By D. Howard Doster, June 9, 2003

On Saturday, May 17, 2003, I visited Wabash College, a prestigious liberal arts school in Crawfordsville, Indiana, south of West Lafayette, Indiana, and Purdue University. Our son, Daniel, graduated from Wabash in 1982. My wife, Barbara, and I taught at Purdue before retiring two years ago.

Our daughter, Susan, had a commission to paint a portrait of a former Wabash President. When she visited the campus last winter, she saw a portrait of a "Collett", a former trustee and treasurer. Her portrait was to be presented at the Alumni Lunch on May 17.

While Susan was speaking to the Trustees' wives before lunch, I looked for "Colletts". Here's what I found. In the Archives Room, I was greeted by the wife of the English Professor who held the Collett Chair. She showed me the records of Collett graduates, including E.T. in 1841; John in 1847; Steven S. in 1850; Joseph in 1857; John Dunlap in 1886; Fred in 1902; and John Parrett, the Trustee, in 1924. I think there were others, but I had to go to the lunch. On the pedigree I just received from Hugh Collett, I found all the above as descendants of my Collett ancestor, Moses, 1725-1802, except ET, the 1841 graduate, but I'm getting ahead of my story.

In the buffet lunch line, I shared what I had found with Susan and Barbara. As we were talking, the man behind us asked where we lived. I answered that we lived in West Lafayette, Indiana, and also had a house in Southwestern Ohio. After he asked if we had any relatives in Wilmington, Ohio, he introduced himself as Hugh Collett, a Wabash Grad of 1943, a Crawfordsville native, and retired physician, now living in Elko, Nevada. What fun to meet a cousin, even one who had attended the Collett-McKay Picnic, and how very fortunate to have the cousin send the genealogy information I have reported in another paper!