Memorial Day Tribute
- May 31, 2023
- 2 min read
Hello family, hope all is well. 2023 is progressing quickly and it's almost June already. We'd like to share a special Memorial Day tribute we recently attended at the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Cemetery. They were highlighting the stories of veterans buried there and our son Caleb's story was featured as one of four individuals who died while serving their country.
We attended the ceremony and were given the opportunity to share his story. It was a moving tribute and a way to keep his name and legacy alive. The link below is to the local CBS affiliate WWL news report on the event. Also, we were very pleased that at approximately the same time we were attending the ceremony in Louisiana on Memorial Day our MCJ family members Dorice Merritt and family were visiting the site in Hawaii where Caleb died called Halona Blowhole and posted the experience to Facebook. Thank you family! That really made our day!
Here is the link to the news story on the Memorial Day ceremony in Louisiana.
Moving on to our upcoming MCJ Family Reunion set for Sept. 1-3, 2023 in Washington, D.C., we're very excited to share a few tidbits on our theme and programming we'll be focused on for this year. Our host Tameka Law came up with the great idea to improve our knowledge of how we're all connected as family by highlighting the original founders of the reunion.
As most of you know our family reunion started as a birthday celebration for Mary Hill Metcalf who was married to Nathaniel Metcalf. Mary and Nathaniel had five children, Ida Bell, Bennie, Mattie Lee, Nathaniel, and Maggie Mae, (Doll). From the five children you get the Metcalf branch, the Collins branch, and the Johnson branch of the family tree and we get an exact picture of exactly how we're all related.
This will be depicted on the back of the family reunion tee shirt this year along with references to Washington DC our reunion location this year. We'll top all that off with this year's theme or slogan which is MCJ 2023 Washington DC "Back to Our Roots". So look forward to these amazing collector's item tee shirts coming soon!
I'm also attaching Tameka's last newsletter on reunion planning so everyone can make sure they've taken care of the 3 basics. What are the 3 basic's? Pay your dues, make your hotel reservations, and make plans to have a memorable time in Washington DC in September.
Well, that's about it for now family. Look forward to the next reunion update soon with more info about planning, tee shirts, and more!
Much Love,
MCJ Reunion Planning Committee
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