By France G. Mead, 1930
Grandma’s Day, on June 30th, nineteen twenty-nine, ushered in a new Mead family year. There was, of course, the first service of the summer in Chapel followed by a merry supper on Uncle Martin’s porch. Every member of the family, including Marley, was present at the gathering that day at some time during the evening, with exception of Aletta, who had left for camp.
Not only was the date important because it was Grandma’s Day. It marked the opening of the Mead Memorial Hall and the first family gathering to be held there. Throughout the summer this pleasant little Hall — which is to guard the family treasures — was the place where the Kings and Westchester Land Company meetings were held. We hope this will be the custom for many years to come.
The summer which followed that memorable Sunday in June was pleasantly uneventful — devoted mainly to the acquiring of health to carry the poor cityites through the usual strenuous winter months.
But on September twenty-eighth Uncle Horace started rolling a ball which was kept rolling throughout the rest of the year by almost every member of the family. For on that day he started the vogue for traveling. With Aunt Marie, Emmy Lou and Elizabeth, he left for a tour for the Phi Gamma Delta chapters in the west. In their joyous wanderings they passed through San Francisco where they saw the Hutchinsons. Little did Cousin Kate realize at the time how many of the Waccabuc delegation would be upon her heels before another September came around. At the Grand Canyon on their way home, Uncle Martin joined the party, having in the meantime made the discovery that home is not home without the family.
Shortly before the return of the Fiji party Uncle Dave and Aunt Elizabeth left for two weeks in Havana.
It was just the day after they left that Aunty Deb died. (E.M.C) She had left with her family and her many, many friends the memory of a very dear little woman with a valiant spirit, an ever-friendly laugh and an individual ability to apprehend the true goodness of human nature.
The Neergaard’s trip to Europe is becoming as regular an annual event as Grandma’s Day or the Christmas dinner. On November ninth, in spite of the stormy seas, they sailed for a short stay in England. Because of the same stormy sea they missed the boat which they expected to take home, and we had visions of a first Christmas dinner without the Neergaards. But no; what is a mountainous ocean wave to a Mead family Christmas dinner? So back they came with a few days to spare.
Due to a scare of mumps, the Community Christmas Tree was given up this year for the first time since the custom was started, seven years ago.
After many years in which the Christmas dinner was held at the homes of various members of the family, we gathered once again at Tarry-a-Bit, the original home of these festivities. It was indeed a memorable day, for not in several years has there been a gathering where every member of the family has been present. Carol and Sam were with us for the first time since their marriage, and with them came Mary Spaulding and George Hodges. Little Jane, too, was there for her first Christmas with the grownups; and, when it was time for the tree, who should arrive but Marie Loretta, at that time the youngest member of this growing family.
Since that day a new cousin has joined our group. A little girl, Betty, was born to Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle David on February seventeenth.
On January twenty-fourth Aunty Lee and Uncle Robert gave Aunty Fan a party in honor of her seventieth birthday — which, after all, was really her sixty-ninth — and her impending trip to Honolulu. This party goes down in the history of the family as a great event, for none of those who attended will forget the ingeniousness of Aunty Fan’s hula hula costume or her agile pranks.
About ten days later Aunty Fan and Elizabeth left for Honolulu. On their way there and back they stopped at San Francisco where they, too, enjoyed the pleasant hospitality of the Hutchinsons.
Almost every weekend throughout the winter and spring months Uncle Horace journeyed forth to visit this Phi Gamma Chapter or that. Twice Frances G. accompanied him and now understands why Uncle Horace enjoys going on so many trips even though it does entail a rather overpowering number of pork dinners.
Spring was ushered in this year with a gorgeous burst of tulip blooms in front of Uncle Martin’s house, an unusual number of Sunday forest fires, and an increasing lust for travel.
In the middle of March, Earl and Katherine went to Bermuda where they golfed, sailed, and basked in the sun to their heart’s content.
Shortly after their return Aunty Lou and Emmy Lou waved goodbye to a crew of well-wishers as they stood on the platform of a westbound train. They, like the two parties before them, stopped in San Francisco, where they visited with the Hutchinsons before going to Seattle to spend three weeks playing bridge.
And now the Brooke family has gone west. Although we are sorry that they will not be with us for Grandma’s Day this year, we can hardly wish them back when they must be having such a jolly time, for they, too, are being entertained by the Hutchinsons. Who can tell but that, with their tales added to the others of the unfailing hospitality of the western cousins, the next family Historian will have even more travelers on his list for the coming year who have visited San Francisco.
The Decoration Day weekend proved to be an important one this year, for two important parties took place then.
At the first Kings and Westchester meeting of the season it was decided — after much discussion as to the difficulties which Uncle Martin had encountered during his many years of faithful duty — that the water business should be turned over to Earl. This decision was the cause — or excuse — for one of the most delightful Bungalow parties which has ever been given in the memory of many of those who were there. Uncle Charles as Toastmaster was perfect. In fact, the whole party was an example of what the younger generation has to live up to. It made us all wish that Uncle Martin had more businesses to turn over to Earl.
The following evening was the occasion of a pleasant surprise in the form of a dinner given at the Country Club by a large group of members to the Meads to show their appreciation for all that has been done for them — mainly for the privilege of allowing them to have a country club in such a choice spot as Waccabuc. It is rather nice to know that people do appreciate such things when they might easily take them for granted.
On the whole it has been a pleasant year, and we are happy as we gather once again in the little Memorial Hall on this day, the twenty-ninth of June, to commemorate the dedication of the last Sunday in June to the memory of that very dear person who still lives for those who knew her, Mother and Grandma. And with this day one year may have ended but another is begun in the history of a family of which each one of us is truly proud to be a member.
(After the meeting this telegram was sent to The Brookes of St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco, Cal.):
AFFECTIONATE GREETINGS FROM FAMILY GATHERED IN MEMORIAL ROOM ON MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL OF YOU AND THE HUTCHINSONS.
Frances G. Mead