In 1972, our Uncle Paul decided our family needed to have an annual reunion since our family was growing by leaps and bounds. We came from a coal mining family in the hills of West Virginia to the very flat Kansas wheat fields. We were starting to get spread out across the country and Uncle Paul felt that we needed a short period of time each year where we could get away from the hustle and bustle of home, phones, bills, etc. and reconnect as a family. He searched around, and found what was formerly a nudist colony and was currently being used sometimes as a church camp. He managed to reserve the camp for us for a long weekend and began what became an annual tradition that remains to this day. Although things have changed tremendously since those days, we still plan an annual reunion and we have added many new traditions to our reunions.
We don't want you to think that our reunions today are anywhere near what they were in 1972, but we would like to relate some of the funny (not so funny then) things that happened at that original nudist colony. Let us begin by saying that the accomodations were rustic, to say the least. The camp had little one room cabins with bunk beds and one bathroom per cabin. Each cabin had 4 bunk beds, so eight people could theoretically sleep in each cabin. The bathroom was very rough and didn't have a bathtub, only a shower (if you could call it that). The cabins were along a dirt road and in a wooded area. So, during the night, when the men were out gigging for frogs, the women were trying to sleep while hearing what seemed like thousands of mice in the walls. The women sat up all night and played cards and swore at the men, while trying to be brave about staying in a room FULL of mice, and who-knew-what- else. The next night, grouchy as we were, the women proceeded to take their blankets and pillows and marched to the dining hall where we all slept on top of the mess hall tables. What a fun time that was!
Actually, we did have a good time, except for never sleeping the whole weekend. That first year or two we played games, fished, swam in the pond, had lots of good food, and a nice church service. The church service became one of our very first traditions and the patriarch of the family conducted the service up until his death in 1980.
From 1972 to 2007 we have upheld our Uncle Paul's wishes to have a reunion every year, somewhere, sometime without fail. And even though our Uncle Paul is no longer with us, we know he would be proud because we are carrying on a great family connection and have instilled the reunion idea in our children and their children. We have an ever growing family of 100+ and are motoring on down the road with our continuing reunion plans.
Since starting at the nudist colony, we have now visited 14 states, many of them more than one time. We have been to beaches, mountains, up north, down south, east and west. We have a lot more places we'd like to see and hope to see them all. Some reunions were long weekends. Some were week long events. Financing the reunions is tough for some families, so we always try to pick places where two or more families can share the cost of the accomodations, which helps considerably to make them more affordable. Planning reunions became easier when we decided to have a meeting to chose committees each year. Each year, that committee was in charge of choosing the site and planning the events and activities, always keeping our traditions in place.
We will have lots more to come. We want to share how we plan our reunions, from picking a committee, to some of the traditional things that we always do at each reunion, the research involved, scheduling events, tourist attractions, deadlines, and many, many other helpful things. We hope that something in our site may help you when you are considering planning a reunion.
We don't want you to think that our reunions today are anywhere near what they were in 1972, but we would like to relate some of the funny (not so funny then) things that happened at that original nudist colony. Let us begin by saying that the accomodations were rustic, to say the least. The camp had little one room cabins with bunk beds and one bathroom per cabin. Each cabin had 4 bunk beds, so eight people could theoretically sleep in each cabin. The bathroom was very rough and didn't have a bathtub, only a shower (if you could call it that). The cabins were along a dirt road and in a wooded area. So, during the night, when the men were out gigging for frogs, the women were trying to sleep while hearing what seemed like thousands of mice in the walls. The women sat up all night and played cards and swore at the men, while trying to be brave about staying in a room FULL of mice, and who-knew-what- else. The next night, grouchy as we were, the women proceeded to take their blankets and pillows and marched to the dining hall where we all slept on top of the mess hall tables. What a fun time that was!
Actually, we did have a good time, except for never sleeping the whole weekend. That first year or two we played games, fished, swam in the pond, had lots of good food, and a nice church service. The church service became one of our very first traditions and the patriarch of the family conducted the service up until his death in 1980.
From 1972 to 2007 we have upheld our Uncle Paul's wishes to have a reunion every year, somewhere, sometime without fail. And even though our Uncle Paul is no longer with us, we know he would be proud because we are carrying on a great family connection and have instilled the reunion idea in our children and their children. We have an ever growing family of 100+ and are motoring on down the road with our continuing reunion plans.
Since starting at the nudist colony, we have now visited 14 states, many of them more than one time. We have been to beaches, mountains, up north, down south, east and west. We have a lot more places we'd like to see and hope to see them all. Some reunions were long weekends. Some were week long events. Financing the reunions is tough for some families, so we always try to pick places where two or more families can share the cost of the accomodations, which helps considerably to make them more affordable. Planning reunions became easier when we decided to have a meeting to chose committees each year. Each year, that committee was in charge of choosing the site and planning the events and activities, always keeping our traditions in place.
We will have lots more to come. We want to share how we plan our reunions, from picking a committee, to some of the traditional things that we always do at each reunion, the research involved, scheduling events, tourist attractions, deadlines, and many, many other helpful things. We hope that something in our site may help you when you are considering planning a reunion.
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