Slade Family Reunion 2007

Last weekend the Slade Family celebrated it 33rd family reunion/get together. No, we haven't actually gotten together every year, but I can only remember a few years when we didn't do anything. My maternal grandparents, George and Carrie Slade started the tradition in their backyard in Montrose, Arkansas and what used to be them and their seven children has grown exponentially. We now alternate between Montrose and Milwaukee every summer.

I've been the family treasurer for the past few years and my duties go way beyond collecting dues. This year I took it upon myself to do everything from ordering t-shirts to preparing the food. I started at the beginning of the year thinking about what I wanted to do to celebrate our family. It seems that every year people always sit with the same group, so this year I wanted to stir things up a bit. My plans for the usual Friday night fish fry included having a getting "reaquainted" in which I passed around a questionnaire and once completed were entered into a drawing for door prizes. We also had a few games of bingo in which I received several threats for not calling certain people's numbers. Our menu cwas changed from catfish and consisted of finger foods. I prepared meat balls, little smokies, cheese dip, pasta salad, fruit and vegetable trays. I also made a cooler of sweet tea and had plenty of soda and water for all.

Our usual barbeque picnic was not on the schedule. Instead we had a ladies tea party and men's breakfast on Saturday morning. Yours truly was responsible for preparing the food for the men. Thankfully, my Uncle George helped me out. My aunts Betty and Marie did an awesome job of setting up the tea party. Not only were we treated to tasty sandwiches and dessert, we learned a lot about the history of tea. I think LP truly enjoyed it, afterall, she got to get a new dress for the event. We finished the day with the fish fry and I learned how to fry fish using an outdoor cooker.

We had catfish strips and fillets with french fries, hush puppies and green salad. My Aunt Gwen compiled a family cookbook and I got my copy hot off the press. She worked very hard, getting recipes from the Slades was a hard job I'm sure. What really adds value to the cookbook is that she included handwritten recipes from my grandmother, what a treasure.

My cousin, LaDonna has been working on the Slade Family genealogy for years, as long as I can remember. Her presentation was the highlight of the evening. My great-grandather, Malvern Slade was born in the 1800's to a slave in Louisiana. He was a mulatto, his mother Black and his father White. When his mother died he was passed along to a family who taught him to read and write. In fact, LaDonna has a copy of a letter he wrote to one of his daughters. In it, he states how important his family is to him and that obviously was passed on to his children. We learned that he fathered 23 children with two wives and LaDonna has found 19 of them! What an accomplishment, considering that records weren't kept on Blacks in the late 1800's and early 1900's. She shared with us pictures and information on those she had found. She has found that the man who owned my great great grandmother is buried in Snyder, Arkansas...about ten miles from Montrose, how ironic is that! It's fascinating to learn about family and we all appreciate all the hard work LaDonna has done.

So, after a successful reunion, we look forward to what the next year will bring. Apparently, I did a pretty good job. My cousin Mara called Monday with a list of plans she has for next year. Let the fun begin (again).