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By, KEITH,WHITMIRE
Times Staff Writer
Eighty-year old Dison D. Eller operates a general store and cornmill in Clarkesville. He drives his own car to work every day, but Saturday he closed his mill for a while.
He closed because he and his wife, 77, had to make a trip to Gainesville. They were going to the first family reunion the Eller family has ever held.
Now, Mr. And Mrs. Eller have lived in North Georgia all their lives: but their 11 children have moved to all parts of the country.
The Ellers have children and grandchildren living in North Carolina, Texas, California, Florida and New York, and they don't see those people as often as they, would like.
But Saturday afternoon, the children were at a Gainesville restaurant where the reunion was being held. Forty-six grandchildren and 33. great-grandchildren made four, generations of Ellers under one roof.
Although this was a "first" reunion, the idea began four years ago with the Eller's oldest son, Herman, who lives In Corpus Christi, Tex.
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He and his wife did most of the planning for the occasion, and have been in Gainesville for, the past week making final arrangements.
Mr. and Mrs. Eller, wearing crowns as "king and queen" of the family, sat in, chairs of honor while Danny Dillon, of New York who has appeared on the Ed Sullivan TV show, and the Wes Baxter Orchestra, from the Piedmont Country Club in Atlanta, provided a floor show.
The Eller's oldest daughter, Mrs. William Elrod from Gastonia, N. C., was present as well as the youngest great-grandchild, Terry Jones. Mrs. Thomas McIntyre, Mrs. Loyd Frankum, Mrs. Verner Sisk, David D. Eller Jr., and Mrs. Olif Ellington, the Eller's children who live in Clarkesville, also attended the reunion.
Daughters Mrs. Henry J. O'Brien Buffalo, N. Y., and Mrs. Eugene Barbon, Tampa, Fla., made long trips to attend the reunion. Mrs. John Pike, Cornelia, and Mrs. Odis Dodd, Gainesville, came to the reunion to honor their parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Eller, were born in Hiawassee, but they came to Clarkesville 47 years ago. Eller began his store and corn mill operation in 1936, and has been operating in Clarkesville since.
He said he thought the reunion was "just fine", and he hopes to have another one' next year.
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