A few weeks ago, our 10 children, their spouses, and most of our 45 grandchildren gathered for the annual Mars Cousin Camp, which is a three-day extravaganza filled with activities and great food. During one of our monthly Zoom planning meetings, our children expressed a desire to visit the graves of some of their ancestors, last year.
I had read an interesting study about the value of family history. The hypothesis was that one’s personal identity is best gained by knowing who you are, where you came from and how you came into existence. The study found that teens who knew more stories about their extended family showed higher levels of emotional well-being.
While this conclusion makes sense to me, the reality is that our family has grown from being a gang to being a mob (see photo), so I was more than a little skeptical that our grandchildren would have any interest or the endurance to visit multiple cemeteries. Being outvoted, Bill and I reluctantly accepted the challenge to plan the “Ancestor Meet and Greet.”
In preparation, we visited six cemeteries to locate graves and warn the staffs of our impending visits, gathered information, pictures and stories about each person, made a short, narrated video about each ancestor, planned a few fun activities along the way, ordered a large box of flowers from the Window Box Florist, had the children paint rocks, and chartered a 55-passenger bus for our excursion of just over 100 miles and hoped for the best.
With very low expectations, we boarded the bus at 8:00 a.m. What happened next was nothing short of miraculous!
Our grandchildren loved watching the videos on the bus and hearing stories about the ancestors they would “meet and greet” at each cemetery. They loved cleaning headstones, making bouquets for each grave, and carefully placing their painted rocks on the headstones. They were respectful as they walked through the cemeteries. They loved the fun activities between cemetery visits — the tour of Uncle Don’s big woodshop, his living room turtle pond and his amazing gardens, the visit to Majestic Meadows in Medina, and finally the Peanut Shoppe in downtown Akron where they each selected their favorite treat.
Our day ended with a family picture in front of the painting that Grandpa Edwin George did on the side of the Scribbles Coffee Shop building in Kent. We disembarked the bus just after 5:30 p.m. I was the last person off, and upon inspection, there was not one piece of trash left behind. Bill and I were in disbelief, asking ourselves who were these people and what did they do with our grandchildren! It was seriously a most wonderful, amazing, miraculous day!
For those interested in family history, I highly recommend www.familysearch.org and www.findagrave.com.
Up next at the Kelso House
Speaking of appreciating our heritage, 60 years ago Edgar McCormick and Lawrence Bryner started the Brimfield Memorial House Association, now known as the Brimfield Historical Society. It is a community gem, hosting many events throughout the year.
One of the most popular is the traditional Election Day Dinner, which is always on Election Day in November. The dinner is held in the Heritage Room in the basement of the Kelso House, which recently underwent some updates, including new countertops, a new floor in the bathroom, and painting of the cabinets.
The Heritage Room is available to rent for $25 an hour and will comfortably seat 60. While the Brimfield Historical Society does not have regular hours, tours are available by appointment. To schedule a tour or reserve the Heritage Room, call 330-673-1058, leave a message, and someone will return your call.
It was recently announced that from 9-11 a.m. on Sept. 23, there will be a Brimfest Veterans Pancake Breakfast on the Kelso House grounds. This is a free event for all community members, sponsored by the Brimfield Lions Club, the Brimfield Historical Society, and Mike’s Place. Township trustee and owner of Mike’s Place, Mike Kostensky, generously donates the food for this event.
This article originally appeared in The Portager.
