Cloutier Family Reunion

     Yesterday, the 17th of September, a reunion of the Cloutier family was held at the Fish and Game club in South Royalston, MA. About six dozen attended.  My father was one of eight siblings, five boys and three girls.  His father died in a wintertime gravel pit accident with a collapsing bank of frozen soil in 1921, shortly after the youngest was born.  My grandmother brought up the eight kids on a subsistence farm right through the teeth of the Great Depression.  The farm was located about a mile or so from where we held the reunion.  All eight grew up to be a feisty, hard-nosed clan of many talents and a universal, and sometimes unappreciated, sense of humor.  That generation has all passed, but their many descendants get together irregularly in order to stay in touch and meet the newest members of Nannie's Clan.  I will include a picture of most of the group present and a picture of Durelle and I  with ALL of our progeny.  It is the first time for such a picture.

     Our corner of the family also provided both the oldest and young member of the clan who are named Cloutier.

     For those of you who may be new to the blog, that's Durelle and her great-granddaughter, Brielle.
     The weather was great, the food was plentiful, and our fund raising efforts for scholarship funds were modestly successful.  With any such event there is always one dedicated spark plug without whom the reunion would not have happened.  Thank you, Bonnie (Cloutier) Banks.