Family reunions help forge strong bonds, an article in The Republican (Springfield, MA), by John P. O’Connor (a family historian at Connecticut Valley Historical Museum Genealogy Library at the Quadrangle in Springfield), reinforces one of the benefits of strong family ties through family reunions:
One thing that the recent Hurricane Katrina tragedy impressed on me was the need for family ties. Many individuals who themselves were victims were concerned for their own families.
Having attended an O’Connor family reunion in mid-August at the home of my cousin Tim and his wife Mary in Suffield made this need for a family connection even more personal.
On a side-note, if you are a genealogist with a French-Canadian background living in the NE USA, he mentions something that might be of interest to you:
For various reasons over the last several years, French-Canadian Catholic parishes have closed and societies such as Le Cercle des Dames Francaises, the Ladies of Saint Anne and L’Union St-Jean Baptiste are less prominent. So we at the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum have decided to hold classes and workshops highlighting French-Canadian genealogy this year.