2012 Notes
Email from Barbara Blaine Brawner Armstrong
Subject: RE: Blaine Family Reunion
Date: Sun, 8 Jul 2012 20:32:00 -0400
Dear Rose,
So sorry we can’t come again. I would like to solicit prayers from the greater family as I am now fighting Colon Cancer (diagnosed May 2, 2012). I won the fight with breast cancer a couple of years back and now am again challenged with yet another type cell. We are hopeful and positive as I am having 6 rounds of chemo prior to attempting surgery….then that will be followed by more chemo! We are told we are not given more than we can handle so, with God’s help and dutiful prayer givers…..I feel calmed and encouraged.
My Mother, Mary Logan Hardin Brawner, fell to this beast in 1987, Much has been done to improve my diagnosis…..meds are much more effective and other procedures more advanced.
Have a wonderful reunion. Have a chicken leg and some yummy farm fresh veggies on me.
“B”
Barbara Blaine Brawner Armstrong
933 Frankland Rd
Tampa, Fl. 33629
bsold@verizon.net
Email from Jane Ann Blaine Goude
Date: Sun, 8 Jul 2012 21:31:21 -0400
Subject: Re: Blaine Family Reunion
Rose, Sara, and James,
Thanks for your work on the Blaine reunion. We won't make it this year, but it was nice to be able to see familiar faces on the website! In the 21 years I've been married, I've only made a handful of reunions, fewer and fewer as our family grew. What were the odds you'd post pics from two of the years we were there? Fun!
I don't recall seeing the website previously...my loss. What a great way to keep us in touch. Thanks for putting that in motion and keeping it going. When I was paging through the website, I remembered a memorial (of sorts, not sure what to call it) I wrote about Mary Logan. I've attached it. Do not feel compelled to include it on the website, but feel free to use it if you wish.
I look forward to when we are able to attend another reunion.
--
Janey Goude
janeygoude@sc.rr.com
(803) 312-4095
Mary Logan Blaine
Bacon frying in a pan. There’s something about food that evokes a memory even in those of us who are memory-challenged.
Years ago I had a professional course about fifteen minutes from 2700 Dixie Highway; Mary Logan graciously opened her home to me. When I arrived late in the evening, she was there to greet me and show me to my room. In all the years of reunions, I don’t think I’d ever been upstairs before that night. I had to get up early to get to the course. I woke to the smell of bacon frying in a pan…the old-fashioned way. Mary Logan had breakfast waiting.
I only stayed one night, but it felt like home. And I hated to leave. I wish I’d been able to make more memories there. Aside from this one unique time, all my other memories are of reunions and group gatherings. In most of those memories, Mary Logan is in the same spot…the kitchen: making sure everyone was taken care of. Her quick smile and gentle warmth made her home an inviting refuge. I loved riding up the driveway and seeing the big front porch. And I always looked forward to using the cozy, storybook restroom off the kitchen. Funny the things you remember.
I remember Mary Logan telling the story of the Doberman (though I can’t recall its name, it seems there may have been some irony there) who kept bringing baby bunnies for her as a love offering, never injuring one of them. Lying in the yard with lumbering paws crossed, the intimidating Doberman lost some of its “scare factor” as it nudged the tiny bunny about.
Moreland and Mary Logan came to my wedding. They gave me one of the prettiest crystal pitchers I’d ever seen. That was one item I always wanted but would never buy. To this day the pitcher is prominently displayed in my china cabinet when it’s not being used to serve sweet tea. As much as I love that pitcher, the best gift was their presence. They drove all the way from Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky, to Charleston, SC, to be with us on our special day…because we were family.
Seeing them took my breath away. My heart still skips a beat when I think of them driving all that way to be with me on my wedding day. I’m sure they never gave it a second thought. For Moreland and Mary Logan attending my wedding was a foregone conclusion: family meant being together. Family is the essence of who Mary Logan was and the reason she will be missed so deeply.
Jane Ann Blaine Goude