When in early February of this year, Marion Hoblitt called together a group of Fulbright descendants to discuss the feasibility of holding a family reunion, little did we realize what we were getting ourselves into. For most of us in the group a family reunion meant calling all the cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents etc., packing a picnic basket and gathering in a local park for a big dinner and an afternoon of lazy conversation about the latest family gossip. It quickly became apparent that Marion had something a little more extensive in mind, as she explained that she would like to gather together Fulbrights from all over the nation. Apparently the 1929 Fulbright reunion, held in Springfield, Missouri in June of that year, was the nearest thing to a national reunion that was and ever has been held in the family. Both Marion and James McClure, another member of the group, had attended that first reunion. It was held in conjunction with Springfiled's 100 year centennial celebration, as the first settlers in Springfield were Fulbrights. However, no family association was formed at that time and attempts to make the reunion an annual affair were hampered by the depression years. The reunions quickly fizzled away.

After much discussion the group decided that though we had only five months to plan it, we would try to hold a nation wide reunion. We surmised that, due to the lack of time, it would probably be quite small but it would be a start and we would be able to get a family association started, which in turn could plan bigger reunions in the future. Boy were we surprised!

As we began to gather names and addresses of family members, we learned that Ed Stout of California had worked many years on Fulbright genealogy and had compiled a pretty extensive list of addresses of Fulbrights already. When we contacted Ed, he enthusiastically agreed to help us, even printing out the labels for us. Ed had not done very much updating of his list over the past six years, so we knew that we would not reach everyone, however we continued to send out invitations, as long as all of you sent us new information. We have mailed over 1050 of these invitations, and about 230 were returned as non-deliverable so we know there are still Fulbrights out there that did not get the word.

We were astounded at the response that we got, both in numbers of people who were able to come to the reunion on short notice, the distances from which they came, and even the interest shown by those who could not come this year but want to be a part of the family association and plan to come to the next reunion. A big THANK YOU to all of you who sent contributions to help us get started, since we started with a treasury of $0.00, it was really a big help.

The reunion itself got under way on Friday evening at a local restaurant with an informal get-acquainted gathering during dinner. We were a little crowded due to the fact that we had received a much larger response than we expected. We had tried to find a restaurant with a larger meeting room as reservations for the reunion increased, only to learn that there was a large national car show in Springfield that same week and everything was booked solid. But in spite of the lack of space everyone seemed to enjoy the chance to visit and get acquainted especially with people with whom they had exchanged letters and phone calls, as they have done genealogical research on our family. In all there were about 60 family members at the Friday dinner.

On Saturday the festivities began at 12:30 in the Doling Park Senior Citizens Center. Family members gathered for a catered lunch, followed by more visiting and getting acquainted, in the cafeteria.

At 2:30 the program began in the ballroom. The invocation was given by David Fulbright of Independence, Missouri. James McClure, of Springfield, Missouri officially welcomed everyone to the reunion with some personal recollections of his memories of the 1929 reunion, which he had attended as a young man. He then asked everyone to turn to all of those around them, and shake hands and greet their cousins. We then had a roll call by states, counting how many from each state was in attendance. Of course Missouri had the most with 125. (Note: these numbers have been adjusted, based on the registration list, as many children were out on the playground.) The remaining states and numbers represented were as follows:  Texas with 36, Arkansas with 13, Kansas with 10, California with 9, North Carolina with 6, South Carolina with 6, Tennessee with 4, Illinois with 3, Arizona with 2, Delaware with 2, Indiana with 2, New York with 2, Michigan with 2, Minnesota with 2, Oregon with 2, Florida with 1, Georgia with 1, Idaho with 1, Nevada with 1, New Jersey with 1, Oklahoma with 1, and Virginia with 1.

A total of 234 were in attendance, representing 23 different states! (The following were guests attending the reunion and are not descendants: Jan Horton of Springfield, Missouri; Maria A. Holperin, from the Museum of the Ozarks; and Carl Locke of Brighton, Missouri.)

Chris Williams and his mother Cathy of Springfield, Missouri presented some "awards" to the attendees. Myrtle and Melvin Hjorten received an award for coming the farthest, having traveled over 2400 miles from Astoria, Oregon to attend. Carl "W.C." Fulbright from Denver City, Texas received an award for the eldest in attendance at 89 1/2 years "young". The youngest in attendance was Rian Teal, just 24 days old, the son of Troy and Carrie Teal of Springfield, Missouri. The largest family group in attendance award went to Harvey R. Fulbright of Springfield, Missouri, who brought 30 family members to the reunion, most of them living in the Springfield and surrounding area. (Note: the largest family coming from a distance was the James T. Fulbright family. They had 10 members of their family who traveled here from Texas.)

Marion Hoblit discussed the 1929 reunion. There were 7 people present who had also attended the 1929 reunion, most of them as children. She repeated the often heard statement "if you have a drop of Fulbright blood -- you are a cousin", and added, "I am glad we are all cousins here today". She also stated that this was the first reunion in 60 years and that she hoped we wouldn't wait that long for another one, as she might not be around to attend it.

Tom Herd from Willard, Missouri presented a plaque to Marion from all the members of the planning committee in appreciation for all she had done to make this reunion a reality. Shirley Voyles also resented her an award from all of us on the committee for being "Mother Superior" while we were making plans for this reunion.

David Fulbright of Independence, Missouri then gave a very interesting overview, compiled by himself and Ed Stout of Fallbrook, California, of what we do and do not know about the history of the Fulbright family in America and the differing theories about our European roots.

Jim Gurley of Santa Cruz, California, himself a Fulbright Scholar, gave a short talk about the Fulbright Scholarship which is a nationally known and highly coveted scholarship. Jim is the only Fulbright descendant that we were aware of who has ever received this scholarship. Later we learned that Robert Burgess, husband of Jean Burgess, was also the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship. Bob was so modest that we did not know this at the reunion.

Clifford McKinney, a descendant from St. Louis, Missouri gave a presentation about the Fulbright-Swyers scholarship Fund, presented to premedical students at Drury College in Springfield, Missouri. Clifford is the administrator of this scholarship fund.
Maria Holperin, a representative of the Museum of the Ozarks located in Springfield, Missouri, briefly explained the museum's plans for expansion and the hopes that Fulbright papers and memorabilia could possibly be housed in the museum in the near future.

After a short break, we convened again for a business meeting. James McClure presided over the vote to form a family association and the election of officers.

After the business of forming a family association was completed, everyone was gathered to take group pictures before we had to end the reunion as we had to give up the hall.

I think the 1991 reunion was huge success! Everyone seemed to enjoy it as much as I did, and many voiced thanks to myself and others of the planning committee for all the work we did on the reunion. I would like to thank everyone who came to the reunion, as it couldn't have been the success it was if you hadn't come! I'm looking forward to seeing you all again at the next reunion and also hopefully many more who couldn't make it this time!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~