LarRene, Brenda Jean, Eileen, LuDean, Karleen, Garth, Calvin, Christine, Janine, ValeenRoland & Joy
Every year on the first weekend of August we get together for the Romrell Reunion. This is usually my parent’s anniversary and so we are able to make a double celebration out of it. This year was their 65th anniversary. For the past few years we have gone to Heise on Friday and then boating on Saturday. This year the weather wasn’t very cooperative, but things turned out for the best anyway.
After swimming we had a great dutch oven dinner catered by Dick’s Mobile Catering. He is one of Ken’ts neighbors and did a great job. There was plenty of food and everyone seemed to like it. We had record attendance of 124 people. We had a few guests, but out of a possible 160, I thought it was a great turnout.
Afterwards Karleen headed up a devotional with the theme “Hold Your Torch High.” She talked about how important it is to pass on values and traditions and related it to how they pass the torch for the Olympics and what an honor it is to be able to do it. We had eleven tiki torches set up and Dad started by telling a little history of his dad and then he ended by bearing his testimony. I was so proud of him. It was the most powerful testimony I have ever heard him give. He really wanted to let his family know how important the gospel is to him and he loves and worries about each and every one of them. He joked about how his prayers are getting too long so he is thinking of making a prayer list to refer to when he is praying. I told him the next day what a good job he did and like all of us he forgot the one thing he wanted to say. So I’ll say it now for him, “I hope we will have a great reunion in the eternities.”
Then we lit his torch and he passed it onto LarRene. Rachel was the spokesperson for the Sargent family. She talked about reading Mom and Dad’s history and how her favorite memory growing up was the cousin parties that Mom would throw every year. Now LarRene has carried on that tradition with her grandchildren. Rachel was grateful for the cousin parties because her cousins became some of her best friends and now she is seeing that with the next generation as well.
Then the torch was passed to Brenda. Dan shared that the value they treasured most from Mom and Dad was generosity. When the Teton Dam broke Dan and Brenda lived in a half basement in Rexburg. It was totally filled with water and mud. The whole family chipped in helping them muck through to salvage what they could and to help clean what could be saved. Then Dad helped them get into a mobile home so they would have a place to live. The Knight family has carried on the tradition of generosity by being Secret Santa’s at Christmas time and leaving the fixings for a turkey dinner at the door of families in need.
Next Debi was the spokesman for the Anderson family. She shared how much she enjoyed reading the history and how shocked she was at what a prankster Grandpa was as a kid. She said that Eve’s daughter, Faith, has picked up on that and likes playing practical jokes on her family. She also said that the value of being frugal has been passed down through their family. Eileen has always been an amazing money manager and made the best of what she had to work with. And their whole family is very generous with their time and talents.
Laramie begrudgingly spoke for the Jackson family. She wasn’t sure why she had to do it, and I told her it was because the baby has to do everything. She told how grateful she was for the opportunity to help LuDean get Mom to bed every Monday night. Even though it can sometimes be challenging to take the time she always feels like she walks away from it a better person. And she feels like it has been a great opportunity for her to get to know Grandma and Grandpa better.
Karleen talked about how their family inherited the Book of Mormon picture books from Mom and Dad. Their family read them together every year. Then Jacob got up and told how they had found the same set at a garage sale and now their family was doing the same thing, gathering around dad on the floor to read.
Ricky shared how much she has enjoyed reading the history and she was impressed at how Dad’s step-mom Evelyln came into their home and helped him with things like homework and cooking meals that he wasn’t used to being helped with. And their family tries to show kindness to everyone as well.
Calvin talked about how the value of hard work as been passed through the generations in their family. While Hyrum and Ruby where going to college they usually put in 80 hour work weeks without a word of complaint.
Then Chris talked about how our ancestors passed on many great traditions of hard work and tenacity. Chris shared how grateful she is to have a hard working husband that makes it possible for her to stay home. And although she doesn’t have to sew curtain tie-backs like Mom did for the Freeway campers, she helps package the tractor tongs the Dale builds and helps drills holes for the brackets. Her kids are right in there helping and don’t give a second thought to helping pull a calf or feeding and maintaining the cows.
Jan shared a story of how when Dad was Elders Quorum president he closed down the blacksmith shop so he could help finish building a man’s home who had been on his deathbed. One of his employees who wasn’t LDS even helped. At the end of the project Dad tried to pay him his wages. He asked how much Dad was being paid and he told him he was getting “Mormon pay”, lots of blessings. That man said he wanted the same pay. Jan related how Jerry and her kids go take care of the yard of an elderly couple every week and is grateful they are willing to do it for “Mormon pay.”
When it was finally my turn I joked that they always save the best for last.
I shared that the favorite tradition that our family has taken from Mom and Dad is going to Arizona. Ever since Layne came to see me down there after we were engaged he has been hooked. We went there on our honeymoon and our first anniversary. We took the kids there for Christmas one year and spring break the next year. Dad likes us to go because we know how to get the fruit trees pruned so that they will yield bigger fruit. The kids know what has to be done to maintain the yard and they help haul off the tree limbs down to the dump yard.
I let everyone know how much I appreciated their support by coming and that as long as they keep coming I will keep planning it. I told Mom and Dad how much we appreciate them for providing the way for us to do it and that I thought it was worth every penny to help build the family bonds.
Then all of the siblings came up and stood behind their torches and the whole group sang, “We ever pray for thee, our "parents" dear, That God will give to thee comfort and cheer; As the advancing years furrow thy brow, still may the light within shine bright as now, still may the light within shine bright as now".
After swimming we had a great dutch oven dinner catered by Dick’s Mobile Catering. He is one of Ken’ts neighbors and did a great job. There was plenty of food and everyone seemed to like it. We had record attendance of 124 people. We had a few guests, but out of a possible 160, I thought it was a great turnout.
Afterwards Karleen headed up a devotional with the theme “Hold Your Torch High.” She talked about how important it is to pass on values and traditions and related it to how they pass the torch for the Olympics and what an honor it is to be able to do it. We had eleven tiki torches set up and Dad started by telling a little history of his dad and then he ended by bearing his testimony. I was so proud of him. It was the most powerful testimony I have ever heard him give. He really wanted to let his family know how important the gospel is to him and he loves and worries about each and every one of them. He joked about how his prayers are getting too long so he is thinking of making a prayer list to refer to when he is praying. I told him the next day what a good job he did and like all of us he forgot the one thing he wanted to say. So I’ll say it now for him, “I hope we will have a great reunion in the eternities.”
Then we lit his torch and he passed it onto LarRene. Rachel was the spokesperson for the Sargent family. She talked about reading Mom and Dad’s history and how her favorite memory growing up was the cousin parties that Mom would throw every year. Now LarRene has carried on that tradition with her grandchildren. Rachel was grateful for the cousin parties because her cousins became some of her best friends and now she is seeing that with the next generation as well.
Then the torch was passed to Brenda. Dan shared that the value they treasured most from Mom and Dad was generosity. When the Teton Dam broke Dan and Brenda lived in a half basement in Rexburg. It was totally filled with water and mud. The whole family chipped in helping them muck through to salvage what they could and to help clean what could be saved. Then Dad helped them get into a mobile home so they would have a place to live. The Knight family has carried on the tradition of generosity by being Secret Santa’s at Christmas time and leaving the fixings for a turkey dinner at the door of families in need.
Next Debi was the spokesman for the Anderson family. She shared how much she enjoyed reading the history and how shocked she was at what a prankster Grandpa was as a kid. She said that Eve’s daughter, Faith, has picked up on that and likes playing practical jokes on her family. She also said that the value of being frugal has been passed down through their family. Eileen has always been an amazing money manager and made the best of what she had to work with. And their whole family is very generous with their time and talents.
Laramie begrudgingly spoke for the Jackson family. She wasn’t sure why she had to do it, and I told her it was because the baby has to do everything. She told how grateful she was for the opportunity to help LuDean get Mom to bed every Monday night. Even though it can sometimes be challenging to take the time she always feels like she walks away from it a better person. And she feels like it has been a great opportunity for her to get to know Grandma and Grandpa better.
Karleen talked about how their family inherited the Book of Mormon picture books from Mom and Dad. Their family read them together every year. Then Jacob got up and told how they had found the same set at a garage sale and now their family was doing the same thing, gathering around dad on the floor to read.
Ricky shared how much she has enjoyed reading the history and she was impressed at how Dad’s step-mom Evelyln came into their home and helped him with things like homework and cooking meals that he wasn’t used to being helped with. And their family tries to show kindness to everyone as well.
Calvin talked about how the value of hard work as been passed through the generations in their family. While Hyrum and Ruby where going to college they usually put in 80 hour work weeks without a word of complaint.
Then Chris talked about how our ancestors passed on many great traditions of hard work and tenacity. Chris shared how grateful she is to have a hard working husband that makes it possible for her to stay home. And although she doesn’t have to sew curtain tie-backs like Mom did for the Freeway campers, she helps package the tractor tongs the Dale builds and helps drills holes for the brackets. Her kids are right in there helping and don’t give a second thought to helping pull a calf or feeding and maintaining the cows.
Jan shared a story of how when Dad was Elders Quorum president he closed down the blacksmith shop so he could help finish building a man’s home who had been on his deathbed. One of his employees who wasn’t LDS even helped. At the end of the project Dad tried to pay him his wages. He asked how much Dad was being paid and he told him he was getting “Mormon pay”, lots of blessings. That man said he wanted the same pay. Jan related how Jerry and her kids go take care of the yard of an elderly couple every week and is grateful they are willing to do it for “Mormon pay.”
When it was finally my turn I joked that they always save the best for last.
I shared that the favorite tradition that our family has taken from Mom and Dad is going to Arizona. Ever since Layne came to see me down there after we were engaged he has been hooked. We went there on our honeymoon and our first anniversary. We took the kids there for Christmas one year and spring break the next year. Dad likes us to go because we know how to get the fruit trees pruned so that they will yield bigger fruit. The kids know what has to be done to maintain the yard and they help haul off the tree limbs down to the dump yard.
I let everyone know how much I appreciated their support by coming and that as long as they keep coming I will keep planning it. I told Mom and Dad how much we appreciate them for providing the way for us to do it and that I thought it was worth every penny to help build the family bonds.
Then all of the siblings came up and stood behind their torches and the whole group sang, “We ever pray for thee, our "parents" dear, That God will give to thee comfort and cheer; As the advancing years furrow thy brow, still may the light within shine bright as now, still may the light within shine bright as now".
We ended by passing out flashlights that Sara had ordered for us with a logo that said “Romrell Family Reunion 2009 Hold the Torch High”
The next day we were supposed to go out on the boat but it was really overcast and a little windy. So we decided to just get together at the church to have our lunch. This worked out so much better because it gave Dad another chance to visit with his family that he wouldn’t have been able to do if we had been at the lake.
I feel so blessed to be part of this wonderful family. I just wish I had been able to spend more time visiting with everyone. That is one of the downsides of a big family. It becomes very difficult to give everyone the time you should.
What a beautiful story and tradition. Thanks for sharing it with us.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful you have!! I loved reading about your reunion, ours has been harder since Dad & Mom left, this year we wondered if it was all worth it,but we had it & yes it is worth it we had about 100 there my brother Neil was in charge. He had all us kids talk about one of our direct family tree. Thak you for sharing yours. Our love to all
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