The Perfect Family Reunion

 

The Family Reunion Photograph

Why do I have a black-white panoramic photograph of a 1953 family Reunion hanging on my wall?  I don’t know any of these people.  I only know it was the Annual Blue Clan Reunion held in Lakeview, NC on June 28, 1953.  This information is printed clearly on the corner of the photo.  I was in awe of it the moment I saw this gem at the thrift store where I purchased it.  The memories it invokes are priceless.  First, I was surprised by the high quality of the image and secondly, the fact the photograph was panoramic in that day and time.  It was a Sunday afternoon, and the photo was taken outside amongst a clump of tall pine trees.  Everyone is wearing their Sunday best.  There are all generations of people in this photo.  Some are holding cups and/or plates.  There are lots of lovely hats and dresses amongst the matriarchs. Some are wearing pearl necklaces, and the hairstyles are very predictable. Many of the older men are wearing neckties or bowties with a few sporting fedora style straw hats.   The little children are in the foreground. The boys are dressed in collared shirts and the girls in summer dresses.  In the background there are three cars parked beneath the pine trees.  A closer look reveals a long table with tablecloths and an abundance of food hidden amongst the group.  I am so enamored by this photograph.  The nostalgia of 1950’s fashion, the simplicity and the love of family are all represented in this image.  I did a quick count and estimated that there are 200 people in this photo.  It is an amazing feat to assemble so many people together who are related to each other.  No cell phones and no internet were involved.  Only 9 percent of households had a television set in 1950, however, two thirds of households had at least one telephone.

It was the perfect day…truly.  June 28 is considered the perfect date. Why?  It is because both 6 and 28 are mathematically perfect numbers.  A perfect number’s divisors add up to themselves.

For instance, the number 6 has factors of 3,2, and 1 which add up to six.  Twenty-eight has factors of 14,7,4,2, and 1 which add up to 28.  No other date on the calendar has that distinction. In fact, there are only two more perfect numbers, 496 and 8,128 that occur between 1 and 1 million.

So, when I say it was the perfect day, it was the perfect day for a family reunion on June 28, 1953.

Tammy Harvey

2/17/2024