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A Typical VanSickle Reunion At Grassmere Park, PA.
* * The 2005 Reunion is on Sunday, July 10th and lunch starts at 1:00pm * *
Please bring a covered dish (with food in it)
Our 69th annual VanSickle reunion was held on the second Sunday of July, 2004 at Grassmere Park, RD #2, Benton, PA. There were 35 in attendance and the food was fabulous, as always! If you missed out last year, please try to attend this year. There was plenty of food and we all had a great day reminiscing. An honored guest, Glenn VanSyckle of New Jersey, attended our reunion and shared many historical documents relating to genealogy. Thanks for attending, Glenn, we enjoyed your company! All children under sixteen received $2 to play in the arcade, or buy candy. Traditionally, we all gathered for group pictures. Afterwards, some strolled along the creek while others played catch, sat around talking, or playing cards. If you would like to be advised of changes to our web site, submit your email addresses so all VanSickles who wish to keep in touch may do so through this wonderful medium. For those who have not stayed in touch, welcome back, our 2005 VanSickle reunion will be Sunday, July 10th, at Grassmere Park. Click on the Grassmere Park link for directions.
For the 2005 reunion, we continue to want more activity for the children, such as prizes, games, and general recreation. As always, we welcome any suggestions to improve our annual get-together and volunteers are always appreciated. Perhaps horse shoes and card games for the adults, so - let's have your suggestions, please. More importantly, contact your relatives and get early commitments to attend this year's reunion. Let's face it, we are the only relatives we have, and we rarely see each other. Is it too much of a sacrifice for us adults to bring our children together once a year, for half of a day? We have families who travel from Florida, West Virginia, New Jersey, and Southwestern Pennsylvania to attend this family reunion; yet, there are relatives who live within 10 miles of Grassmere who do not have time to attend. Forgive me, but I think it is sad that their youngsters will not have the benefit of meeting their cousins, uncles and aunts. Later in life, these same children will probably search for their relatives, and wonder why the adults have never availed them to such a wonderful group of relatives. I firmly believe that every adult should take it upon themselves to allow their children to experience their family's reunion. As the children grow to adulthood, they can decide to attend, or not, based on their own experience - not the experience of someone else. All across our Nation, we hear about "family values." If you believe in family values, this is a wonderful place to visit on the second Sunday of July. Always, think of the children, and the cousins they have not met or seen for years.
2001 was the first year for this web site and a lot remains to be done before completion. We have had an unbelievable response from VanSickles all over the United States and Canada. We continue to gather names, addresses, email addresses, and telephone numbers of all known VanSickle relatives - whether they have been attending or not. So, to each of you, we request that you gather your flock and get us the needed data to better serve your reunion and this web page. This information wiil assist others in contacting us should they become interested. The links that appear on the left side of this page suggest the detail of this project. All of the links are operational, however, some have not been completed. We will email each of you as our web pages are updated or significantly changed. If we do not have your email address, please visit often to see what's new! Remember everyone, your input is our data, and the more we know, the better we can serve all the VanSickles who will visit this web site.
Lois VanSickle, our Matriarch, passed away January 24, 2005, in her sleep at the age of 84. Please see the Obituaries for more details.
On a brighter note, Beau Ledyard Conner was born on August 24, 2004 and weighed 7 lbs 7 ozs. Please see Births for more details.