Real rain had poured down on Saturday, but Sunday it was only “raining Ramseys” on a beautiful day in Shelburne, New Hampshire as about 210 descendants of Joseph and Leocadie (Lessard) Ramsay arrived at the Town & Country Motor Inn on August 22 for Ramsey Reunion 2004.

The Reunion wasn’t just the five-hour party that Sunday, it was months of anticipation and building excitement. Bill Gardner of Hayward, CA; his daughter Rebecca Flores of Castro Valley, CA; Sue and Aime Ramsey of Berlin, NH, and numerous others helped put it together.  On Saturday, 8/21, Bill was the tour guide for relatives to visit ancestral graves (marked with sky-blue flags printed with the Clan Ramsay unicorn logo and its motto “Ora Et Labora” [Pray and Work]; he had also marked his great-grandfather Francois Morin’s gravesite with a Canadian flag), the Bisson Sugar House, Ramsey-built houses on “Ramsey Hill” and other area landmarks. His mother, Berlin native Doris [Ramsey] Gardner, 89, also of Hayward, had a long visit with Odette LeClerc at the Moffett House; Odette has been instrumental in digging up family history and genealogy.

Father Paul Arthur Soukup, S.J. [son of Berlin native Jeannette Ramsey Soukup] of Santa Clara, California celebrated the eleven o’clock Mass that Sunday morning at St. Anne Church of the Good Shepherd Parish in Berlin, assisted by other Ramsey relatives, as many Ramseys and guests filled the parish church of generations of their family. Directly after Mass, Ramsey Reunion 2004 officially began at 12:30 p.m. with delicious hors d'oeuvres and a barbecue lunch at the T & C. Warm apple cobbler followed the pandemonium of arranging 210 people for a family photo, seven rows deep and 30 people wide. This is very important because, after all, the inspiration for the Reunion was the photo of 60+ Ramsey relatives taken at the 1925 celebration of Joseph and Leocadie 50th Wedding Anniversary. Both photos may be viewed online (information below).

The Reunion was never still. With excitement and laughter, people became acquainted with loved ones they had never met, and senior citizens reunited with cousins they may have last seen as school chums. Children danced and cameras flashed, while a slide show presentation of photos showed the family resemblance between young faces photographed 60 or 90 years ago and others of just last year. Poses in military garb, wedding portraits, family gatherings, children in their Sunday best, the car that was subsequently buried in Uncle Henry’s back yard – photos rolled for continuous viewing. Meanwhile a DJ kept the music playing, everything from Ragtime to Rock, from Swing to Springsteen. Gifts and thanks were given to those who had made the Reunion possible – the printer, the innkeeper, the event planner and of course the instigators, Bill and Aime all being Ramseys or relatives, and all the Ramsey kin, for making the trip, taking the time, and being part of it.

To see the 2004 Ramsey Reunion group photo, the original 1925 photo, and others, or to order, please visit the Website http://RR-RPS.vze.com and linked Ramsey Reunion 2004 pages.