Family Reunion

During the past 2 years I attended the weddings of my cousin's (Kathy Bonner) children. I saw cousins I had not seen in many years. But many relatives didn't make those weddings including my aunt, Peg Seifret who is the only living relative from my parent's generation. She lives in Johnstown, PA and at 87 isn't up for traveling so I promised myself to see her in 2005. I had thought about going in July as the Tour de Toona bike race comes through there, but thanks to my brother Mark a more immediate reason developed. He had come east in April to hike portions of the Appalachian Trail he missed in 2002 and was finishing up in PA. I agreed to meet him, see Peg and do some family exploring before dropping him off in Virginia to re-connect with some hikers.

I left Atlanta on Sunday morning May 22 with my dog Greta and headed to my hometown of Danville, VA. It's a town that's better to be from than at, but I did live there from 1949--1966 and my parents are buried there. Even though I have only set foot there 3 times in the last 26 years Danville is part of who I am. On this trip I checked into a hotel, got Greta comfortable and set off on my bicycle to ride streets I rode all over town as a kid. Went over to my old street and the only family still there was the Amati's. They were easy to pick out because everyone else on the street was black (African-American). I stopped and chatted with them about 15 minutes, but had some miles to cover before dark so I took off and rode over to where Sacred Heart School use to be. Nothing left but an old cottage that was our lunch room--Averett College (maybe University now) had taken over the rest of the land and torn down the house that served as my elementary school for 7 years. Growing up and riding the bikes I rode as a kid it seemed like 10 miles each way but 40 years later it was only 4 miles. The hills use to seem like mountains then; now they weren't anything special with 1 exception. On Monroe there was a hill I rode up occasionally that even now was extremely steep--very short only 200 meters but I wondered how I ever even got up it as a kid. In over 2 hours of riding all over town I never saw another cyclist. Went by Danville National Cemetery (my parent's place) but the gate was closed AND locked (is that to prevent grave robbing??)--thought about leaving my bike and hopping over the fence but as I surveyed the neighborhood I decided that wasn't a good idea.

The next morning I took Greta and went back to the cemetery. Even though I've only been there 5 times (including my parents' funerals) it's a very peaceful place. This time the peace was broken by a groundskeeper who told me dogs weren't allowed. I asked him which one of the patrons complained, but he didn't understand (like the movie Chinatown, "it's just Danville, Jake."). On the way out of town I stopped at 2 sites where I worked, the 360 Drive In and Elkhorn Recreation Park. The drive in site is now a church although the old screen is still standing--barely. Elkhorn hadn't changed much and Greta had a blast chasing tennis balls I chucked into the lake. They weren't open yet but Memorial Day was only 1 week away. Exactly 40 years before I was life guarding there, wondering what the world held in store for me. Actually I spent most of my time that summer wondering how many times I could get laid (answer about 50 times less than I planned). Then it was on to Johnstown through some of the prettiest countryside in Virginia I had ever seen. I had been through most of it previously but it's amazing how much of the beauty there I had never appreciated.

I arrived at Peg's late afternoon right after Mark. I was greeted by Mark, Peg, our cousin Gretchen, husband Don, her children (Bob, EJ, Russell, Alicia) and Joe (Mike Seifret's son). Greta was greeted by 2 dogs (Bear & Buck). My greeting was much friendlier, but the dogs eventually sorted things out. Mark and I spend 5 days there catching up on family information. I went through Peg's address book and got updates on most of my cousins. I plan to send out a broadcast message and see if I can re-establish contact with those that still elude me. I did several bike rides out to places I hung out when I spent the summer of 1963 in Johnstown (another summer where getting laid was a huge priority but very little reality). Gretchen and Peg drove Mark and I to the cemetery where our grandparents are buried--first time we had ever been there. Then we drove around town to the sites where Peg and our Mother grew up in Johnstown. The houses were all gone but we found the locations.

It was great to see Peg again. She and her husband Sy (who died in 1992) did more for Mark and I than any other relatives during the year following our Father's death in 1962. Perhaps that's why I didn't bother to stay in touch with other relatives. Kind of short sighted since almost all my cousins were in no position to do anything. Not sure why some of their parents didn't help more. However, at this point all the folks who could have helped are gone. Peg doesn't drive any more, tells the same stories over and over, but I enjoyed listening to them and sometimes she would recall a fact that she didn't remember the first few times she told the story. She's still pretty astute and I hope I'm at least that sharp assuming I can last another 28 years.

On Saturday Mark and I headed to our Father's hometown of Shippensburg. I had never spent any time there. We found our grandparent's grave site as we got drenched in rain. Then we went into town to locate the family drug store and house (which was on the second floor over the store). The specific address was no longer there but the Shippensburg Historical Society was across the street and open. We found a photo taken in 1906 of the store the year our grandfather took over from our great uncle. Our grandfather is standing in front of the store with several other folks. We also found copies of obituaries of our grandparents and some some other family members.

So in less than a week I visited my hometown and the hometowns of both parents (with my brother). I spent more time in cemeteries in a week than I have over the last 10 years. Caught up on the whereabouts of many relatives and now have a decent genealogy chart back to my great grand parents. I could never envision living in Danville or Johnstown, but Shippensburg is a place I could settle down in. Probably won't happen though since it's cold up there in the winter and I don't have any relatives or friends living nearby.

Then it was back down to Virginia where we stayed with a college friend of Mark's. The Blue Ridge area of Virginia was spectacular. I told Mark that if I had ever settled in that area in my younger days I would have never left. That's another place I could settle down in but it's still a little to chilly in the winter. I dropped Mark off on the AT late Sunday afternoon and drove 400 miles back to Atlanta. I should have made this odyssey a long time ago, but I'm glad I got it done.