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

Contributed photo

Several of the Collett-McKay cousins are pictured above. (Click here for another photo.)

     Wow! The picnic started early when five Scotsmen, dressed in Mackay black-watch plaid kilts, playing drums and bagpipes, marched into the grounds, thanks to Cousin Ernie Wengler, of Ft. Wayne, Ind.
     A total of 255 Collett-McKay cousins from 23 states signed the register at the 139th [or is it 140th, since the first was held in 1866?] annual picnic on the family-owned four-acre site. Our Virginia Quaker McKay ancestor, Moses, bought his first 1,000 acre parcel here from the surveyor, Nathaniel Massie, 200 years ago last May 26, when he also brought his mother and sister to Waynesville.
     Trustee Wilbur McKay introduced Laura Curliss, president of the new Clinton County Open Lands, Inc., a land trust, who came to the picnic to invite the cousins to consider placing a conservation easement on the picnic site to ensure it would never be built on. The group was reminded that Betty Magee has a conservation easement on her Moses McKay land, just across Gurneyville Road, which includes the location of the former Mt. Pisgah Methodist Church where the first three Collett-McKay picnics were held.
     The three new trees placed in remembrance of Ruth McKay Denny Pidgeon, Don Collett and Ada Atkinson McKay are all thriving, thanks to planter and caregiver, Doug Pidgeon. Because two more mature trees had died, the early morning table set-up crew placed some tables in new shaded locations, causing some persons to question where they were supposed to put their food.
     Barbara Doster and others looked all over, and never did find the traditional whole salmon that Allen Inwood always brings. Later, it was discovered that 62 year-old Allen and Ashley, his twin brother, skipped the picnic this year and were motorcycling in the Rockies. After someone put up a portable tent-shade, the first ever at this picnic, four others quickly appeared.
     As Nancy Collett DalPian, attending from Florida for the first time in several years, looked over the still all-natural site, someone asked if she remembered how she had long ago influenced the group to keep it all-natural. When it rained on picnic day, maybe 30 years ago, the group met for lunch in the nearby old Kingman School gym. After lunch, someone suggested a collection be taken to build a shelter here on the picnic grounds. Many persons seconded the motion. Everyone seemed to be enthusiastically in favor until a dark-haired teenage girl stood and quietly shared how she enjoyed the unique experience of attending this gathering of cousins on this four-acre all-natural wooded pasture. A few seconds after she sat down, someone supported her by expressing similar feelings, and the shelter house motion was never even voted on.
     The picnic always spawns after-picnic parties such as the annual Doster dinner held for 40 persons at Clifford and Fran Doster's home on Saturday evening. Two other large groups stood out on the picnic grounds this year as all of McKay Collett's 22 descendants had gathered for the week for his 80th birthday, and some 40 Magees from a half-dozen states stayed at the picnic site into the evening. (In addition to the above mentioned after-picnic parties there was a mini Hackney family gathering on the picnic grounds that evening which ended just before a thunderstorm rolled through. Your webmaster was part of this gathering.)
     William Denny, son of David and Martha, at six months was the youngest first-time attendee. Esther Doster, at 102, was again the oldest, and her Kingman High School debate teammate, Howard Shambaugh, at 99, was again the oldest birthright cousin.
     Kathryn Hackney Luby really came through on her promise to re-configure the family tree. She typed in 2,000 names in genealogical order and placed them on two 4 foot by 8 eight foot sheets of plywood. She asks all cousins to send names of more family members to be added. Additional names should be sent to Kathryn Luby, 1714 Buck Run Road, Wilmington, 45177, or e-mail at lubyunicorn1@wmconnect.com.
     Cousins from out-of-state included Bob and Luella Rowsey from Alabama, Haylie and Nina Hewett from Arizona, and Kristen, Sara, and Valen Cover from Littleton, Colo., with Mary and Raymond Self from Boulder, Colo.
     McKay Collett's three daughters -- Virginia and Douglas Green with Charlotte and Quentin Haigh from Redondo Beach, Cal.; Cora Jane Breuner with her children, Jupiter, Maggie, and McKay from Seattle, Wash.; Amy and Richard Keplar, along with his son, Daniel Collett, wife Penny, and daughters Hannah and Julia, from Newark, Del., were guests at the Hole in the Woods on Collett Road.
     David Doster with daughter Ashlee and son Drew arrived from Novi, Mich.; along with Susan Doster and her friends, Tom Powers, Bucks County, Pa., and Norma Jean Degico from New Jersey, and joined other Dosters for the picnic.
     Included in the 59 persons from outside Ohio coming from 22 states other than Ohio were Marilyn Talmadge, Glenwood, Iowa; Kate Reyer and the Fabian family -- Bart, Robin, Chuck, Chad, and Karen from Des Plaines, Ill.; Fred Makar from Schaumberg, Ill.; Sally and Michael Self from Richmond, Ky.;
     Also, Gregory and Joyce Stephens from Linthicum, Md.; Lena Polzonetti from Greensboro, N.C.; Bernice, Brian and Silas Magee from Dryden, N.Y.; Joseph Maldonato from Rego Park, N.Y.; Max Magee from Houston, Texas, Ashlee Porter from Friendswood, Texas; and from Midvale, Utah -- Azoa, Delwin and Emma Price; (also, Kimberly Becker Price)
     Also, Barry (should read Gary), Elizabeth, Megan and Charles Schow from Taylorsville, Utah; Michael McKay from Winchester, Va.; Roger Magee from Burkina Faso, West Africa and from Madison, Wisc. came Guy Fields and Ellen Magee.

Bagpipes to play at 139th Collett-McKay picnic Aug. 13

     For the first time ever, cousins gathering at 5353 Guerneyville Road at 11:45 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 13 will see and hear the haunting sounds of Scottish Bagpipes and Drums in the four- acre family picnic site.
     Dressed in traditional McKay Clan Blackwatch plaid [black, green, blue] kilts, several members of a Ft. Wayne group will greet family members as they arrive under the trees for lunch.
     Over 250 regular attendees invite all Collett and McKay cousins to attend on the second Saturday in August, share your carry-in dinner, and enjoy this special feature arranged by Ernie and Carolyn Wengler.