Owen Family Reunion

My grandfather, Robert Vester Owen-- "Ves" for short, was the 12th of 15 children of Benjamin Franklin Owen and Jane Curry McClure Owen.  There was about a 25 year gap from the birth of their first child until the birth of their last child so there was already grandchildren coming in the family when my grandfather was young.  At some point in the late 1800s, it was decided that the family needed to have a yearly reunion. And the Owen Family Reunion was begun.

When I was growing up, we occasionally attended these gatherings held in or near Dallas, Oregon.  Of course, I played with my direct cousins as people often do at these large extended family gatherings.  So I don't remember the other people much although the name Aunt Virgie was familiar and I think I have a wisp of a memory about her.  She was the youngest living child and lived until she was 101 years old.  My grandfather died in 1959 and only three of his siblings lived past him--Uncle Pickett, Aunt Virgie, and Uncle Thomas Albert.  It is possible that I have met all three of them, but I don't have any clear memory of the others.

The reunion is usually held on the 2nd Saturday of July in Dallas, Oregon.  About two years ago, my siblings and I set 2020 as the year that we would try (who ever could) make it to the reunion and also gather with our own cousins, many of whom still live in Oregon/Washington areas. Well, you can imagine what happened with that plan--2020 was not the year for such gatherings.

And actually the whole reunion was cancelled and moved to a Zoom meeting---July 11, 2020.

And here is a screen shot of our reunion---Todd, Mike, Valerie, and Scott also joined with these other 2nd and 3rd cousins.  They were mostly related to Thomas Albert, Virgie, and Matilda.  We were the only ones from our grandfather.  One thing that was noticeable was that we (my siblings and I) are a generation closer to BF and Jane Owen than others our age.  Our grandfather did not marry until he was 40 years old and my mother was not born until he was 54 so there was a gap between my mom and her cousins by quite a bit.  She was closest to her cousins' children.  Others our age were great-grandchildren of Owen children.

Valerie shared this old collage after the reunion--

My Grandfather, Ves, is on the second row, fifth one over.  My grandmother is on the top row fifth person over.  I am not sure who put this together, but it includes my great-grandparents-BF and Jane in the top middle, their fifteen children and spouses.  It makes more sense if you have a family group sheet to refer to.  I used to love to look at their family group sheet and look at their names and trying to see if there were other family names that they used.  When you have 15 children, naming children is a big task.

Too bad we can't have a zoom meeting with people in heaven---

However, we are putting together a zoom meeting with our cousins--the Gibsons and Owens for some time in September....and maybe those in heaven will get to peek in on that.  It will be amazing to see them all again even though it is only virtual.