Family Reunion

On the fourth Sunday of every August the Barrow clan gathers at Hull Road Free Will Baptist Church in Snow Hill, NC to celebrate being family. Dale's mother's mother was Viola Lindley Barrow. She had twelve siblings so there is always the possibility of a seeing a bunch of people you don't really know. However, Viola had seven children who all married and had families of their own and we do know all of them and some of the more distant cousins, too.
It's Ava's delight to go each year and see cousins she grew up with and catch up on the family news.
At ninety, Ava is the oldest surviving member of this larger family.

 What a privilege it was to stay with Dale's first cousin Robert and his wife, Janet, in Rocky Mount. They treated us royally and made us feel very welcome.

Janet always keeps us well fed

Sharon, Janet holding Will Franklin, Robert and neighbor, Elaine

Ava with Robert and Janet's neighbor, Elaine

Will Franklin, Robert and Janet's latest grandchild

 

I took the opportunity to snap some pictures I thought Gray would enjoy seeing since she gets her name from Ava Gray Turnage Taylor who got hers from her grandmother Mary Ava Gray Turnage. The road sign marks the road where the house Ava grew up in still stands. It belongs to a nephew of Ava's now.  

 

The childhood home of Ava Gray Turnage Taylor, Arba, NC

This stone is actually in the Hull Road Church cemetery but the bodies of Noah Henry and Mary Ava Gray Turnage are interred in the Mewborn Cemetery just a couple of miles away. We visited both.