History of our Family Reunions

Family Reunions
1975 – 2010
written by May (Mary) Flynn

1) 1975 - While Wallis (Mont) Hurley was serving the Methodist Church at Wakulla – Woodville, Florida, they were planning a family get together for a weekend in 1975. Lori (better known in our family as Aunt swampy) decided it would be fun if our family, The Flynn Family, could come too. She wrote to us and the plans were expanded. We were living in Atlanta, Georgia, at that time and agreed that it would indeed be lots of fun. It was such a success, we all had a wonderful time and it was decided that we would have to plan another family get together and get the Ott Family to join us to make it a real family reunion.

2) 1978 – Lake Marion, South Carolina. The Otts decided that was a great idea also. So it was decided we would have our first real reunion at Lake Marion, South Carolina, over the 4th of July weekend in 1978. It was everything we expected, with two exceptions; the first was the “bumper to bumper traffic” for the Ott family driving down from Baltimore, Maryland, which made them hours later arriving than expected; and the second was that shortly after they arrived, Adel Duitscher (Grace and Buddy’s oldest Granddaughter) was sick and soon broke out with chicken pox and had to be isolated from the other children. I’m sure she doesn’t remember it as the wonderful happy reunion the rest of us experienced.

3) 1981 – Newport, Tennessee. To avoid the traffic jam which was experienced over the 4th of July weekend, we decided the next reunions would be on the last weekend in July so we could celebrate Grandmother’s and Aunt Grace’s birthdays which were on July 29th and 30th. It was also decided that the three family groups (Ott’s, Hurley’s, and Flynn’s) would take turns being responsible for the reunions. Such as finding the place, making reservations, and being responsible for other planning.

4) 1983 - Cherokee, North Carolina. This was a nice campground with lots of places to go and things to do, but the one special thing about this reunion was that Thelma and Herschel Primm along with Pernie and Gilbert Woodend were able to visit with us while we were there. Thelma and Pernie were the two girls who became members of the Hurley family when they entered High School and remained with us until they married.

5) 1985 - Jamestown, Virginia. This was, of course, right next to Williamsburg, so we had lots of things to do and see in the area. It was the one where we had much more rain than we really wanted. The management of the campground had a storage building; he let us use this building to have our reunion dinner in, but we had to clean it out, and wade through a rain made lake to get into it. But, we were together and that made it all fun. We also had some visitors at this reunion. Longtime friends of the Hurley family, Mary Reville and her husband, Mary was the daughter of “Aunt Kitty” who was an attendant at the wedding of Granddad and Grandmother Hurley on May 31, 1916, they came from Norfolk, VA, to have dinner with us. It was a bright spot during this reunion, in that storage room on a rainy afternoon.

6) 1987 – Helen, Georgia. Helen is always a fun place to visit. It is a small town in the North Georgia Mountains that has been remodeled to look like a Swiss town in the Alps. You could spend several days there and still not see all of the lovely little shops, restaurants, outlet malls, etc.

7) 1988 - Simpsonwood, Conference and Retreat Center, Norcross, Georgia.
This location and date was chosen because our Flynn reunion was being held in the same year so we wanted to change it to the off years. Also, Grandmother was living with us at that time and was not able to travel. Therefore, we decided to have it close to where we lived in hopes the attendees could at least come see her. However, it didn’t turn out that way; she died just a few weeks before the reunion. It was a lovely place to have a reunion. As it says in the title, it is a retreat center located just outside of Atlanta in a lovely wooded area.

8) 1990 – Eldersburg, Maryland, this was, at that time, Butch and Dollye Ott’s home. This was something new for us, to have the reunion at someone’s home. But, they had a lovely home with plenty of room for four or five campers in the back yard. Also it had a very large deck all across the back of the house where we could all eat together. It also was a convenient location, so we had several friends come to visit us for a day.

9) 1992 – Campground on Highway 27 in Central Florida. This campground was convenient to all the attractions in the Orlando area. But, it was a hot week in Florida, so the big swimming pool seemed to be the main attraction of this reunion.

10) 1994 - Unicoi Conference and Retreat Center, North Georgia. This was a Conference and Retreat Center which meant it was convenient with rooms, campground and a very nice cafeteria as well as “gathering rooms“ all in one place as well as the Unicoi Springs Campground that two of the Flynn families are members of, located just up the road.

11) 1996 – Salisbury, Maryland. This was, of course, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. This was a very nice place to visit and the home of Dave and Millie Duitscher and Avery and Emily Saulsbury, two of the Ott family daughters. The reunion dinner was held at the College where Dave and Avery both worked for many years.

12) 1998 – St Augustine, Florida. We were staying in an old Motel that was about to be closed, but they were very accommodating. It was an extremely interesting place to visit, as the Oldest City in Florida, it was full of historic places to see. This was a few months before Morgan Flynn was born so we had a fun Baby Shower for Tony and Vicky Flynn.

13) 2000 - Sevierville, Tennessee. This is in the area better known as the Gatlinburg Tourist Area. This is always a great place to visit and we had wonderful accommodations at the Hidden Mountain Resorts in Sevierville, Tennessee. This will always be remembered as the Reunion where Bob Flynn and Linda were married. Several of us stayed at a nearby campground while the rest were housed in a lovely section of 2 bedroom villas. Needless to say, there were lots of places to go and things to do at this reunion.

14) 2002 – Bird-in-Hand near Intercourse, Pennsylvania. This was Amish Country. Those of us with motorhomes stayed in a nearby campground and the others in a motel/hotel in Bird-in-Hand and that was where we had our reunion dinner. I don’t remember too much about this reunion except that while we were there Dee was quite sick and I finally got him to agree to go to the hospital in Lancaster. Since he still wasn’t well enough to drive the motorhome back to Florida, Butch and Dolly helped me drive back home.

15) 2004 – Annapolis, Maryland. We thought this would be like going back home. However, everything had changed so much in the years since we lived in that area we had to really look hard to find anything that looked familiar. We did take a few side trips and went to Cape Loch Haven to see the house that our family had lovingly built so many years ago.

16) 2006 – Tampa, Florida. Near the end of 2005 Dee’s Parkinson disease had reached the point that I could not take care of him at home any longer. We were fortunate to be able to get him into the Veteran’s Administration Hospital’s long-term care unit called “Haley’s Cove”, which is located just a few blocks from where we were living. It was decided to have the reunion in Tampa so those who came would be able to go see him while there. There are many places to go and things to do in the Tampa area.

17) 2008 – Tampa, Florida. The same thinking carried over to the next reunion.

18) 2010 – Tampa, Florida. As the saying goes – “Three strikes and you’re out!”

We have decided that this isn’t helping our reunions. Since it is our Flynn family’s turn to make the arrangements for reunion #19, we are looking for a different location to go to in 2012.