Vandal Family Reunion Information

Vandal Family Reunion - 2007

President's Message

Another fantastic time was had by all in attendance at our 2007 Vandal
National Reunion in Brown County Indiana.....                                                      
The Abe Martin Lodge and the surrounding area reminds me a great deal of being
back home again in my birth state of West Virginia, which by the way is where the
2009 Vandal National Reunion will be.  The approximately 60 cousins at our 2007
reunion business meeting voted to return to Pipestem State Park in beautiful West
Virginia, where we held a very enjoyable reunion eight years ago.                          
I want to take this opportunity to say Thank You to all in attendance this
year for helping to make this such a good and memorable gathering.                   
Our coordinators Paulina (Vandall) Hurford and her daughter Missy        
(Hurford) Couch did an excellent job in laying out the weekend agenda.              
To Gary Walker, our Vice President, what a great job of being my mouth
at the business meeting and brown bag auction this year, since my voice was not
recovered from the cancer treatments on my vocal cords.                                    
Thanks to our Historian cousin, Chuck Hield and his lovely new wife     
Louise, for all they do keeping up with the updates on the Vandal Genealogy and
the maintaining of our website - <www.vandalfamily.org>.                                   
Thanks to cousin Frances Lowe, our editor of the family newsletter, for
all she does and the many hours she spends on family business and the many     
miles she spends on the roads from the Detroit area to Hinton, West Virginia,   
where the newsletter is so graciously printed compliments of our cousins at FOX
PHOTOGRAPHICS.                                                                                           
There are so many others that I want to thank for the help they gave.  I
was very pleased to see everyone there and to those that couldn't make it this   
year, I'm sorry you missed out on the good time and the memories and history
made by the gathering of all the cousins.  There is always next time if you are    
fortunate enough to stay healthy.  Taking time to smell the roses means a whole
lot to those that have fought personal life battles.  To my way of thinking at this
stage of my life, LIFE is not about the toys and things you collect but about       
Family, Friends and Faith!                                                                                   
Thanks to my immediate branch of the family tree for making the effort
and attending each and every National Reunion.                                                
Respectfully submitted by your again elected president, R. Dean Vandall. 

2005


Fayetteville Courthouse

2003 REUNION REFLECTIONS
From the Vandal Newsletter, July, 2003
by Ann Mack, Reunion Co-Coordinator

Two years to plan, two days to execute, and two weeks to recover!  WOW, what a
great time at the Vandal Family 2003 Reunion.  I hope everyone had fun in
renewing family friendships, meeting new branches of the tree and creating
great memories.  I know I centainly did, and the best part was that it was mostly
FREE.  (Right, Robert Lowe?!!)  A HUGE thank you to those who traveled
great distances, at great expense, to join us in the Heartland.  The Iowa
Vandells and Vandels were happy to serve as hosts of the event for the first time
ever.
 
From the first ones to arrive, Don Vandal and daughter Donna from Seattle, WA.,
on Friday until the last song from C.Duane Wineland and Friends country/western
band, the weekend was full of visiting, scouting the local business scene, more
visiting, eating, more visiting, picture taking, a little gambling at the boat, and
more visiting.  I think the Vandal clan likes to talk more than anything else!
 
It was most interesting to observe the togetherness we all felt as progeny of
Abraham Vandal and also see the closeness of various family groups.  It was a
reunion within a reunion.  From my vantage point, I was ecstatic to see and visit
with my cousins, some of them for the first time in 20 years, as well as meet and
greet relatives from other branches.  The feelings of connectedness were
evident all round.
 
I'm not sure the town of Lucas was ready for the onslaught of "marauding
hordes of Vandals" from all over the United States, but they put on a brave
front.  The welcoming attitude of the residents, business and organizations
really helped the planning process go very smoothly, especially with my
brother, Danny Crooks, (a Lucas city councilman) acting as liaison.  Everyone
was very accommodating to our needs and wanted to show the out-of-staters
what a great treasure their community is to them.  Sending us all home with a
little "Lucas Starlight", commonly known as gravel dust, was a great visual
remembrance of the weekend.
 
I knew we were in good hands when I arrived at 10:00 AM on Saturday to the
smell of freshly baked bread and June (Seuffer) in the kitchen getting things
started for supper.  As more people showed up that had not registered, but
were staying for the meal, I went to June, a little panicked and asked "do I
turn them away"?  Her answer was "don't worry, Ann, we can feed them all",
and they did, with pie left over.  The money they earned with their tasty
delights for our weekend is going to benefit the Lucas Firefighters.
 
In organizing this event, Keo Dueling, my co-chair to whom I owe a gigantic
debt of gratitude, and I were not very sure about how many planned activities
we needed to have set up.  I knew from past attendance that visiting would
take precedence.  Not knowing how many younger relatives would attend,
we instigated our contingency plans of cards, dominoes and volleyball.  I
wasn't sure on Saturday afternoon if the Harley-Davidson motorcycle riders
were a planned event or not, but it sure added a little color to the day!  I'm
not sure if Chuck Hield ever took a break from his computer.  His HP was
spitting out trees faster than auctioneer Mike Curran could sell the mystery
items in paper bags.  We all owe a debt of thanks to them both.  Due to their
efforts we can know our heritage and celebrate our ancestor, Thomas
Stewart Vandel, by placing a marker on his grave.
 
"It takes a family to make a reunion" and everyone who was there
contributed to the success of the event by being so enthusiastic about
everything.  Special thanks goes out to Lois and Marion Brown for manning
the registration table, Dean Vandall for the "on-the-spot" decisions when
I had no clue what to do next, Chuck Hield for encouragement and support
through the planning process, Frances Low for the newsletter publicity and
Thomas Lowe for his photographic expertise.  Additonally a "Card of
Appreciation" was published in the Chariton newspaper on 7/3/03 to the
residents of Lucas, the Betterment Society, the Lucas Business
Association, the Chariton Super 8, and the Chariton Chanber of Commerce
for all their efforts in making this weekend so memorable.
 
My heartfelt thanks to all my Iowa aunts, uncles, and cousins for "hanging
with me" instead of "hanging me" when I spoke for us all in saying we
would take on the 2003 reunion.  They gave money donations, contributed
to the silent auction, brought white elephant items, furnished the food for
Friday's meal, played music, rounded up decks of cards and sports
equipment, created the flower arrangements on the tables, played in the
band, manned the quilt block table, donated raffle items and sold raffle
tickets, penned the the welcome sign, set up and took down tables,
cleaned the floors and gave massive amounts of support in so many
ways.  A special thanks to Keo Dueling, Don and Eloise Harlan and
Linda Brookins, who came to my house on a rainy Sunday in May to
"firm up" the plans and to my brother, Danny Crooks, for his tolerance,
help and humor, not to mention a bed on Friday night.
 
The door is closed on another Vandal Family Reunion, but the wonderful
memories remain of the people we saw, the jokes we shared, the game of
cards we played, the food we ate, the ancestors we honored, the auction
items we bought, the prizes we won, the pictures of reunions past we
viewed, the friendships we made, and the love of family we felt.  HEY, it
was so much fun, let's do it all over again in West Virginia in 2005.
Robert and Frances, the baton is passed to you.  Good Luck!!!
 
Submitted by Ann Mack

The 17th Annual Vandall reunion was held at the home of Carlos and Linda Vandall
at Rainelle, West Virginia on July 2, 2000.  Relatives from 5 states attended.  This family descends from Ernest Pascal (E.P.) and Mattie Vandall.  The reunion is
always held here at the Vandall home at 12 noon on the first Sunday in July.
Everyone is welcome.  We think the more Vandalls, the better!
Come join us.

Submitted by Linda Halsey

  The "Mountian Odyssey" Vandal Reunion is now history and what great
memories we will have of the event.  Robert and Will Vandall ran a great show
  with plenty of activities including two different groups singing gospel songs and
West Virginia country tunes, prizes for all sorts of categories, a wonderful lunch,
reunion photograph and family get togethers.  Don Vandel won the prize for
having traveled the furtherst - Kent, Washington.  It was great to see him back
at our reunion again.  The only thing planned that didn't work out was the hay
ride for Friday evening.  It seems like every time we plan one of these
excursions, the heavens open up and ruin the fun.  Only this year, the ride was
canceled before we got on the wagons instead of half way through like last time.
At the business meeting, it was voted upon that we would try to see if we
couldn't have the 2003 reunion in Iowa where there are lots of Vandels and
Vandells but that if that didn't work out, that we would have it in Indiana again.
You will be updated on this as soon as a definite decision is made.  The
election of officers railroaded the old team into another two years.
We had 111 cousins in attendance and made our reunion a success.  There
was a craft show set up with lots of neat items to buy and some really neat  
commemorative tee shirts and caps were also sold.  Chuck Hield had his
computer, printer and Willa's copier all set up to print out family histories.
People were lined up at times to talk with Chuck so that he could verify
their family information before printing it for them.  We were hooked up
to the internet so that our Vandal Home Page and Family Tree could be
demonstrated to anyone interested.
Submitted by Chuck Hield - Family Historian