Ortonville-For one area family, ‘the Sunday before, the Sunday before Labor Day,? has been marked on their calendar for the past 90 years.
Since August 1916, the Howell family’a local clan who since the summer of 1857 when Abram and Sally Howell first sailed up the old Erie Canal to Sandusky, Ohio, crossed Lake Erie in a boat to Detroit, then traveled via a farm wagon pulled by oxen, settling in Groveland Township? has gathered in the community for a family reunion.
So on Sunday Aug. 30, the Howells, along with family members, will gather in the village to continue what was started nine decades before.
With the exception of 1943, 1944 and 1945 when the family cancelled the gatherings due to World War II, Brandon Township resident Kathleen Leece, 90, the daughter of Jennie (Howell) and Leslie Saunders has attended 90 Howell family reunions. Jennie was the daughter of Frank and Ida Howell.
‘I just don’t remember ever missing the reunion. We’ve changed the location through the years’but that’s about it,? said Leece, who married Elwyn Leece in 1941. ‘We’ve gathered at the Old Town Hall, at homes and now at the Ortonville Masonic Temple. We played music, and even had skits’and bring a dish to pass.?
‘Not too much has changed over the years, plenty of good times, plenty of family members too.?
The family is set to meet at the Ortonville Masonic Lodge.