“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” Arthur Ashe.
Your JMA cousins have been working together to update our website, meeting in Williamsburg, Virginia for the 2024 mini reunion, visiting with members near and far, and encouraging others to join the leadership team as board members, officers, or reunion committee members. Our clan is busy!
A small but mighty group of Scots has updated our website. Look for an option to register and pay for your 2025 reunion expenses online. Using their collaborative skills, these changes were brought to you by Linda Manfull, Becky Allsop, Rich More and Juanita Goin.
In July, forty-eight cousins met in Williamsburg and Newport News, VA, for our annual mini reunion. Saturday afternoon we gathered at the home of Teri Mallory McMath (4591232) and husband Kirk (R4591232). Their home along the harbor front was the perfect location for taking family photos on the large front porch, “parading” together to the fishing pier, and spending time getting to know over twenty cousins who were attending a JMA function for the first time. Thank you to my first cousins, Teri and Kirk.
It’s wonderful to hear from you about small reunions around the country. Pictures have been posted on Facebook of small gatherings in NJ, ME, CA, and NY. I recently visited former board member Sylva Williams (85782) and husband David (M85782) in Ames, IA, and former board member Lee Ann Ravens (857811), husband Ted (M857811) and her mother Sybil Wasson (85781) in Ballwin, MO. I visited my brother John (4591212) and his gang in Missouri, as well. I always enjoy zigging and zagging to visit family!
We need YOU!
A volunteer is a person who:
1) offers to take part in an undertaking or task,
2) works for an organization without being paid,
3) participates in order to gain knowledge,
4) freely gives time and labor, and
5) assists in making something better.
In 2025, the new five-year terms of line representatives will begin, and officers will be chosen from this group (president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer). This process will take place at the reunion on Thursday night. We’re also looking for volunteers to work on the Journal and assist with the quinquennial reunion next summer (Planning activities for evening programs after dinner on Thursday or Saturday, leading or helping with Saturday afternoon games in Roxbury, participating in the choir for the Sunday morning church service, participating in the children’s skit, helping with registration on campus in Delhi, etc). Please contact me or Becky Allsop if you’re interested. (Contact information on page 2)
I’m often reminded of your generosity. Many thanks to Sarah Gavitt Holland (1331222) for the memorial donation on behalf of her grandmother Eleanor More Green Gavitt (13312). Also, I was recently notified of a bequest made in a will by one of our members. These donations and others are received with appreciation and gratitude.
A favorite memory from our July reunion was standing at the end of my driveway and seeing cousins coming from every direction toward my home. If you give them a date and a time, they will come! I hope to see many of you in Delaware County, NY, next July.