(Submitted by D. Howard Doster to Webmaster and Newspaper at the same time.)

     Perhaps 20 first-time picnic goers, including a 35 day-old baby, Megan Elizabeth Schow, the youngest from Salt Lake City, entered the 4-acre family picnic grounds by the new 5353 Gurneyville Road sign. In all, 270 persons from 13 states shared traditional chicken, sweet corn, and McKay Collett's walnut cake, and new favorites including Roger MaGee's Washington State smoked salmon.
     By 9:00 a.m., patriarchs Don Collett and Wilbur McKay were teaching a new crew of younger cousins how to set up the tables, some with boards dated 1876. Just before the meal, Wilbur indicated Doug Pidgeon would welcome contributions for young maple trees, which he would transplant.
     The records table was loaded with pictures, stories, and old registration books. This year, Kathyrn Luby offered copies of her just finished 210-page "Twelve Tribes of Moses McKay" genealogy. Several persons displayed their computer-generated genealogies and traded e-mail addresses. Howard and Barbara Doster shared a draft of family stories and invited everyone to submit additional stories to be put on a CD.
     Howard Shambaugh, the second oldest attendee, posed for pictures with Esther Underwood Doster, the oldest. They were Kingman's undefeated 1921 Debate Team, and Howard recited Esther's negative "League of Nations" speech.
     Since so many people came from so far away to see their relatives, McKay Collett decided to check out some of the physical attributes of the assembled crowd. Obviously, bright red hair with light freckled complexion is an attribute that stands out. He found seven redheads. They were Erin Baugh, Gretchen and Walter - children of Jim Holtgrefe, Jimmy Billingsley, Kristen and Katy Talmadge, and Rosalie McKay Beers.
     After the picnic, 150 people attended the Doster's Open House of their 1818 Moses McKay House, the early home of the four McKays who married four Colletts in the 1820s. Their offspring started the picnic in 1866.
     Out-of-state attendees included the following. From the west came Mrs. Diannett Hanson, Scottsdale, AZ; W. Robert and McKenna Doster, Buckeye, AZ; Kristen Eberwein and her mother, Martha, Menlo Park, CA; Quentin Haigh, Hermosa Beach, CA; Samuel "Gene" and Evelyn Collett, Escondido, CA; Anne Collett, Pablo and Darco Resladiz, Escondido, CA; Denise, Steve, Evan, and Aaron Baugh, Broomfield, CO; Roger MaGee, Sequin, WA; Jack Willmoth, Seattle, WA; Max and Haylie Inwood Edwards Hewitt, Nine Mile Falls, WA; William, Tammy, Haley, and Jacob Doster, Anacortes, WA; Gary, Elizabeth, and Megan Schow, Salt Lake City, UT; and Kim and Azoa Price, Midvale, UT.
     Persons from the Midwest included Chuck, Robin, Karen, and Chad Fabian, Des Plaines, IL; Kristen Pyrz, Downer's Grove, IL; Kevin Grengus, Chicago, IL; Richard Holtgrefe, Chicago, IL; David and Adam Doster, Novi, MI; and Ellen McGee, Madison, WI.
     Coming from the East were Susan Doster and Julian Schlesinger, Brooklyn, NY; James, Susan, Gretchen, and Walter Holtgrefe, Erie, PA; Michael McKay from Winchester, VA; Gregory, Brenda, and Ted Stephens, Linthicum, MD; and Florida was represented by Jack and Barbara Doster Deppner, Indiatlantic, FL; Nancilee Hartnett, Naples, FL; Sandra and Marjorie Ames, Arcadia, FL; and Earl and Dory Holtgrefe, New Smyrna Beach, FL. Also Kristy Corley attended from Canada.

Collett-McKay reunion at Gurneyville picnic grounds

     The 137th annual Collett-McKay picnic will be held Saturday, Aug. 10 at the picnic grounds located at 5353 Gurneyville Road, Wilmington.
     Howard Doster, the family's recorder, invites all descendants to plan to attend the noon picnic.
     The picnic is being held on land that Moses McKay purchased in 1805 from the first surveyor in the Northwest Territory, Nathaniel Massie. In the 1820's, four of McKay's children married four Colletts. In 1866, their kids had a pic- nic, partly to see who came back from the Civil War.
     Doster and his wife Barbara also invite family members to an open house from 3 to 5 p.m. at 9363 New Burlington Road. In 1818, Moses McKay, a Virginia Quaker, brought 22 just-freed slaves to make bricks and build the house which is now listed in the National Register of Historic Homes. McKay's son was a station master in the Underground Railroad.