Last weekend, June 4th through 7th, I was in Michigan for the first-ever Horton 100 Year Reunion. My great-grandparents were married on June 7, 1915, hence the 100 years.
I flew out of Phoenix on Thursday afternoon and had a short layover in Chicago so I didn't arrive in Grand Rapids until about midnight. Dad was already in Michigan - he flew in the day prior. We were staying in downtown Muskegon, which is about an hour drive from GRR. So, Thursday night was a pretty late night.
Friday morning I got up early to go for a run. Dad told me the route to go, however, instead of turning left where he told me to I turned right. I guess I ran through a pretty bad part of town - when I was running I was thinking that I probably wasn't in the best area.
Friday morning we toured some museums, specifically the Hackley & Hume homes. These two families were loggers in the 1800s and ended up donating significant money to the city.
Friday for lunch we ate at
Smash - this was a local place I found online. After lunch I had 1.5 hours before the next scheduled event, so I took that opportunity to take a nap. Given that I went to bed at 2am and was up by 7am to run, I was kind of tired.
In the afternoon we walked across the street to the
LST 393 - a Navy submarine that was part of the D-day invasion at Normandy. We had a little remembrance service for all of the family members who had served our country - ranging from WWII in Asia and Europe, Korean War and Vietnam. It was interesting hearing all the stories as I had never heard a lot of them.
My Grandpa Lyle is on the right in the below picture.
On the ship there were pictures of people who had served - the 3 Horton's below are my grandfather's brothers.
When I took this picture I was thinking "Iceberg - straight ahead!"
The ship deck.
Colby
Friday night we drove about a half hour to Grand Haven for dinner. We went to a place called
Snug Harbor - they actually served wild caught salmon - one of the few restaurants that doesn't just have farmed or "sustainable." This was the view from the front of the restaurant.
Jim, Richard, Laura, Lavon and Dad
Alyvia and Sofia - Grand Haven
After dinner we walked down the way to watch the
Grand Haven Musical Fountain - it was a good small town show. This picture was taken after 10pm - it doesn't get dark in Michigan right now until about 10:30pm. It seems like it is so early and then all of a sudden it's 11pm.
Saturday morning we slept in a little and didn't rush to get anywhere. I got up and went for a run - this time going on the correct route. I love running in new cities - you see a different view of the city on running feet as compared to in a car.
We drove about 10 minutes to go to this little
coffeehouse for breakfast. I also found this place online - they served steel cut oats and cage free eggs - that hard boiled egg in the below picture was only 71 cents - and it came with grapes too. I ordered a gluten free muffin to go, and they wrote on the bag "Thank you! Out of towners." The coffee there was excellent as well - not quite LGO though :)
We then went to the
Muskegon Farmer's Market - the market was huge. Made me miss the Union Square Farmer's Market in NYC.
Saturday was the main reunion day at a state park on Lake Michigan. We did a group "selfie" down by the lake.
Flying kites - it was windy...and cold.
Todd and Dad
Dad and I
Sofia and I
Colby and Todd
Dad's cousin Vern, his wife and daughter Tonya. They also had another daughter Tammy there but she left before we took this picture. They should be included with Louise Beeman family below.
An old picture I found in a scrapbook there. My dad is on the right in the front row, with Colleen in the front and Roger on the left. The 4 kids in the back are Horton cousins.
Whoville
The group photo - pretty good turnout for reunion #1.
Louise Beeman Family
Leon Horton Family
Ivan Horton Family
Other family that no one had ever met - I believe their grandmother was a sister to Ernest Horton (my great-grandfather)
Lyle Horton Family
Saturday night Dad and I went to dinner with one of his friends from high school.
Sunday morning we went back to the coffee shop for breakfast and then to the Horton Cemetery. I guess this cemetery used to be run down, and one of my dad's cousins has cleaned it up and is maintaining it. This is the grave of Henry Horton, my great-great-great grandfather.
The group at the Horton Cemetery. We did a little prayer service there.
Alonzo Horton - my great-great grandfather.
I like that they put the 3 crosses in the cemetery. The middle cross has a crown of thorns on it.
We then drove to Twin Lake Cemetery where more family is buried.
This is Ernest and Goldie - my great grandparents. I think it went Henry, Alonzo, Ernest.
After the cemetery we drove by the location of my grandpa's TV business. The building looks a little run-down now. I think he had this building in the late 1950s, early 1960s.
We all stopped by my dad's cousin Tom Beeman's house - and no, I did not buy this 1958 Corvette :)
Dad then took me on more tours - this is the house where his family lived when he was born.
And this is the famous Creston house - I had been here before.
Sunday night I had a flight out of Grand Rapids at 6:30pm. I'm glad I went on this trip because I hadn't met a lot of the Horton family previously. I was also surprised at the strong faith background of the Horton family - in our discussions people were not shy about sharing their faith and their heart so that was encouraging to me. I was only 9 when my Grandpa Lyle passed away so it was fun for me to meet his extended family.
Lavon and Laura - thanks for all your hard work in making this happen. I know there were hours and hours of work and planning put into making this reunion happen and I think you both did an excellent job in doing so.
