Grover's Take on Things

Over 600 years ago, Geoffrey Chaucer told us in his poem Troilus and Criseyde that “All good things must come to an end.” And in the immortal words of Queen, there’s “another one gone; another one bites the dust.”

The Proctor Family Reunion, until now held annually on the second weekend of September, is no more.

Until just recently, the reunion was held in Temperance Hall, Edgecombe County, North Carolina, and then it moved to the lovely Pinetops Baptist Church. (My parents were married in Pinetops by my great-granduncle George Gold Trevathan. Perhaps you have read the story of their engagement and wedding in my articles Flower Girl and Flower Girl—the Sequel.)

I didn’t know about the Reunion until my wife and I moved back to North Carolina in 2009, but I’ve been a regular attendee ever since. I met a huge number of wonderful people there (yes, virtually all of them related to me, by DNA or by marriage), and it was a veritable treasure trove of information for my Proctor genealogy research. My sincere thanks to all of those who worked tirelessly each year to make it happen!

Just a few years back, it was decided to move the Reunion from Sunday to Saturday, and I noticed an immediate drop-off in attendance when that happened. The downward trend unfortunately continued each year, until last year’s which was sparse. And it was this drop in numbers which ultimately, I’m told by one of my second cousins, caused the decision to end it.

So, to all my newly discovered and wonderful cousins, I have two requests:
(1) Let’s don’t lose touch, as I really want to keep up with you and your families; and
(2) if y’all ever think of having a Reunion again, please be sure to let me know! I’ll be there with my covered dishes and my family history files.

Just a few additional Proctor apparel items
to leave you with a smile on your face: