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A few days before the reunion, Mike Spiker
informed us that his beloved mother, Alice Williams Spiker, 94 had
passed away peacefully of natural causes on May 25 at Hanna's House
Assisted Living in Marietta, Ohio. He insisted that the
reunion would go on as planned saying, "While we know her death puts
a cloud over the weekend, she loved the family reunion and would
have wanted it to go forward. This dark cloud will be lifted,
in part, by knowing it is replaced by a new bright cloud -- her cloud
filled with love, flowers and hope for the next generation -- now
that she is in heaven."
Indeed, I
am told her presence was keenly felt throughout the weekend, as were
the memories of others that passed in previous years. One
could feel it in a warm embrace and see it in the faces of the
grandchildren.
We continue
to pass along the memories and traditions as our family grows in
number each year. Keeping up with that growth can be quite a
task. Just ask Haley Conley. She spent an entire year
cross-stitching a beautiful wall hanging of the Spiker Family Tree
which she donated to the auction.
Jake and
Gay's names were printed on the trunk. Their children's names
were stitched onto the main branches, the grandchildren on the
limbs, the great-grandchildren on the leaves and
the great-great-grandchildren on acorns. Each of Jake and Gay's
descendants, including those lovingly brought into our family, were
equally represented on the tree. The problem (although not
truly a problem at all) was that the tree continued to "grow" acorns
during this last year and Haley had to continuously re-design her
layout. But the final outcome was a beautiful labor of love.
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The
soon-to-be family heirloom generated the highest winning bid from
any auction at a whopping $550, and will hang on the wall at
the Spiker Farm for all to enjoy. A grand total of $1400 was
raised during the charity auction benefitting the South Fork Baptist
Church Cemetery Fund.
After the
auction, many of the children gathered at one of the "fishing holes"
for a tournament. Winners of the fishing contest were:
Slate Swiger for Smallest Fish, a 4.5" bluegill; Phoebe
Hurst for Largest Fish, a 9.5" bluegill; and Christian Hicks
for MVP with the most fish caught, a 5" bluegill, two 20" blue
catfish, a 11.5" largemouth bass, a 9.5 largemouth bass, a 6.5"
bluegill, a 9.25" bass, and a 9" sunfish!
Although I
have not yet received a total figure of the number of guests at this
year's reunion, it is believed to be one of the largest gatherings
in many years. One face we haven't seen in a while is Alice
Larew Matheney. When asked for comments about the event, she
replied, "Jim, Paige and I drove from Kansas City, swinging down to
Monroe County to pick up (my parents) Coon and Delene 'Boots' Larew
to make it to the Spiker Reunion. It was well worth the trip
to see aunts and cousins that I have not seen for 14 years. It
was a little overwhelming to figure out who belonged to who with the
growth of the latest generation. It was a wonderful day of
eating, visiting and an exciting ATV ride with Mike."
Jean Spiker
also told us about her grandson's experience. "This was the
first family reunion Thomas has been to. He had so much fun
playing in the creek with all the kids -- including Chris Chambers
and John Bob Spiker. He had so many kids to play with!
He loved sitting on the edge of the road over the culvert watching
the snakes. When he left, he cried because he wanted to stay
and play with his newfound friends. He can't wait to go back
again!"
We feel the
same way as Thomas. We're already planning for next year. |
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Submitted by Bobbi Spiker-Conley -- Visit
Submitted by Bobbi Spiker-Conley -- The following are links to a
couple reunion photo albums displayed on Facebook. (If anyone
provides additional photos, we will add them below at a later date.)