her and then one by one his brothers you know his sisters he began to lose family members
[speaker001:] see that's we've we had a problem with that
[speaker002:] and it was difficult to hold them together and then of course he died t wo years ago so and you know that family has gone down to one brother and one sister now
[speaker001:] oh
[speaker002:] and uh it I think that's what happens when they get scattered the the family unit you know falls into disrepair
[speaker001:] right that's what was our problem we had uh the first reunion or the first you know major reunion was probably six or seven years ago and then the second reunion people who maybe you know
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] sacrifice things to come to the first one though oh well it's not that big a thing this year and so it kind of wound down and then finally
[speaker002:] uh-hum um-hum
[speaker001:] you're lucky to get the Shreveport relatives there but no one else
[speaker002:] uh-huh well see we manage those people who are at that core group manage to keep keep the vigor alive they'll send out news bulletins two or three times a year you'll get a news bulletin hey guess who got
[speaker001:] shows up
[speaker002:] you know elected to the legislature or guess who's our local sheriff