Family Reunions Bill Tune bctune@gmail.com Some of my earliest memories are of family reunions. Every 4th of July my family made the pilgrimage to Mackenzie Park in Lubbock, TX to attend the Mayhew Reunion. My Dad’s Mom was a Mayhew, so the families of his five siblings were among the masses that met in Lubbock annually. I never really got to know the distant cousins, but the original six Tune sibling families met at Uncle Cloyes and Aunt Lucille’s house afterwards, plus we also had a gathering at Christmas time. My grandparents died relatively young, so Cloyes, eldest of the siblings, was the patriarch of the family, and his house in Lubbock was ground zero for the Tune family. This was a large house. It held 30 – 40 people at a time and still had hiding places for playful cousins. It had a large bathroom, three bedrooms, and a floor furnace, which left an indelible impression on many a young knee. I also remember the huge Christmas tree, which always adorned the living room. My most vivid memory of the Mayhew reunion was somewhat traumatic – hence memorable. Mackenzie Park was a crowded place. Uncle Cloyes and Uncle Wayne, both residents of Lubbock, would arrive early in the morning with a tub of iced-down sodas to reserve a spot. The rest of us would look for the “Mayhew Reunion” sign as we arrived, joining one of many groups that occupied the park. When I was about eight, a few of us were admiring a goldfish pond, unaware that another group of kids was playing “Swing the Statue” nearby. I quickly became aware of the other group when one of the boys was flung into my back, knocking me into the pond. Fortunately, the pond was very shallow. Unfortunately, the bottom was covered in moss and extremely slippery. Fortunately, my fingernails were long enough for me to claw my way to the edge and crawl out. After donning dry clothes borrowed from a cousin, my wet clothes were hung on one of the park signs to dry. Later, while everyone was eating, they made sure someone kept an eye on my wet clothes. This person was then able to give a detailed account of the pickup that drove by and swiped my clothes! Afternoon activities on the 4th sometimes included a carnival, sometimes fireworks, but we always ended up back at Uncle Cloyes and Aunt Lucille’s house. The Christmas gatherings were a bit more intimate. I remember good food, playing games with the cousins, and singing Christmas carols. As the name implies, the Tunes are a musical group, and we sang while my Dad or Aunt Lucille played the pump organ – the same organ that my grandmother taught her kids to play in the 1920’s. Cousins grow up and move off. Aunts and uncles die. By the time I left for college, the Mayhew reunion had ceased to exist, but that wasn’t the end of my reunion experiences. In 1976 I married into another family reunion - the Thomas family (and my son’s namesake). My mother-in-law was a Thomas, and her family rented the same cabins on Lake Buchanan in central Texas for nearly 40 years. I attended over half of these reunions. It was good to get to know my wife’s aunts and uncles as well as her cousins. My son was raised playing with his third cousins at the lake every July. When Thomas was 5 or 6, he and a female cousin were playing together, and we walked up on them just in time to hear him say, “…and that’s how I came out of my Mommy’s tummy!” We’ll never know just how educational those reunions were, but sadly, that reunion eventually met the same fate as the Mayhew Reunion. In 2005, some of the Tune cousins decided to start a new reunion – the Tune reunion. At the time, only 3 aunts were still alive, but this was mainly for the cousins to reconnect. One cousin hosted in Rockwall, near Dallas, and attendance was surprisingly good. We shared old photographs and caught up on the past 30 years. Over the next few years we met in Lubbock, original home base, or the Dallas area, where my Mom and a few of the cousins lived. After Mom died in 2012 at the age of 94, the reunion settled in Lubbock where the other two aunts have lived since before I was born. Instead of a park we meet at a Country Club. Instead of sandwiches on the ground, we eat a catered meal with tables and chairs. The setting is quite different than the 4th of July celebrations from my youth, but the conversations are similar – except that now my generation is the one complaining about the effects of old age. It’s difficult to describe how special it is to visit with people who all came from the same batch of crazy! I have attended every Tune Reunion, but trips to Lubbock are not my wife’s favorite get-away. However, she chose to accompany me this year, and since we are now a 10-hour car trip away, we decided to fly. Early Friday morning we made the 90-minute trip to Hobby Airport in Houston and boarded our flight to Lubbock (via Dallas). The trip to Dallas proved to be a special occasion as it was Captain Randy’s last flight as a Southwest Airlines pilot. He was retiring after 35 years and had requested that one of the original flight attendants work this flight. Her 42 years with the airline afforded her a unique perspective on his 35 years, and to top it off, Randy’s 10-year-old grandson was also flying with us and celebrating a birthday! With the reminiscing of the pilot and his flight attendant friend and singing “Happy Birthday” to Randy’s grandson, we were having something of a Norman Rockwall moment in the air. As heartwarming as this was, I couldn’t shake the eerie feeling that this was the perfect setup scenario for a disaster movie. Fortunately, the trip from Houston to Dallas was quick and uneventful. I assume Captain Randy made it to his retirement luncheon in Dallas with grandson in tow and probably the flight attendant, too. The rest of our trip to Lubbock was equally uneventful. The food and fellowship Saturday were very enjoyable. We celebrated Aunt Lamoine’s 85th birthday. She was the baby of the original Tune siblings and the last survivor. She has some health issues but hangs in there. My other aunt is truly remarkable. Lucille was married to the eldest Tune sibling, so we can’t count her as blood kin, but she will celebrate her 98th birthday this October and is still going strong! Her mind is still sharp, and she gets along quite well with some help from her walker. We have pumped her for information on the family history over the past few years, and we’ve learned a lot. However she let us know that there are some things about our parents she is choosing not to share, and I respect that. Sometimes too much information is not a good thing. Lucille still lives in the same house where she and Uncle Cloyes hosted all those Tune Christmas parties. After the meeting at the Country Club, a few of us went over to Aunt Lucille’s for a visit. The house that was so large to young cousins has shrunk to a small, 3 bedroom, 1 bath house with a very modest living room, dining room, and kitchen. I’d estimate the size at about 1100 square feet. None of us can figure out how so many people fit in that tiny house, much less the gigantic – or so it seemed – Christmas tree. I guess that’s part of the magic of being young. My siblings and a couple of out-of-town cousins stayed in the same hotel, so we got together in the evenings for even more discussion and laughter. Some of us were a bit bothered by the message board in the lobby of the hotel. It read, “Welcome, Strange Family Reunion!” Tensions eased when we found out the sign referred not to us, but to another family, the Strange’s, which were holding their reunion at the same hotel. Family reunions are a great way to connect to memories that would otherwise be lost forever. It’s also a good place to make new ones. My siblings: Buddy, Ava, Me, and Betty enough

Family Reunions

Some of my earliest memories are of family reunions. Every 4th of July my family made the pilgrimage to Mackenzie Park in Lubbock, TX to attend the Mayhew Reunion. My Dad’s Mom was a Mayhew, so the families of his five siblings were among the masses that met in Lubbock annually. I never really got to know the distant cousins, but the original six Tune sibling families met at Uncle Cloyes and Aunt Lucille’s house afterwards, plus we also had a gathering at Christmas time. My grandparents died relatively young, so Cloyes, eldest of the siblings, was the patriarch of the family, and his house in Lubbock was ground zero for the Tune family. This was a large house. It held 30 – 40 people at a time and still had hiding places for playful cousins. It had a large bathroom, three bedrooms, and a floor furnace, which left an indelible impression on many a young knee. I also remember the huge Christmas tree, which always adorned the living room.

My most vivid memory of the Mayhew reunion was somewhat traumatic – hence memorable. Mackenzie Park was a crowded place. Uncle Cloyes and Uncle Wayne, both residents of Lubbock, would arrive early in the morning with a tub of iced-down sodas to reserve a spot. The rest of us would look for the “Mayhew Reunion” sign as we arrived, joining one of many groups that occupied the park. When I was about eight, a few of us were admiring a goldfish pond, unaware that another group of kids was playing “Swing the Statue” nearby. I quickly became aware of the other group when one of the boys was flung into my back,

knocking me into the pond. Fortunately, the pond was very shallow. Unfortunately, the bottom was covered in moss and extremely slippery. Fortunately, my fingernails were long enough for me to claw my way to the edge and crawl out. After donning dry clothes borrowed from a cousin, my wet clothes were hung on one of the park signs to dry. Later, while everyone was eating, they made sure someone kept an eye on my wet clothes. This person was then able to give a detailed account of the pickup that drove by and swiped my clothes!

Afternoon activities on the 4th sometimes included a carnival, sometimes fireworks, but we always ended up back at Uncle Cloyes and Aunt Lucille’s house.

The Christmas gatherings were a bit more intimate. I remember good food, playing games with the cousins, and singing Christmas carols. As the name implies, the Tunes are a musical group, and we sang while my Dad or Aunt Lucille played the pump organ – the same organ that my grandmother taught her kids to play in the 1920’s.

Cousins grow up and move off. Aunts and uncles die. By the time I left for college, the Mayhew reunion had ceased to exist, but that wasn’t the end of my reunion experiences. In 1976 I married into another family reunion - the Thomas family (and my son’s namesake). My mother-in-law was a Thomas, and her family rented the same cabins on Lake Buchanan in central Texas for nearly 40 years. I attended over half of these reunions. It was good to get to know my wife’s aunts and uncles as well as her cousins. My son was raised playing with his third cousins at the lake every July. When Thomas was 5 or 6, he and a female cousin were playing together, and we walked up on them just in time to hear him say, “…and that’s how I came out of my Mommy’s tummy!” We’ll never know just how educational those reunions were, but sadly, that reunion eventually met the same fate as the Mayhew Reunion.

In 2005, some of the Tune cousins decided to start a new reunion – the Tune reunion. At the time, only 3 aunts were still alive, but this was mainly for the cousins to reconnect. One cousin hosted in Rockwall, near Dallas, and attendance was surprisingly good. We shared old photographs and caught up on the past 30 years.

Over the next few years we met in Lubbock, original home base, or the Dallas area, where my Mom and a few of the cousins lived. After Mom died in 2012 at the age of 94, the reunion settled in Lubbock where the other two aunts have lived since before I was born. Instead of a park we meet at a Country Club. Instead of sandwiches on the ground, we eat a catered meal with tables and chairs. The setting is quite different than the 4th of July celebrations from my youth, but the conversations are similar – except that now my generation is the one complaining about the effects of old age. It’s difficult to describe how special it is to visit with people who all came from the same batch of crazy!

I have attended every Tune Reunion, but trips to Lubbock are not my wife’s favorite get-away. However, she chose to accompany me this year, and since we are now a 10-hour car trip away, we decided to fly. Early Friday morning we made the 90-minute trip to Hobby Airport in Houston and boarded our flight to

Lubbock (via Dallas). The trip to Dallas proved to be a special occasion as it was Captain Randy’s last flight as a Southwest Airlines pilot. He was retiring after 35 years and had requested that one of the original flight attendants work this flight. Her 42 years with the airline afforded her a unique perspective on his 35 years, and to top it off, Randy’s 10-year-old grandson was also flying with us and celebrating a birthday! With the reminiscing of the pilot and his flight attendant friend and singing “Happy Birthday” to Randy’s grandson, we were having something of a Norman Rockwall moment in the air. As heartwarming as this was, I couldn’t shake the eerie feeling that this was the perfect setup scenario for a disaster movie. Fortunately, the trip from Houston to Dallas was quick and uneventful. I assume Captain Randy made it to his retirement luncheon in Dallas with grandson in tow and probably the flight attendant, too. The rest of our trip to Lubbock was equally uneventful.

The food and fellowship Saturday were very enjoyable. We celebrated Aunt Lamoine’s 85th birthday. She was the baby of the original Tune siblings and the last survivor. She has some health issues but hangs in there. My other aunt is truly remarkable. Lucille was married to the eldest Tune sibling, so we can’t count her as blood kin, but she will celebrate her 98th birthday this October and is still going strong! Her mind is still sharp, and she gets along quite well with some help from her walker. We have pumped her for information on the family history over the past few years, and we’ve learned a lot. However she let us know that there are some things about our parents she is choosing not to share, and I respect that. Sometimes too much information is not a good thing.

Lucille still lives in the same house where she and Uncle Cloyes hosted all those Tune Christmas parties. After the meeting at the Country Club, a few of us went over to Aunt Lucille’s for a visit. The house that was so large to young cousins has shrunk to a small, 3 bedroom, 1 bath house with a very modest living room, dining room, and kitchen. I’d estimate the size at about 1100 square feet. None of us can figure out how so many people fit in that tiny house, much less the gigantic – or so it seemed – Christmas tree. I guess that’s part of the magic of being young.

My siblings and a couple of out-of-town cousins stayed in the same hotel, so we got together in the evenings for even more discussion and laughter. Some of us were a bit bothered by the message board in the lobby of the hotel. It read, “Welcome, Strange Family Reunion!” Tensions eased when we found out the sign referred not to us, but to another family, the Strange’s, which were holding their reunion at the same hotel.

Family reunions are a great way to connect to memories that would otherwise be lost forever. It’s also a good place to make new ones.

My siblings: Buddy, Ava, Me, and Betty

enough

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