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

     Near-by cousins had the 5151 Gurneyville Road grounds manicured the best ever! At least 163 cousins gathered again on the 4-acre picnic site purchased 204 years ago by our northern Virginia Quaker ancestor, Moses Mckay, from the Virginia Military Land Grant surveyor, Nathanial Massie. At least ten first-time attendees were among the persons who registered from 15 states, plus Costa Rica and Iraq. First-timer Phyllis Rohrback of Xenia brought four other first-timers. She said her Grandfather, Werter McKay, last attended the picnic in 1947.
     Michael McKay, the McKay Clan Webmaster, at www.robertmackayclan.com, from Winchester, Virginia, reported the sad news that the 1734 Robert McCoy (McKay) house at Cedarville, Virginia, has burned down. Robert was our Moses' grandfather, and his home was the oldest house in the Shenandoah Valley. He came into the valley in 1731 with his father and sixteen German families, including my Doster g-g-g-g-g-g grandfather, Thomas Doster. A hundred-sixty years and four generations later, in Harveysburg, Ohio, a Mckay-Collett-McCune married a Doster. They were my grandparents.
     While attending the McKay Clan picnic in northern Virginia several years ago, this recorder learned why the McCoy house was not burned during the many Civil War battles in that area. In the first battle, it was used as a hospital, and it continued to be used as a hospital in all the many battles there during the "War of Northern Aggression" as some of the cousins there still call it. Two of Moses' grandsons, no longer Quakers, were Union casualties; some of their cousins fought for the Rebels.
     Cousins traveling to Cedarville can still have their picture taken standing in the fireplace of Moses' house, which burned perhaps fifty years ago. It's located a few yards south of his grandfather's home site, on the south side of a big spring. The town of Front Royal now owns the property and gets water from this spring.
     For the first time in many years, Esther Doster, my mother, was not the oldest attendee. She died last October at age 105, after attending 79 of the 81 picnics, starting with the year before she married into the family. Her record of perfect attendance at 82 Wilmington College Alumni and 87 Kingman High School Alumni gatherings will not be matched. She often summed up her commitment to these events; "Some persons attend, some don't. We do."
     At age 94, Betty Magee, a descendant of Daniel and Mary Haines Collett's son, Aaron, was the oldest cousin present. Aaron's cousin, Aaron, was scalped by Shawnees in Kentucky in 1780. Betty now owns former Moses McKay land across Gurneyville Road from the present picnic site, including the site of former Mt Pisgah Methodist Church, started by McKay's and where several are still buried, where the first Collett-McKay Picnic was held in 1866.
     Jonathan Collett married Sarah McKay in 1823. McKay Collett, now age 85, and living in the "Hole-in-the-Woods" home Jonathan built for his bride, was their oldest descendant present. Daniel Collett, Jr, married Virginia McKay in 1826, but she died in childbirth and Daniel, their only child who inherited the picnic site from his grandfather, Moses, never married. Francis McKay married Mary Collett in 1830. Patricia Schultz, age 78, of Proctorville was their oldest descendent present; and Holly Nicole Beers, at 4 months, of Columbus, was the youngest cousin present. Maria McKay married Daniel Haines Collett in 1830. Virginia Collett, age 89, was their oldest representative.
     Playing softball used to be a high point of the picnic. While several teenagers attended, no one brought a volleyball or net. Who will get such games started again next year?
     Out of state attendees included: Lue and Bob Rowsey of Opelika, Alabama; Kathi McKay Stafford of Tucson, AZ; Mary, Raymond Sell, of Boulder, Colorado; Nate Rowsey of Columbus, Georgia; Jim and Patricia Giesting of Glenwood,, Iowa; Jason and Allen Inwood, Lebanon, and Chuck, Chad, and Kevin Fabian, Des Plaines, Illinois; Pierpaula, Stella, and Lena Polzonetta, South Bend, IN; David Sell, Richmond, KY; Dave, Cynthia, and Drew Doster, Novi, Mich.; Bernice and Brian Magee, Dryden, NY; Marilyn Talmage, Nashville, Tenn; Andrea and Max Magee, Webster, Texas; Bill Zook, Seattle, Wash; Ellen Magee and Guy Fields, Madison, Wisc; plus Jim Zook in Costa Rica, and James Lee Billingsley in Iraq.