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

     Thanks to the 60 years of grooming by Wilbur McKay, what a beautiful place, what great cousins, and what a fun time we had on the second Saturday in August, 2004, at the 138th annual picnic held on family grounds at 5353 Gurneyville Road, Wilmington, Ohio. Including 15 first-timers, a total of 236 persons from 15 states plus Germany and West Africa, signed the old register. Sixty cousins were still visiting at 3:45 when someone started to store the tables. Why don't you come next second Saturday in August?
     Everyone admired the four large trees Doug Pidgeon had just planted. The recent loss of three old maple trees caused major changes in the picnic layout. To avoid sitting in the sun, Ron Whitacre set up the McKay table east and west on the north side of the hill. Someone moved the Inwood table up the hill. While the Collett table was not moved, the Colletts themselves found new sitting sites in shade to the southeast toward the former location of the Poore-Simpson coffee fire and water wagon of so many years ago.
     Recognizing the increased cost for real estate taxes and maintenance, Steve Collett asked attendees to consider making a memorial gift or will bequest to the Collett-McKay Picnic Fund, %Steve Collett, 3603 Center Road, Wilmington, OH, 45177. Interest from such a fund will be used to cover annual expenses, now costing $700.
     Barbara Doster distributed a request for Collett-McKay recipes. She offered to put them into a cookbook, perhaps similar to the book some McKays were sharing of a new, already out of print, Beam Family Kitchen Keepsakes. Maybe Haines and other related families will want books, too. McKay Collett submitted the first recipe, for the tasty Maple/Walnut cake he makes. Mac says this recipe, made from Collett Hole-in-the-Woods Farm maple syrup and walnuts, first appeared at the picnic around 1910 when Cassie Graham Collett joined the family. First-timer Joellen Greenlee offered perhaps the oldest recipe we'll get, an 1833 catsup recipe from the Collett-Nickerson Branch. Send your recipes to Barbara/Howard Doster, 9363 New Burlington Rd., Waynesville, OH, 45068, the homesite of the four McKay kids who married four Colletts in the 1820's and caused this picnic to start.
     From Colorado, Joellen also brought a cloth made in 1833 for then nine-year-old Ann Collett, the first child of the four Collett-McKay marriages. What memory item will you place on that table next year, perhaps along with the genealogy stuff that more persons are displaying? Kathryn Luby committed to preparing two large family trees, with each person numbered, on large plywood. Next year, attendees can then add new twigs, by number, appropriately. Since many of us appear on both trees, and some of us could appear in multiple places on one or both trees, I wonder what criteria Kathryn will use for her numbering system. ("Kathryn" should be spelled as "Katherine").
     Alan Inwood continued his tradition of bringing a huge salmon. Paul Martin started a new tradition when he played his home-made violin, the 18th he's made and the third he's made from wood from the former Joseph Shambaugh homestead nearby. Brothers John and Robert McKay then got out their tuba and keyboard and played several duets. Perhaps John Beers will bring his trumpet next year, and who knows someone with bagpipes??
     After much measuring, McKay Collett announced that June Cantey had the longest hair, and he counted a record six dogs in attendance. Katelyn Bateson, daughter of Pastor Kevin and Heather Bateson of Kettering was the youngest attender, and Esther Doster, at 101, was perhaps the oldest to ever attend. Howard Shambaugh, at 98, attended his 86th "Big Nose", his term, picnic. Ruth Denny Pidgeon died in March after attending a record 90 picnics.
     First time attendees included Joellen and Gene Greenlee, Aurora, Colo; Charlene MacDonald Roberts, Needham, MA; Rita Campion MacDonald, Great Falls, VA; Katie Royer, Kenosha, WI; Jana Rother, Germany. Ohio first-timers were Linda Avel, Milford; David Billingsley, New Carlisle; Debby Downey, Columbus; Ashley and Kathie Hurley, Wilmington; Trenton Ketter, Defiance; Robert Lough, Jr, Xenia; Amy Schyler, Defiance; Leslie Spires, Dayton; and Christy Swisshelm, Wilmington.
     Other out of staters were: Luela and Bob Rowsey, Opelaka, AL; Evelyn and Gene Collett, Escondido, CA; Barbara and Jack Depner, Indiatlantic, FL; Patricia and James Giesting, Glenwood, IA; Bart, Robin, Chuck, Karen, and Becky Fabian, Des Plaines, IL; Barbara Doster, W. Lafayette, IN; Gregory Stephens, Linthicum, MD; Bernice, Brian, and Silas Magee, Dryden, NY; Susan Doster, Holicong, PA; Bruce MacDonald, Great Falls, VA; Michael McKay, Winchester, VA; Jane Doster Strecker, Medical Lake, WA; Ellen Magee, Madison, WI; and Roger Magee, still teaching in Burkima Faso, West Africa.