The BC Reunion in State
College, PA
June 2, 2001
We attended the Genealogy
Conference
"Building Family
Bridges"
Co sponsored by
The Centre County
Genealogical Society
And the
Latter-Day Saints Family
History Center
Back row Bob Hewitt and Paul Whitehouse
Middle row Lois Kamoi and Jane Wettstone
Front row Caroline N-Kamoi, Jane Buehner and Diane
Lentz
Our special badges featured
the canal horse drawing that was on the BC Reunion badges as well as the bridge
inside the heart drawing that was the logo for the conference.
We met as we moved between
classes. Identification was easy as our
name badges were different that the badges worn by the rest of the attendees.
At lunchtime we shared the
same table and got to know one another a little better. The class after lunch was one we all
attended. "Researching your British Ancestors". We all ended up on the back row as we had
lingered too long over lunch.
When the speaker, Keri-Lynn
Kendall, mentioned that it might be a good idea to join a LIST for our area of
England we cheered and told her why we were there. We also found that most of our ancestors were John Wesley
Methodists and not Church Of England although marriages and baptisms were
frequently recorded in the C of E records.
We met again at "The
Tavern" Restaurant in downtown State College.
Some directions given were
misunderstood and "The Pub with no name" adventure happened all over
again.
Ken Knott and his wife
Margaret (a Welsh lass) and Jane's husband Jerry joined us. Jerry was the foreigner as his ancestry is
Swiss.
Ken had brought along
picture books, joke books and information about the Black Country. He shared all this good information with the group and it was sure appreciated. Ken was born and raised in Dudley and came
to State College to work in the College of Engineering at Penn State University
in the 1960's.
We enjoyed the conversation
over dinner and lingered again. To
quote Bob Hewitt, "It is amazing that 7 complete strangers could get
together for the day and have such a good time."
My reply "That is the Black
Country way".