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Quite often in the past, this publication would print reports of family reunions that were celebrated by large numbers of area families, usually during the summer months of the year. The reports often included those who were responsible for planning and pulling off the reunion for that particular year. It also included which family member in attendance was the eldest guest, also who was the youngest guest. They would also sometimes name those from their family who passed away that previous year, and those who were born as well. Many times, families would name the "officers" who would be the organizers of the next reunion. It was interesting reading about the news of many families in our area, some of them whom I knew.
As The Post-Journal has faced populational and economical restraints of the times, what was once a larger publication, has understandably gotten smaller, but fortunately is still is available on a fairly regular daily basis, which many communities do not have the ability to provide any more due to lower populations, and fewer advertisers (probably due to fewer businesses in their areas). As a result, the shared family reunion clips explained earlier in this piece have disappeared in the form of which they used to appear. Unfortunately, and sadly, though, there are still, seemingly increasing in numbers of certain reunions, happening at a much higher rate than they seemed to occur back in our younger days. (To be shared three paragraphs down.)
There are places we meet and/or run into people where we can share a hug, a conversation including a memory or two, a piece of information that those with whom we are conversing might not have heard about regarding an upcoming event or incident that affected someone whose acquaintance we had in common. We are fortunate in Jamestown (and Sally and me in Independence, OH), to attend Mass at a number of churches in our area and in Ohio when we are on the road during summers. We are very lucky we get a chance to see friends and share a story or two with all of them in both community location churches. Tuesdays, we seem to run into many of the same people at a local grocery store that offers a Sage and Longevity Discount on their grocery, etal., order. At least once a week I have lunch with a friend at the Cheers of Jamestown, a. k. a. The Pub, and dinners at some of our area's finest eateries, where we run into many of the same people we know from so many situations of our pasts and the present. Dinners out with family and/or friends allow us to run into other family/friends sparking some "catch-up" conversations, as do weddings within our families and circle of friends. Every five years or so, there are Class Reunions that are schedules, and pop up whereby a number of people return to their educational days and talk about the good old days, and what's happened since then. We also run into people at area movies, concerts, sporting events, and local stage shows.
All these places, and others like them, are happy reunion settings and locations, that give/gave us a chance to catch up, find out about all of each other's kids, each other's health, and so much more. (I even like going to the stores with Sally, not really to shop, but on the oft chance I'm going to be able to see someone from my life, past and/or present, and get a chance to talk with them for a bit.) Way back when all three of my children, when they were still home in their youth, often asked me, if I knew everyone in Jamestown. As much as I couldn't truthfully say I did, I sometimes felt that I did, and that made me feel pretty good.
Probably the most unfortunate and saddest reunion places where we get the opportunity to see so many family, friends, and acquaintances, are Funeral Homes, as we share the sad celebration of the passing of someone, be it a family member, close friend, neighbor, colleague, and/or any other special person who was a part of our lives. Our daughter, Chasity (from Tennessee), usually calls us twice a week on the same days and we chat for about an hour or so. The first thing she usually asks us is "What are y'all doing?" Often, we respond with, "We're getting ready to go to the funeral home." (I am surprised Lind Funeral Home, in Jamestown, hasn't started issuing me parking fee invoices, for the number of spaces I've taken up in any recent year gone past.)
Usually, when we go to the funeral home to pay our respects and say good-bye to a loved one or friend, we run into near the same people we saw a couple days, weeks, or months before that at another person's wake, and we may, once again, shake a hand, give a hug, kiss a cheek, and definitely ask about each other again, and their family too, once more. When the times we see each other at the funeral home are so close together in happening, the conversations of the last reunion there are just about the same as they were, those days, weeks, or months ago before. I understand this to maybe being the case with many I've spoken to, but as it happens, and in the frequency that it happens lately, I, and I'm sure many others, can't help but wonder, if it might be the last time I/They have that conversation or be able to reunite, once more, with these people (due to my passing or theirs) who in any way, shape, or form, are/were a part of our lives, and are now sharing, with us, this wake of our friend/loved one together. The sadness of this most present reunion whose passing life we are all feeling at this most recent time, will be felt one last time when those of us left behind will be able to remember this last reunion with she/he who passed on, as we read the last write-up of their days on this earth and in our lives, which will be printed in this publication.
Many faiths speak of reunions in the afterlife, and that is brought out as those who pass are laid to rest. To those of us who are still here, and who attend services at the passing of family and/or friends, may we all believe wholeheartedly, that we will, indeed, all reunite again.