Reunion Reflections

 By Carmen Turner

             Those of you who know me know that I have two great passions:  public service and my family. 

            I am incredibly proud to be a member of the Allen Family.  We are the descendants of William & Addie Allen of Eleuthera, Bahamas, who bore nine children.  Two of them remained in the Bahamas, and four settled in Miami, while three of those offspring immigrated to Key West.  They were siblings Mary Elizabeth Allen Carey, Rev. George Witfield Allen (my great-grandfather), and James Alexander Allen.

Both the Bahamian and American descendants of William & Addie Allen recently gathered in Daytona Beach, Florida, for our bi-annual Allen Family Reunion.  We had a wonderful time!  With 426 registrants this year, the Allen Family Reunion continues to be one of the largest reunions of families of African descent in the U.S. and Bahamas.  The Key West branch of the family has hosted this huge reunion twice, and we are excited to announce that the 2006 reunion will be held in Nassau, in the land of our ancestors.

Because we had such a wonderful time, I’d like to share some highlights of our reunion with you:

Day 1 – Thursday, July 29: 

The Key West family boarded a charter bus for the 8-hour ride to Daytona at 6 a.m.  We arrived at 2 p.m. and checked in at the hotel, picked up our reunion registration packets and renewed family ties.  We milled around the lobby meeting, greeting, hugging, laughing and talking while we waited for our hotel rooms.  It had been two years since the family gathered in Key West for the reunion, and there was so much to catch up on!  The reunion theme of “One Love, One Heart,” which was emblazoned on our T-shirts and memory albums, was a perfect choice.

It was wonderful to see the Daytona branch of the family again, including Cousin Monica Smith and her sons Jay, Al, Daniel and Kevin.  And let’s not forget her daughters Adeesha and Dannica, who I’m sure kept the guys on track as they prepared for the reunion!  They were our hosts, taking on the monumental task of organizing a four-day reunion for nearly 500 people.       

That first evening, our Daytona cousins arranged for a family trip aboard a SunCruz ship with Vegas-style entertainment and dinner.  Unfortunately, the seas were quite rough and several family members lived to regret their decision to attend that particular event!  Others of us took advantage of the surrounding Ocean Walk restaurants and shops and spent the evening exploring Daytona Beach’s night life.  We finally fell into bed at around 2:30 a.m., excited about the next day’s events.

Day 2 – Friday, July 30:

At 10 a.m., we boarded a tour bus to learn more about Daytona Beach - and what a lesson it was!  We traveled to Bethune-Cookman College and toured not only this historically black college, but also the actual home of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955), the college’s founder.  What a fascinating woman, and so driven, to have been able to accomplish what she did to give African-Americans access to higher education during that period of history.  What an incredible contribution! 

Next we visited the Daytona Speedway, well known to NASCAR fans as the site of the Daytona 500.  After riding our own victory lap and touring the facility, we headed to Jackie Robinson Stadium for a brief visit to learn about his contribution to the integration of major league baseball.  Then it was on to the picnic!

The Allen Family Picnic was held at a lovely river-side park with delicious picnic fare prepared by Daytona’s leading black chef.  There were more opportunities for meeting and greeting, and lots of dancing to popular and Caribbean-style music.  The American Allens challenged the Bahamian Allens in the All-Star Allen Family Softball Game, which the Bahamians won handily.  That’s okay, guys.  There’s always next time!

At the picnic I finally caught up with Faye Carey Smith, who founded the Allen Family Reunions in Nassau back in the mid1980s.  This lady’s leadership and foresight has brought us to where we are now.  It was wonderful to see her, though we didn't get to chat for long.  I was out and about taking pictures and wanted to capture as much of the fun on film as possible.

Friday evening, we donned our beads for the Allen Family Talent Show, which had a great “pardi-gras” theme this year.  This event is always fun, and has become a fixture at the past couple of reunions.  Several of the Key West Allen women performed a dance to the Teddy Pendergrass classic, “Get Up, Get Down, Get Funky, Get Loose,” which was a huge hit!  It wasn’t hard to spot us in the crowd, as our tropical shirts and jeans demonstrated our “Caribbean soul” theme.  At the end of the song, we formed a Conga line and passed out beads to the family in the audience in honor of the evening’s theme.  We had them on their feet chanting, “Key West!” 

The Bahamian Allens performed, too.  They entered waving their flag with a Junkanoo processional that had everyone clapping and wanting to shake it up!  Mandy Moncur led them in performing “Pineapple Wine” and our family’s anthem, “All of We is One Family.”  They were warmly received, as always.

Our Miami cousins also performed, singing “Girl, I Want to Shake You Down.”  To the delight of the crowd, we were well entertained by our family.  Several other Allens also performed, including Keena Blocker, who graced us with a praise dance.  Joe Allen, a member of Key West’s Island Junkanoos, sang a couple of island songs.  The entire evening was fun, fun, fun!

Day 3 – Saturday, July 31: 

At 11 a.m. on Saturday morning, we doubted that our outdoor “Taste of Daytona” seafood fest was going to take place, but the rain finally held up, then went away entirely.  Fish, shrimp, conch fritters and other goodies from the sea were on the chef’s menu, but the highlight of the afternoon was the bi-plane which circled the hotel grounds with a banner reading, “Welcome, Allen Family! One Love!”  A local reporter circulated among the crowd, interviewing Allens in search of quotes for a story which would appear in the Daytona News-Journal the next day.  Family members spoke from the heart as they described the importance of our bi-annual reunions and the fun and family unity that they always bring.

Saturday evening, we attended the Allen Family Banquet, a formal affair which was graced by the presence of the Right Honorable Perry G. Christie, Prime Minister of the Bahamas.  He’s an Allen descendant (his grandfather and my great-grandfather were brothers), and he always makes it a point to attend the reunions.  His keynote address was stirring, reminding us of the importance of family and of our history of excellence.  He topped it off with an invitation to come back to the Bahamas for the next reunion.  We’re taking him up on it! 

I also had the pleasure of awarding this year’s Allen Family Scholarships.  They went to Trey Cooper of Tallahassee, Dora McIver of Crescent, Georgia, and to Donna Allen Moore of Key West.  Our scholarship committee also introduced a pledge drive which we hope will result in thousands of dollars in donations so that we may continue to support the educational goals of Allen Family members. 

We ended the evening with dancing and more fellowship in our formal finery.  We were dressed to the nines, and if I do say so myself, we are one good lookin’ family!  We finally fell into bed in the wee, wee hours of the morning.

Day 4 – Sunday, August 1:  

The last day of our reunion extravaganza began with our traditional Allen Family Worship Service.  The praise and worship portion of the service was led by Bahamians Charles Wallace and Al McCartney.  We were serenaded by Charles, the husband of Angela Wallace, who introduced his first instrumental saxophone CD, “To God Be the Glory.”  A portion of the sales will be donated to our scholarship fund.  When I had a chance to listen to my copy, I was delighted to find that several Allens had performed background vocals on a couple of tracks! 

Scriptures were read, hymns were sung, and then Dr. Ed Allen, pastor of Abundant Life Bible Church of Nassau, delivered an excellent sermon.  He spoke about our family’s long history of reliance on God for guidance, and about the importance of standing strong in our faith.  The service continued with our moving, traditional Memorial Candlelight Service.  Members of the family lit 11 candles in memory of William & Addie Allen, their nine offspring, and all Allen descendants who have passed on.

The final event was the Farewell Luncheon.  After a delicious meal, we handled last-minute family business such as the selection of the next reunion site.  Faye and the Bahamian family graciously invited us to join them in Nassau for the 2006 reunion, and their invitation was unanimously accepted.  Family reunion awards such as farthest traveled were announced, then representatives of the Key West and Bahamian families thanked our Daytona cousins for their hard work and incredible hospitality. 

Our final meal together was bittersweet because we’d had such a wonderful time, but knew that we had to part.  Many of us will not see each other for another two years, though we always promise not to wait that long.  Afterwards, there were many hugs, kisses and exchanges of contact information, along with pledges to keep in touch.

The Key West family boarded our charter bus at 4 p.m. and headed back home, chattering non-stop about the great time we’d had, the family members we’d met, and our next reunion.  Then we passed out from the sheer exhaustion brought on by packing that many events into four days, and by way too many late nights spent dancing, laughing and catching up with family!

The Allen Family always has a wonderful time when we get together, and this reunion was no different.  God willing, He’ll spare us all to attend the next Allen Family Reunion in Nassau in 2006!

If you have reunion memories you'd like to share, send them along via e-mail to CarmenTurn@aol.com.