Sept. 5 began with clouds and shortly after dawn, thunder and lightning. Before very long, the wind and blowing rain started.
What a day for a family reunion, I thought. There has been only one time in the past 63 years that it has rained on our reunion day. We were in the middle of a hurricane—I don’t recall which one or the year, but we met in what was the gym building of the Sugar Grove School.
The rain slowed down around 10 a.m. and at 10:30 a.m. I headed to the Richard Homan VFW Park in Sugar Grove. It would take more than a thunderstorm to discourage the Smith relatives, and they began to arrive around 11 a.m..
The two remaining Smith children, Cleo at 102 and Wanda at 89, were both present. The group included 16 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren, 12 great-great-grandchildren, and one great-great-great-grandchild.
I feel certain that Granddad Gordon and Grandma Lula would be very proud of the close relationships among their children after all these years.
The amazing part of this story is that only Aunt Cleo remembers her mother, Lula, our grandma, and only the oldest grandchildren remember granddad Gordon.
Enjoying a bountiful meal and visiting were Loretha Bland, Karen Mongold, Jim and Jimmy, Jr. Puffenbarger, Donita Kiser, Luke and Riley Adamson, Natasha Colvin, Violet, Mike, Kathy and Bethany Eye, Joeann, Greg, Sherry, Aaron, Henry and Stephanie Moyers, Camilla Brown, Amy Ariel, Sandra Armstrong, Bryan and Lauren Simmons, Phil Downs, Tara Kelly, Amelia Gibson, Cleo, Larry and Jenna Williams, Phyllis Simmons, James and Trish Eckard, Jeff, Sally and Lydia Smith, Ben Good, Hunter, Codi, Andi and Case Wheelbarger, Karen, Mark and Sydney Whetzel, Chance Poppas, Rose Smith, Eric, Leah and Reagan Tichenor, Jaxon Hull, John, Jack, Kim, Will and Alysia Bodkin, Holly and Stacy Karicofe, and Wanda, Ronald and Karen Pitsenbarger.
I have listed family members in the order in which their mother or dad was born to Gordon and Lula—starting with the late Glenna Smith Puffenbarger and ending with Aunt Wanda. There were no members present representing the late Vada Smith Wilfong, Cletus Smith or Gilmer Smith families.
Family friends included Myrtle Potter, Evelyn Varner, Judy Costello, Sonny Brooks, Judy Austin and Erma Moats.
The oldest person was Cleo at 102, and Riley Adamson was the youngest at not quite two months old. Riley made the day special for aunt Cleo and aunt Wanda.
The Smith family members are becoming a very senior family group with a variety of health problems, but they will take one day at a time, moving forward to another family reunion. There is a good and awesome God, and one’s days are in His hands.
By
Violet R. Eye,
oldest living grandchild
