When I proposed having a party this summer to celebrate all the big events & milestones in our family, it never occurred to me how it might snowball. I persuaded my mom to let me invite the entire family, never suspecting that so many of them might actually come. I thought it would be like my plans for my 50th birthday trip with my friend Russell: all our family and friends would come…when in reality not even my brother could make it (we had a great time regardless). And we had a LOT to celebrate this year: big birthdays, graduations, anniversaries. We felt like the timing was right and apparently, so did many of my mom’s relatives. Because my Uncle Sam wanted his ashes buried in Bad Axe, the site of my mom’s family’s origins, his sambo Joanne decided to hold a memorial service for him the day before our get-together. And my grandmother’s 100th birthday fell the day after, so everything seemed to be lining up in perfect alliance.
Not EVERYONE was there, of course, even though at times it felt like it. After all, there are nearly 200 living members in my mom’s family. Of the original 7 sisters and 2 brothers (one of whom was my grandfather), 2 didn’t have children, but of the 7 who did, 6 of them were represented by descendants at our party. On Saturday, the big “reunion” day, we had almost 60 people in my mom’s backyard. Not too shabby!
Three of the biggest reasons why the weekend was so great: my uncle Mike, my mom Linda, and my grandmother Bernice
Sharing smiles and memories about my Uncle Sam in the Bad Axe cemetery, at the Pangborn family plot
Karin, Beth, Danely & Darby (Beth’s youngest) setting the mood for the weekend: sillybutts!
Uncle Harry, Sarah, Aunt Bette, Danely, cousin Jamie
Uncle Mike, cousins Cate, Kim and Eric
Cousin Jamie’s wife Jennifer with daughter Jenalyn and cousin Jeff’s 3 daughters Ryane, Meg & Quinn with their mother Heidi
Mom with Joanne
Cousin Julie with grandma
Oldest generation cousins: Judy, mom, Barb, Mike, Harry, Bill, Mary Frances, Patsy, Mary Gin and Pam
Mary Frances and Judy with Beth
Uncle Mike with grandma
Uncle Dino with Simone
Aunt Patsy with her nieces Deb and Patti Jo
Cousin Jamie with Beth’s daughter Sydney and his dad, Uncle Mike
Beth, John and Karin goofing around
Oldest generation cousins (oldest to youngest): Patsy, Mary Gin, Bill, Harry, Judy, Barb, Pam, mom, Mike, Mary Frances
My generation cousins: (back row) Julie, Patti Jo, Kim, Matt, Cate, Eric, Deb, Dave. (middle row) Laurie, me, Sarah, Beth, Amy. (front seated) Jamie, John
Youngest generation cousins: (standing) Zach, Jaron, Karin, Quinn, Danely, Martin, Jenalyn, Tristan, Sydney, Hanna. (center) Meg, Darby, Ryane. (front seated) Bryce, Jakob, Sammy
All the outlaws! (standing) Bette, Tom, Herman, Heidi, Anders, Simone, Dino. (seated) Joanne, grandma, Jennifer
All Pangborns present and accounted for!
We had lots of accolades during and afterward about what a great weekend and party it was, and one of my cousins sent me an email wondering if we would be able to come if she planned another family reunion in 5 years…since the last one was in 1995, she didn’t think we should wait so long until the next time!