The 118th Kalloch Reunion will
be held on Saturday, August 24th in Union, Maine. Directions are elsewhere. This year there will be no individual cost; instead we are paying $175.00 out
of the treasury, of which we will get back $50.00 if things are left in order. It was voted at last summer’s reunion that those who can, will bring enough
lunches to share with those who travel and cannot.
Be assured that the facilities at Beaver Lodge in Union are more civilized in
that there will be no need to walk uphill to the rest area. To quote Hazel
Hills: “We have indoor and outdoor facilities, can swim, play ball, and plenty
of room for Peter to spread out all his equipment. We can eat outdoors or on
an open porch, really lovely location and toilet facilities are extra good!”
Hazel should know because the Hills reunion was held there last year. In fact,
if we cannot resurrect my mother’s Kalloch sign, you may have to follow the
Hills Reunion sign.
I did not attend last year’s reunion, nor am I sure at this point whether I
will attend this one, so I am counting more and more on first-hand
observations from others. I have to maintain close contact with a doctor in
New York City as I have lymphoma which has to be monitored. This means extra
trips from Cape Cod to New York City. However, the good news is that I am
retiring this June after 23 years of teaching and would love invitations to
come visit any of you. I know Peter Richardson has wanted me to spend more
time looking over his collection of material so that I can become more
knowledgeable about John Kalloch and descendants.
Let me hear about your family milestones, incidents and reactions.
STATE OF THE REUNION
The 117th reunion news comes direct to me from a newspaper clipping sent by
Hazel which reports that about 60 members were present and a catered meal of
barbecued chicken, salad, rolls and watermelon was served. The oldest member
was Harold Kalloch, 89 years old and the youngest at 2½ years was Carolyn Lane
Kalloch. The person coming the longest distance was Carl Vetra of Tampa,
Florida and those married longest were Lloyd and Glenice Gross of Waterford,
Conn.
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The new officers are: |
President, Dean Mayhew |
Our new President, Dean, reports he has engaged the services of a genealogist in Dunfermline, Scotland to track us down. The registers in Scotland are complete to 1561 and Dean has the first Kellock traced to 1562, so he feels the lines will mesh well and says, “I tend to think that Alexander, christened 1575, or David, christened 1573, may be the lines, but we’ll see.”
MILESTONES
Our new treasurer and chaplain, Paul and Doris Merriam, had their 50th
Wedding Anniversary celebrated with a family party and their picture in the
local paper. Congratulations!
NEW FORMAT
At this writing, I do not know what the final Newsletter will look like. My
cousin, Elaine Kalloch Stewart is going to do the final printing and mailing
this year. I have put your addresses on a friends computer. There will
be a small charge, but I did the typing and she is providing the electricity. The job was getting too big for Hazel to continue as we now have 175 labels. Please let me know any corrections or additions for next year.
PERIPATETIC KALLOCH
The following is an account of the travels of my cousin, Susan Race, who is
the daughter of Elaine Kalloch Stewart. She and her husband, David have been
stationed in several global spots, and I thought you might be interested in
hearing her impressions. Believe me, her story has a surprise ending!
“The last white Christmas I had was in Maine in 1978. I remember I had to
leave my Aunt and Uncle’s home in Tenants Harbor right after dinner to drive
back to Portland. I was scheduled to work the night shift at Maine Medical
Center. That drive took me twice the normal time due to the falling snow and I
arrived in Portland white-knuckled with relief. Probably at that time I would
have welcomed the thought of NO SNOW. But now, it’s been six years since I’ve
celebrated the holidays with family and friends in Maine and I always miss the
snow at Christmas! These years have taken us around the world to live in two
very different cultures. We had almost two years in Japan - a totally
new experience for a girl from Maine with limited travel experience. It was a
big adjustment to married life and military life in a culture I knew nothing
about. With my husband gone 75% of the time, I was forced to investigate the
outside on my own. I made contact with several Japanese my age through a
Japanese woman at the base elementary school where I volunteered. They were
looking for someone with whom to practice and refine their conversational
English. Having studied English in school, they spoke well and I found
they were motivated more out of a curiosity about Americans than learning
English per se. We asked each other questions about our cultures, laughed
about our differences and our language mistakes, discussed politics and
current events, gossiped and tried each other’s foods. They came to my house
and I went to theirs and we became good friends. These people taught me about
the role of women, men, and the family in Japan, about Japanese art, food and
music. Though our values and beliefs were not always the same and despite the
language barrier on my part, the cultural gap was bridged and I made friends
with whom I still correspond. The Japanese people I met were intelligent,
warm, gracious and friendly and the experience was a positive one.
From Japan we were sent to Naples, Italy, and are presently finishing our third year here. From one extreme to the other. Where the Japanese were gracious and polite to the formal extreme - the Neapolitans often seem rude and aggressive. Japan was pristine in its neatness and safe enough to leave doors unlocked and keys in the car. Naples was garbage in the streets and your car may be stolen from you in broad day-light. Most people who came here suffer from extreme culture shock - with good reason. Yet, Italy taken as a whole is a beautiful country. The people are full of life and have a zest for living which would be difficult to match. Art is everywhere you look. The cities have such uniqueness - Rome, Florence and particularly Venice. I only recently visited Venice and it is such an enchanting place it defies description. I wish everyone could have the chance to see it. Since coming to Europe I have been able to visit places I’d only read about - Athens, London, Munich and the Italian cities. I hope to go to Paris in April. There is always something to see or to try. Living abroad is an experience everyone should have. It lets you see the strengths and the weaknesses of the U.S. more clearly. It makes you more open-minded about everything. It gives you a chance to experience new ways. It shows you alternatives you might never have thought of. It makes you realize that the world is both very big and yet very small. This was never more perfectly illustrated than when I was working a few weeks ago. I work for the University of Maryland in Naples. We were registering students for the new term and one fellow came in to register for the first time. He filled out a card and passed it to Barbara, the woman I work with. She asked him how to pronounce his last name and I heard him say, “Kalloch.” That caught my ear so I asked him if he was from New England and he said yes that he was from Rockland, Maine. So I smiled and asked if he ever went to the Kalloch Family Reunions. Well, the rest you can imagine. It’s always nice to meet someone from Maine when you’re far from home, but it’s not often that you get to meet a relative. As trite as it sounds it is a small world isn’t it’?!”
100 YEARS AGO
The August 1885 reunion gathered at the residence of E.S. Graves of St. George
on Wednesday, August 26th. The Rev. W. Holman of Rockland delivered an
appropriate address on the life and work of the late, much esteemed President,
Rev. Joseph Kalloch, with further remarks from another minister from Tenants
Harbor. A great number of people had died during the previous year and a
two-page resolution was inserted in the record book, several parts of which
are of interest:
Be it resolved that so long as we enjoy our family reunions we will love and cherish the memory of him who originated them - the late, Silas Kalloch. Whereas it has pleased God to remove from our midst the President of our association, the late Rev. Joseph Kalloch, one who stood prominent among us for his purity of life and excellence of character. . .we find that we have lost one whom God devoted to the people, the Kalloch family, and one who honored their name and labored faithfully to have it honored in the land. . .a noble husband, a faithful father, a true friend.
CORRESPONDENCE
Doris Merriam writes that her uncle, Harold Kalloch, now resides at the
Soldiers Home on Cherry Street in Holyoke, Massachusetts. She further
adds that many of our friends think it is wonderful that the Kallochs have
been having a reunion for 117 years. I do too!
An article sent from the Rockland paper says Norman Kalloch has ended a brief
retirement from his oil business by starting the new Coastal Fuel Company,
reporting: “Norman Kalloch doesn’t know when to quit.” His original business
dated back to 1931, specializing in personal service, even having a sort of
branch office in his Thomaston home. We wish him the best and hope he and
Norma will be at this summers reunion.
Another article concerned Norman C. Hammond, traveling in Seattle to find a
local newspaper article about one David Kellogg, born in Thomaston in 1835,
who had established Seattle’s first drug store - Kellogg & Brother.
A lengthy letter from Margaret MacDonald in Wisconsin, outlined the work she
has done in searching for MacKellaigh/MacKelloch/MacCullochs who, as I
reported last year, are part of Clan Donald. She particularly needs help in
locating the parents of Shepard Kollock who once lived in Maine and was a
native of New Brunswick, Canada. Her address is: 2023 Main Street, La Crosse,
WI 54601.
OBITUARY’S
William R. Hoffses died in March, 1985. He was the husband of the late, Lucy
Kalloch and father of Kurt Hoffses. Because he had apparently been living or
visiting with Kurt, who lives across the Hudson River from me, his obituary
was in my local newspaper. I was astonished to see the name Kalloch in a
local paper. I remember when he and Kurt came for a short visit several years
ago and we found that Kurt and I shared the same great, great grand-father,
Alexander Kalloch of Wiley’s Corner.
Sam Kalloch died in November, just as he would have liked - watching a
ballgame. Since Betty’s death almost a year before, he had been trying to find
ways to stay in his Poughkeepsie home, but it became more and more difficult
when he suffered several strokes. Ultimately, he went to live with and
near his daughters. Sam was an experience to know. He supported and drove the
people he loved just as if we were all on his team. I was in my 50’s when I
met him, but he took me on - especially during my recent illness and would
call my son’s apartment demanding to know how I was. In fact, he would
order me to get well and do all this with loving concern. He was interested
always in Kallochs and was one of those rarities - a man who kept in touch
with regular letter writing. Along with his daughters, Barbara and Joan, I
will miss him.
CONTRIBUTIONS
Thanks are in order to Margaret MacDonald for her contribution and to my
parents, Colby and Lee Kalloch. My father usually pays for the mailing of
these newsletters and my mother sent a donation of her own. For those of you
who know my mother, you might want to know that she has been battling glaucoma
and cataracts for the past couple of years. She had two lens implants, neither
of which were successful, so she is now listening to books on tape which she
receives through Peabody Institute for the Blind, and managing well about the
house with my father’s assistance. Several years ago, when we still had the
reunions at the Grange is St. George, she made a large banner to help direct
people. I do not know where it lives now, but get it out and use it to
direct people to Beaver Lodge this summer
If you have occasion to ask Peter Richardson or Dean Mayhew for personal
genealogical tracing, neither one will accept money, but they. do incur
expenses. So, send a contribution to Paul Merriam, 72 Mechanic Street,
Rockland, ME 04841 for the fund set up to reimburse both men for mailing and
other expenses.
DIRECTIONS
How to get there? From the North and the Down East area via Rt. 1, come into
Belfast, take Rt. 3 exit toward Augusta (heading West). Follow Rt. 3 for
4 or 5 miles to Rt. 131 on the left. Take this down through Searsmont and
Appleton to Rt. 17 in Union. Turn left on Rt. 17 by the Exxon Station. Stay on
Rt. 17 for about 2½ miles, then take the 5th left-hand turn onto Rt. 235.
(Kalloch signs hopefully will be placed at Rt. 235 and Rt. 17 Junction).
Go 1½ to 2 miles on Rt. 235. As you start up a hill, the entrance road to
Beaver Lodge will be on your right - a dirt road by a sign that reads either
“Beaver Lodge” or “Knox County Fish and Game Association”. Continue for about
a mile and you should be at Beaver Lodge. This all may seem complicated, but
it really isn’t.
From the Augusta area, take Rt. 17 and follow directions from the Rt. 131
intersection by the Exxon Station as you enter Union.
From the South, via Rt. 1 and Rt. 234, take Rt. 235 straight through Union
Common to the blinker at Rt. 17 (at Elmer’s Restaurant), then go right on Rt.
17 and follow above directions, except it will be the 4th left-hand turn onto
Rt. 235.
From the Rockland area via Rt. 17, heading toward Union and Augusta, look for
Fuller’s Trading Post in South Hope (a general store on your right). Take the
3rd right-hand turn after this store onto Rt. 235 and follow above directions.
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