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Organizing a reunion for your family
The family of C.C. and Mary McGehee has been holding an annual family reunion every year since 1955. While we continue to learn and make mistakes, the work has helped to create the kind family that is seldom seen today. Our reunions have helped maintain a strong family bond across several generations and among families separated by many miles.
Location
We have a tremendous advantage over many families - we still have the original
family farm to use as a meeting place. If you can arrange a private location where only
your family is present, so much the better, but don't let a lack of such a place slow you
down. A couple of our earliest reunions were held at a nearby spring.
Date and Time
We started with Father's Day weekend, then experimented with earlier (cooler)
dates, then finally decided on the first full weekend of June. Consistancy is important,
and changes should be done only if really needed. People need to be able to plan ahead.
Keep in mind the school year when you decide on a date. We've tried various methods of
voting on the date, from mailed ballots, to at-the-reunion voting, to having the elders
decide at their gathering. Each has its advantages and disadvantages - no advice here,
just do what seems best for your family.
Family Directory
For the past several years, we have been distributing a printed family directory
at the reunions. This lists all those living at that address, the phone number, and we've
recently added email addresses. This helps people keep up with each other through the
year, and the database is used to generate mailing labels for reunion letters. It almost
goes without saying that a computer is a necessity unless you've got more spare time than
you know what to do with.
Reunion Letters
A month or two before the reunion, a letter is mailed out giving information
about the reunion. Click here to see a sample of our
letter. Depending on how many you have, you might want to have the head of some families
be responsible for distributing the information to others under them. Be sure that the
letter includes the different duties required and who will be responsible for them.
Duty Assignments
A reunion doesn't happen by itself - it takes work. It's important that the
person responsible is just responsible for getting the job done. It does NOT mean that
that person is supposed to do all the work. Our duty list is as follows:
Main Meal
Our reunion revolves around a covered dish noon meal. We've never found it
necessary to assign who brings what kind of dish, it just always seems to work out OK. We
may end up with more of one thing than another, but it's never been a problem. If you've
got a smaller group (we average about 80 or so) you may need to make some kind of
assignments or at least find out who's bringing what. We have one person assigned to take
care of all drinks; that is paid for out of a food fund that we started several years ago.