Ranger – About 100 people came out to Shady Grove Baptist Church on Aug. 4 to celebrate a 90-year-long tradition of fellowship, eating and making memories.
Family members of the late John Milton Anderson Jr., affectionately remembered as “Milt,” gathered to celebrate the family’s 90th reunion. The first reunion was started by Milton and his siblings in 1934.
The annual reunion is looked forward to by family members as well as extended members, and has grown to the point where it is near standing room only. No one went hungry, as there were numerous food dishes and desserts covering two tables, fitting for such an occasion.
One longstanding and edible family tradition adorning the desert table was a stack cake. It has been around as long as the reunion itself and was originally made by Zay Anderson Martin, who needed a week to make it.
Martin used apples from a tree on the farm and would make about eight layers, storing them until the event, when she would then stack and finish the tasty treat. She’d make extra cakes as folks wanted them.
Stanley C. Anderson hasn’t missed many reunions. The 81-year-old came from Tennessee and said, “This is the biggest crowd I’ve seen since I’ve been coming. I think this is wonderful.”
His father, Gurley Griffith Anderson, was the first born of the family those many years ago, he said, pointing to a photo of the original family home in his wallet.
After everyone introduced themselves, telling how they were related to the family, gifts were given for the eldest and youngest relative, as well as the furthest traveled. They sang gospel songs, and photos were displayed of memories captured through the years.