FAMILY REUNIONS Loved ones get chance to reconnect

Reuniting relatives is a bit more complicated today.
Getting everyone together for a family reunion can be a monumental task that requires hours of planning, countless phone calls, and numerous letters or e-mails, especially if you're planning your family's first.
It's been a long time since everybody was able to gather at grandma's house for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Today, reunions require long, strange trips over the Interstates and through airport security.
A search for "family reunion" on the Internet provides over 300,000 sites, many offering books, advice and ideas for planning anything from a small gathering to a fancy blowout for a plethora of kissing cousins.
In the introduction to her book "A Family Affair: How to Plan and Direct the Best Family Reunion Ever," Sandra MacLean Clunies writes: "Reunions -- the coming together of extended families -- may be regular events or rare ones. They can be small informal gatherings to celebrate a special milestone or large galas that draw dozens of folks from all over the world. Whatever the size, location and focus, all family reunions share many of the same themes and dreams. They provide an opportunity for people to be together."
Clunies, a certified genealogist, provides plenty of advice for anyone desiring to start a reunion from scratch, as well as ideas for activities that will add zing to more established gatherings.
Because of her background in genealogical research, Clunies gives a wealth of information on how to go about seeking out those long-lost relatives, as well as examples of genealogical charts you can make to see where everyone fits on the family tree. Those confused by whether they and a relative are "second cousins" or "first cousins, once removed" will find a chart that explains how those relationships work.
Local family
The Hoods, a local family, hold an annual reunion. The Hoods were among the early families of Ohltown, a small community that existed on the banks of Meander Creek between Austintown and Mineral Ridge.
Most of the area that was known as Ohltown now rests beneath the waters of Meander Reservoir, but one of its main landmarks, the Ohltown United Methodist Church, remains, overlooking the lake. Adjacent to the church is its cemetery, which is liberally sprinkled with monuments inscribed with the Hood name as well as the names of many other relatives.
The Hood family reunion began in 1946 out of a conversation between cousins Lelia Sanzenbacher, Edna Buckner and Ruth Traichal, three of the 22 grandchildren of Emery George "E.G." and Anna Mae Hood.
The three were reminiscing one day about how the whole family used to all live nearby and gather on Christmas Eve at their grandparents' home or an aunt or uncle's in Ohltown before the formation of the reservoir. They decided to plan a family reunion for that summer at Waddell Park in Niles. E.G. himself was in attendance at that first reunion, but Anna Mae had died several years before.
Tradition continues
The idea to make it an annual event caught on, and it was decided that the person in charge would rotate each year among the families of the four children born to E.G. and Anna Mae. That tradition continues, though the location has changed several times over the years.
Of the Hoods' grandchildren, four of them, Mrs. Sanzenbacher of Austintown; her twin brother, Lyle Hood of Georgia; their brother, Vernon Hood of Canfield; and their cousin, Evan Hood of Virginia are still living. Attendance at their reunions generally numbers in the 60s. Sanzenbacher says that it's very gratifying "to see the young people continuing it."
Many other families enjoy getting together annually for a reunion full of games, reminiscing and looking over the "family archives." With the variety of styles, information and help available, many more families may become interested in starting that tradition.