Nina King

The annual Remerton Reunion will be held Saturday, Oct. 15 at the former Knights of Columbus, nowKennedy Center on St. Augustine Road. Reunion begins at 11:30 a.m. and plan to eat at noon. Bring a covered dish.  

After lunch will be more program with door prizes and visiting. Frances Strickland Hatcher is in charge of the reunion this year.  

The Remerton Reunion is for people who once lived in Remerton, worked in Strickland Mill, or attended Remerton Methodist Church.

Laughter, tears, joy, sadness, hugs, good food, stories and reminiscing.

Each year when people return for the reunion, they take a ride through Remerton.

It will be a sad ride as Remerton is not the Remerton we all knew. 

There is no mill, no post office, no “Mr. Mac’s grocery,” no old water tank, no Parker House, no Remerton Methodist Church, no parsonage, no ball field, no play ground or park.  

There is the Remerton Cemetery and thanks to a couple of friends, Jerry Godair and Lois Carmichael, you will see a lot of improvement.  

They volunteered to clean up the graves, headstones, make the names more legible, and have put flowers on graves. James Hastings put up two headstones for people he remembered. The city of Remerton keeps the grass mowed. Some of the graves do not have any markings so if you know where a family member is buried, it would be helpful to let us know so we could identify by marking.

Our reunion each year brings former residents from all parts of Georgia, Florida, Arizona, Wyoming, Missouri, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina. Even though most of our old houses are gone now, folks still like to recall who lived where and see what business is there now. 

We have lost several this year and among those is Henry Bentley, meat cutter, for Mr. Mac’s grocery for several years. The kids all loved Henry. After school, they would go to get a Coke, chips, candy bar and look at comic books. 

Many years ago, Mr. O.K.(Kinsey) Griffin started this reunion with a few mill employees meeting at the Gold Plate Restaurant. I wonder if he thought the reunion would continue as it has done.

The mill was built in 1899 and the Remerton Methodist Church was organized and chartered February 10, 1901. The church burned in March 1997. 

We do not want this part of history lost. 

The history of Remerton and its early families continues through this reunion each year. It keeps the threads of our lives moving through time to reinforce bonds of kinship, friendship, togetherness and a sense of belonging. 

This is our roots even though we are spread all over  the U.S. 

Our parents and grandparents worked hard to make Remerton a good community.  

Now, they would never recognize it. 

Don’t forget – Remerton Reunion, Saturday, Oct. 15, covered dish. Bring pictures of family to share and pictures of times gone by.  

See you at Reunion.

Nina King is a resident of Valdosta and a former Remerton resident.