You are invited to attend the " SECOND ANNUAL NATIONAL BLANKENBECKLER / GERMANNA COLONIES REUNION 2002 ". PLEASE MARK THIS ON YOUR CALENDAR MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND>>> MAY 26th and 27th SUNDAY and MONDAY <<< WILLOW SPRINGS, MISSOURI AT THE PAVILLION IN THE CITY PARK 8:AM-5:PM EACH DAY. ALL GERMANNA DESCENDANTS ARE WELCOME and URGED TO ATTEND. We will be honored to have as our guest speaker Thomas Faircloth . Thom is president of the Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc. Web: www.germanna.org Thom said "he feels this is a great opportunity for The Foundation to present itself to a large group of people who may not know of our existence". He will talk about the Germanna Story and tell us about The Germanna Foundation. Thom will give a 45-60 minute presentation which tells about the adventures that our ancestors experienced nearly 300 years ago. He will talk of the trip to the Colonies, and the Colony experience, then relate to us the story of the migration west by our ancesters. Thom will bring copies of their books for sale along with membership forms. They would like to have all our family members to belong to the Foundation. It is very important to have our support along with others in order to continue the extensive and outstanding research of our Germanna Ancestors. We all will benefit from there unfailing and continued efforts. The Foundation will advertize our reunion in their bulletin, and if possible on their website. I know that most of us are familiar with George W. Durman. Better known as SgtGeorge, owner and manager of The Gemanna Colonies Discussion List. He has given us his full support by adding our reunion to the reunion page on the Germanna Colonies website where you can view it at: Address: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~george/willowspringsmoblank.html Also, I know from your letters that you were looking forward to John and Eleanor Blankenbaker along with Hallie and Glenn Garner returning this year to the 2002 reunion but it was not meant to be. John and Eleanor will be traveling and Hallie can not manage it at this time. Maybe next year. We can look forward to those great musical Gospal sounds made by Gene and Dean Lawson. They are working on the entertainment segments of the reunion. Betty Selsor will meet you as you arrive. You will really enjoy her humor. Gene Lawson will be in charge of the great country breakfast that will be served [time change], starting at 7:AM-8:AM instead of 8:AM-9:AM Sunday Morning. Don't forget that and be punctual. Dean Lawson will be in charge of the Saturday tour. If you have any questions about the tour get in touch with Dean at: Wb0suq@aol.com Please let us know if you plan to attend so we can keep a head count. It's very important so we will be prepared with enough food & we will be able assist you in any way. Last year I said, future reunions depended on the success of our first reunion. Well, I don't have to tell you since you were there that it was a huge success especially since it was the first one. Because of that success we are heading into our second reunion. Without a doubt it will become an annual event. This proves how much we all love family and love being together. Besides, we owe such a debt of gratitude to our German Imigrant Ancesters. They went through such hardships to get to this country looking for a better life then went through a living hell in order to make there dreams come true. The very least we can do for them is to keep there names & there stories alive and pass them on to our children & grandchildren. You and I are where we are today because of these brave souls. Let's not let them down. Here is the Willow Springs Web Address: http://www.missourichamber.com/willowsprings/index.htm I'm looking forward to seeing you all at the reunion. Warmest Regards, Contact me..... Helen Cast hcast@dmv.com <mailto:hcast@dmv.com> 310 Park Row Snow Hill, Md 21863 `