2010 Reunion Reflections- by Linda Nethery

Nethery cousins admiring family quilts sewn by Amanda Nethery and other Nethery family members.

The 7th Annual Nethery Reunion started for Bill and me with the beautiful, winding drive to Friday's dinner destination---Willow Bend Resort. There we joined our hostesses Kay and Carol, and others getting an early start on the weekend., to enjoy a fine meal and to start catching up on family news. Open hearted personalities and elephantine memories are apparently standard issue in the Nethery clan!

 



Saturday's gathering was once more at the Bethany Baptist Church Fellowship Hall, where we were met on arrival by the intoxicating aroma of BBQ, being prepared by David and Denice Eddings. Items for the auction covered tables lining the room and were being examined by many in preparation for what I knew from experience would be some very competitive bidding.

A side room contained a display of quilts handmade through the years by various women in the family. It's hard to imagine the time that went into creating these fabric masterpieces, but the love that went into them could be felt in the soft touch of the fabric and seen in the eyes of those who so generously shared them.

On the piano was a collection of a different sort of family history, collected by Jim and Susan Nethery on their recent trip to Scotland and Netherby Hall. For me, and our son Michael as well, the old newspaper articles of a jewel robbery there and the picture of Jim and Susan in front of the old Netherby hall connected those at the reunion to their Scottish roots more concretely than a line up a genealogy chart ever could.



Scholarship recipients, Devin Eddings (left), Christ James (right) with Gene (this picture is from 2009)



After the exceptional meal, Gene Nethery stepped up once more to serve as master of ceremonies, a role

he does both graciously and well. Gene first intoduced the two recipients of the Nethery Scholarship, Devin Eddings and Chris James, and announced that due to the success of last year's auction, these rewards were increased from $500 to $1000. Chris is the son of Kathie and Mike James and is a student at Lamar University studying for a nursing degree. Devin is the son of Don and Sherri Eddings and is also a student at Lamar. He is a prepharmacy major and plans on returning to Hemphill to serve his community as a pharmacist upon completion of his studies.  Both of these young men are a credit to their families and it was good to see the fruit of the previous auctions.

This year's auction contained  prior year's hits, Aunt Atrelle's fig preserves and "Amanda's tea cakes" and exciting new items, family tartans brought from Scotland by Jim and Susan and an intricately quilted pillow made by Aunt Marguerite.

I believe I speak for most in saying that Dot Spain's reading of the story of a child's life changed irrevocably by the Civil War, was a high point of the reunion. The story of C.A. Nethery, as related by his son Loy, had an effect I can only describe as "stunning". The beauty with which Loy told his father's story gave us more than just a glimpse into the heart of his father, but his as well. I encourage any of you who haven't read this story to do so and share it with your children. ( I will run a copy in the next issue if you missed it.)

  
This year's reunion concluded with another competition, I can only describe as Nethery Trivial Pusuit. I was surprised by the detailed questions asked and impressed that family members knew the answers. I've never met a family with such respect for their family's place in history. The last question I found to be most telling, "What characteristic are Nethery family members most noted for?" The answer given was, they were always willing to give you something, to share what they had with you. It's a true generosity of spirit, a sharing of the very essence of their family --- the pictures of a grand old hall, the story of a child's love,and the quilts that told stories no words could.   
My thanks to all who gave so generously.

Linda Nethery                                                 



Children enjoying the newest hayride attraction, the historic "Lawyer Tree", located behind the old store.




Patrick pulling the hayride with Uncle O'Neil's retored tractor.



     

A Note From The Editor

Judy’s Word

"At a young age I developed a love of reading and later research from my Dad, Ed Baker. One of my favorite childhood memories is of making trips to the Downtown Ft. Worth Library to check out books with my Dad.

He instilled the love of research by never ‘giving’ me answers to my questions but always instructing me to ‘look it up!’ I’m sure the first time or two I was probably a little irritated by that answer but it quickly became a habit to want to ‘look up’ anything I didn’t know.

In his retirement years my Dad got very involved in researching his family’s genealogy. At the time my husband’s mother didn’t have much recorded genealogy that I was aware of, so I caught the genealogy ‘bug’ and began researching, many times going along with my parents to various libraries and county genealogy centers with a very young Jennifer tagging along.

When my husband Bob’s Nethery branch of his maternal grand-mother’s family began having reunions around eight years ago, I volunteered to publish a family newsletter in order to share family history among its members.

Now the next chapter is here with this blog which will get the newsletter out electronically, saving print & postage costs which continue to rise.
I want to thank Jennifer for suggesting this option & making it possible as my ‘tech expert.’

Judy



The Techie's Musings

I will take the compliment 'tech expert' but you should know this is describing the gal who failed her college Computer class.

Nevertheless, I'll be the one posting all future articles written by Judy, myself and other members of the family.

Rather than posting the entire Spring/Summer Newsletter at once here we'll be showing you one article a week instead.

So hope you enjoy!

And if there's any other family reading this who happen to be descended from Charles Alexander Nethery and Amanda Speights Nethery and would like to contribute, please let us know!

Jenn :)