Celebrate Family And Heritage With A Reunion
Now that I’ve said goodbye to the last of the airport-bound relatives from our Independence Day family reunion, what remains are fond memories, a roll of film and a suggestion to share: If you’re considering a family reunion, make it happen.
One of life’s greatest gifts is the celebration of family heritage.
Our reunion was filled with the anecdotes of ages past. I was told of my great-great-grandfather, Knute Halvorson, who emigrated from Norway in 1851, patriotically enlisted in the Civil War a decade later, and contracted malaria en route to battle which caused his death.
There was my great-grandfather Halvor K. Halvorson, sheriff of Brookings County, S.D., at the turn of the century, whose wife Mattie would cook favorite foods for the county jail inmates. So popular was she, the local troublemakers fought to be incarcerated.
And my great-uncle Harry loved the English language dearly enough to pay each of his five children a penny apiece at the height of the Depression for every dictionary word they could spell, define and use in a sentence.
Family history is a legacy worth passing on. Here are some recommended resources to ease the preparations:
“Reunions Workbook and Catalog,” available from Reunions magazine, is a valuable tool in reunion planning. There are tips on how to personalize your reunion, develop a group history book and plan activities for children.
A detailed timetable and expense work sheet are included and can be tailored for a family reunion of 50 or a military reunion of 500.
For a copy, send $10 payable to: Reunions magazine, P.O. Box 11727, Milwaukee, WI 53211-0727; or call (800) 373-7933. A year’s subscription to Reunions magazine, published quarterly, is $24 (which includes a copy of “Reunions Workbook and Catalog”), available from the address above.
Leister Productions, publishers of genealogy software, has developed Reunion, an award-winning computer program in both Macintosh and Windows versions which stores and organizes genealogy research.
After entering your family data, the program publishes a book-style report which allows photos to be scanned and a family-tree printed. It will calculate ages, genealogical relationships and much more.
Both versions are $99.95. To order the Macintosh version, call Mac Warehouse, (800) 255-6227; for the Windows version, call PC Connection (800) 800-5555.
Get organized with “The Family Reunion Handbook: A Guide to Family Reunion Planning,” by Barbara Brown and Tom Ninkovich ($14.95, Reunion Research Publishing).
The book includes an informational questionnaire for relatives, sample invitations, suggested reunion locations and activity ideas for all ages.
Available for purchase at Auntie’s Bookstore in Spokane and The Bookseller in Coeur d’Alene. Also available for loan through the Spokane Public Library system.
Note: On June 24, I reviewed a children’s book about safety, “Now I Know Better.” I gave the 800 number of Millbrook Press who has since been unable to meet customer demand until Sept. 1.
Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital, co-publisher of the book, has agreed to fill customer orders in the meantime.
To order, send $7.95 (includes shipping) with your name and address to: Office of Public Relations, Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital, 20 York St., New Haven, CT 06504.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Drawing
MEMO: The Family Track is a weekly column of notes and information for families. Send items to Lynn Gibson, Features Department, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210-1615, or fax (509) 459-5098.