Emery heads family reunion
Bruce Emery of Buxton, president of a family association, welcomed those attending the two-day 130th Cater/Decatur family reunion last month at Walnut Grove Campground in Alfred.
Seventy members and 18 guests from North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine attended the reunion activities on Aug. 20 and 21. The family reunions were started in 1875 by four sons of John Cater III, who was born in Barrington, N.H., in 1775.
Cater was a fifth generation from the family’s progenitor, Richard Cater of Devon, England. Richard Cater went to Dover and Portsmouth in New Hampshire before 1640 to work on the Hilton Plantation.
The theme for this year’s reunion was Hawaiian. A contest was held for the best-decorated campsite. Debra and John Kleynen of Tewksbury, Mass., took first prize; Kitty and Trisha Frangillo of Tewksbury took second place; and Brad and Heidi Emery of Saco, third place.
The officers of the family association provided a roast pork dinner with Hawaiian side dishes.
Bruce Emery was re-elected president for another year. Others elected were James Shack of Ayer, Mass., vice president; Debra Kleynen, secretary; Mary Jane Emery of Buxton, treasurer; Priscilla Gallant of Old Orchard Beach, historian; Jeanette Fernstrom of Buxton, assistant historian; and Wanda Emery of Buxton, recreation director.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Carter of Moyock, N.C., has put the family genealogy on the Carterville Web site. It marked the first time the couple had attended. But they had attended the Carter family reunion in Farwell, Ore., in July.
This year was the first time that Mr. and Mrs. Robert Kempton of Alton, N.H., attended the Cater reunion. Gallant gave the statistics on births, marriages and deaths for the year, as well as the best wishes from family members around the country who were unable to attend.
The following received gifts:
Sean J. Sides of Rocky Hill, Conn., 11 months old, youngest; Florence Jones of Southbury, Conn., 84, oldest; Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Jones of Southbury, Conn., who have been married 60 years, the longest married; Ralph and Janice Carpenter of Wolfeboro Falls, N.H., parents of 6, the most children; and the Carters, who traveled 700 miles, lived the farthest away.
A potluck dinner and a raffle closed the weekend reunion. The 131st Cater/Decatur reunion is planned for August at the Alfred campground.
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