Just a short note to report on the ORY REUNION 2003. To sum it all up in one word, AWESOME!!. For me, it was a dream finally come true. Excitement was truly in the air!!
Friday night was a gathering night for many out-of-towners. We had a delicious meal at the local Western Sizzler with almost two dozen cousins, Barbara Yost, Ed and Phyllis Mast, Theresa Owrey Blake, Lee and Ruby Allison, Myself, Ann and my parents Arthur and Ruby Ory, Dan and Joyce Oury , with Christian and Cailyn Watts. After a fine meal, many of us went to Christian's to finish the food preparations with her mother Orie Watts lending a great big hand and to finally load up the trailer and put the last minute touches on things.
We began setting the hall for the REUNION at six o'clock in the morning and were finished by 8:30. The big day 'officially' began at 9:00 a.m. with a very large crowd waiting in the vestibule. Christian manned the welcome table with help from Anna Langley as Margie sat in front of the computer ready to make nametags for those late registrants. All was ready as I stood next to them and greeted every cousin that came through the door and hung a Mardi Gras bead around each ones neck and welcomed them to the REUNION. From there they went to a table where they could pick up various forms to evaluate the REUNION and a page to correct errors in the book. They proceeded down the line to get or to order their T-shirts. The next table was the book table where they could pick their book The Ory Story up if they had pre-ordered, and also to order one if they had not ordered already. We sold 32 books before the REUNION and sold 35 at the REUNION. A very good day indeed! The next two tables were manned by Lynette Kleinpeter with her book The Kleinpeter Legacy and Elton Oubre's latest book Vacherie with books for sale and perusal. Lynette later told me that she had great book sales that day and that she enjoyed spending this time with relatives. Just past that there were tables containing "goodie bags" filled with Louisiana quarters, fans, a CD of The ORY STORY and various other items pertaining to Ascension Parish and/or Louisiana. A very pleasant surprise was a large print of the San Francisco Plantation for most that attended being handed out by cousin Barbara Louque of Lutcher, Louisiana. A wonderful and beautiful treat for us all, thank you cousin Barbara!! On tables directly on the side was an ancestor printout where cousins could find and mark their name with a colored marker. I believe there were six 8-foot long tables, that's over 40 feet and there were two lines!! Directly opposite that long group of tables is where cousins stood in front of the ORY DESCENDANTS tree to get their picture taken. Everyone began mingling until about 10:30 when all were welcomed again by Kevin Ory who also introduced our first speaker, cousin Horace Ory. As he began his talk, Horace spoke about Francois and Nicolas leaving France, showing maps of the area, and of settling in the Pennsylvania area, where he again showed us maps on the overhead projector. He also spoke about Nicolas' migration to Louisiana aboard the ship Bretanaand the area they finally settled in. Great talk Horace!!
We broke for a lunch of shrimp Alfredo, crawfish Alfredo, and chicken Alfredo (for those aergic to seafood), along with a green salad and french garlic bread. Another short visitation session again broke out before we all came to order to hear Elton Oubre speak on his direct ancestor, Christine Malbrough and the times they had in Louisiana once they arrived. Again Elton, a hearty thank you for the great information you provided!! I was told over and over how much these two speakers were appreciated and how interesting their talks were.
After Elton finished his talk and answered questions, we broke for group pictures and visiting. those who had to make church went, and supper preparation was underway. Cousins visited both inside and out. I finally had a chance to do a little visiting myself and enjoyed it tremendously. When all returned we all posed for a gigantic of ALL attendees in the front of the beautiful mural that was painted on the stage. Did not see a thing for a little while after we broke up because of the amount of camera's flashing!!! Visiting lasted 45 minutes or so. But around 5:30 or so everyone began closing in around that delicious aroma, Jambalaya. You see the trick is to let the hungry people smell it for a fair amount of time before you serve is!! (I guarantee that the longer the time it sits there the more delicious it is) Henry Schexnayder IV was the chief cook and my son Joshua were responsible for us eating that night and they really outdid themselves!!!! Ask anybody. We also had a green salad and a rather large pot of white beans. As we ate Cliff Nickens and his sidekick played softly for us and then after supper we danced for a couple of hours until participants began to slowly filter out. It had been a long day and many were tired around 10:00, myself included. Tomorrow was another full day and it began early also.
Sunday morning started very nice and around 9:30 our entourage left the Holiday Inn on Highway 30. We chose the scenic route of Bluff Road, Old Perkins Road and finally onto Historic old Highland Road. There were eight vehicles in our entourage. Our small but vivacious group visited the Highland Cemetary for about 45 minutes, visiting the marker of lost graves near the center. All wandered to the various graves that held particular interest to them. Everyone enjoyed the restoration efforts and the beautiful serenity of the cemetary. We then headed down Highway 30 toward the St. Gabriel Catholic Church where Nicolas once worshipped. We turned onto the River Road at Gardere Lane and we passed Bayou Paul Road near where Nicolas had once lived and traveled. Then we passed an interesting site where cousin Bobby Ory showed us the spot he was told the old Fort Iberville had once stood, the Willow Glen power plant. This is the spot where Nicolas was first settled when he finally arrived in Louisiana. We then arrived at the old church, standing as majestic as it had always stood. Our group exited our vehicles and mulled around the outside of the old building and even took some pictures of it. Our tour guide for the inside of the Church never appeaared while we were there. We then posed for a group picture and departed for the St. Michael Catholic Church in Convent. We then went back to the hotel and dropped Bobby off to get his vehicle agreeing to meet for lunch at Hymel's Resturant. We took a wrong turn and went to St. Michael's, went in to look the old church over and then went to Hymel's and met again with cousin Bobby. After a delicious meal we headed off to the San Francisco Plantation on a full stomach. The ride was enjoyable and we arrived about 4:30 just in time for our tour. The tour information I leave to someone else as the guide began her speil long before I entered the room!! It is still a very beautiful structure and we saw many interesting furniture and outbuildings beautifully preserved.
