Happy Birthday, Cindy!

Happy Birthday to the original flower child, Cynthia Louise Thurston! (Born August 18, 19__.)

My big sister Cindy and I are ready to make the scene at a my Aunt Donna's wedding in 1956. That makes me 3 years old. (My tender age also explains why I am wearing that jacket, instead of stomping on it to put it out of its misery.) So let me see...if I'm 3, that makes Cindy....

Love to my one and only sister!

Submit Snavely Sibling Stories!

Here's an idea -- let's try to come up with short posts on each of the ten sisters and one brother who made up the second generation of our family reunion -- Alberta, Edith, Violet, Eleanor, Emily, George, Helen, Isabelle, Ada, Frances and Florence. This doesn't have to be terribly long, just a fond remembrance or funny interlude that the rest of the family might enjoy. As an example, here's a cartoon penned by my grandfather Bob Smith sometime in the late 70's (I'm guessing 1979) in honor of my Grandma Eleanor's and Aunt Emily's birthday, which is July 31 (they were twins, of course). Email your stuff to me, and I will edit it (gently) and post it. If you have a digitized picture to share, send that along too. You can also send me a letter and enclose your picture. I will scan it and return it to you. My address is 120 Laning Avenue, Pennington, NJ 08534.

So there's your challenge. Hope to hear from you soon.

Albert and Emily Snavely -- 1901

The 1901 wedding portrait of Albert Ellis Snavely (1880-1962) and Emily May Osterman (1881-1933)

Altoona Area Hotel Reservations and Bicycle Race

Next year the Snavely family reunion date will again coincide with the final day of the Tour de Toona bicycle race, which will run from July 31-August 6, 2006.

We recommend that you make your Altoona area hotel reservations as soon as possible, as the hotels get very busy during this week. A favorite of the Higginbotham, Templon and Lytle families is the Comfort Inn in Duncansville, PA at (814) 693-1800. Or try the Mariott at (814) 312-1800.

Eleanor Lillian Snavely Smith Seibert and Robert Edward Smith

I thought you might enjoy seeing these photos of my grandparents, Eleanor Lillian Snavely Smith Seibert (1909-1994) and Robert Edward Smith ("Bob" or "Smitty" to his friends) (1905-1981). "Mom-Mom" and "Pappy," as we called them, had three children (David Paul [deceased 1993], Joyce Arminta Templon Anderson; and Donna Mae Robison Higginbotham), eight grandchildren, and numerous great- and great-great grandchildren, now located in areas as diverse as the State of Washington, Nevada, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Washington, DC.

After Pappy's death, Mom-Mom remarried. Her second husband was Charles Seibert, a childhood friend.

These photos were most likely taken in the 1950's, when Mom-Mom (a licensed practical nurse) ran a convalescent home in Lakemont, Pennsylvania and Pappy (a horse teamster and later a welder for the Pennsylvania Railroad at the Samuel Rhea shops) was a member of the local riding club and a horse show judge.

Next Snavely Reunion Date is August 6, 2006

I just received word from Carol Zangrilli that Uncle George has confirmed August 6, 2006 with Morrison's Cove Memorial Park as the date of the next reunion.

As discussed at this year's business meeting, the 2006 reunion will be a potluck affair, with all dishes shared in common! (no more table-mooching required!). Watch this blog for further word on who's bringing what (OK, we all know the Demarees are bringing KFC) so we don't end up with 50 desserts and no main courses.

Here is an alphabetized list of email contacts for the family. (Thank you Betty, for taking the time to respond with your additional contacts...have a great time in Italia!) Please feel free to add more in comments, or email them to me at rtemplon@hotmail.com.

Anderson, Joyce and John --andersonj998@aol.com
Bader, Gloria -- gjbader87@yahoo.com
Barsoum, Kristina Stacey -- KBARSOUM@umm.edu
Baus-Fromange, Sonia -- ssj442@aol.com
Davic, Betty -- edavic@kent.edu
Davic, Bob -- r_davic@yahoo.com
Davic, Melissa -- melissa_davic@yahoo.com.
Davic, Steven -- sdavic@kent.edu
Foster, Linda and Calvin -- linda.lytle-foster@gsa.gov
Hartung, Judy -- jhartung@bellatlantic.net
Higginbotham, Donna and Troy -- HTROY486@aol.com
Hitchcock, Carlene -- c_hitchcock@sbcglobal.net
Kidston, Bill -- WKidston@amsuper.com
Kidston, Erin -- ekidston@hotmail.com
Kidston, Gerri -- gkidston@csd99.k12.il.us
Kidston, Gladys -- gkidston@verizon.net
Kidston, Lisa -- lkidston@chorus.net
Kidston, Richard -- richardkidston@earthlink.net
Lolos-Brown, Lana -- Lana.Lolos-Brown@disa.mil
Lytle, Al and Diane, Tracey and Michelle Freiburg -- fishwish@starpower.net
Lytle, James and Tara, Morgan and Joanna -- jlytle510@ad.com
Lytle, John David and Christina, Lucy and Leslie -- tinalytle@aol.com
Lytle, Robert and Gloria, Kathleen, Bobby and Patrick -- gloriajlytle@comcast.net
Markel, Ruth and Jesse -- RuthandJesse@comcast.net
McGinty, Ernie -- ernie_mcginty@yahoo.com
Munchak, Ada and Steve -- Ssj442@aol.com
Pellegrino, Judy and Jim -- judyjim2@earthlink.net
Snavely, George and Laura -- Dustymack421@msn.com
Templon, John -- 38templon@cua.edu
Templon, Matthew -- matthew.templon@marquette.edu
Templon, Rod -- rtemplon@hotmail.com
Tharp, Burnace -- burnacet@aol.com
Thomas, Charlie -- CTh1173925@aol.com
Thurston, Cindy and Steve -- thurston28@comcast.net
Zangrilli, Carol -- zangrilli@infionline.net

Snavely Family Now On-Line!

I've created this blog in response to requests made during our 76th family reunion at Morrion's Cove Memorial Park, Martinsburg, Pennsylvania on July 31, 2005. I hope that this will be a place to post information and resources of interest to the whole family.

The first order of business is to collect email addresses that will facilitate "getting the word out" concerning family events. Please send your email addresses to me at rtemplon@hotmail.com, and I will post them here as they arrive. You can also include them as comments to this post.

That's all for now. Matt, Andrew and I had a great time at Martinsburg last week, and I look forward to seeing you there next year, as soon as Uncle George negotiates our date!