Arrangements for a location for our 2003 reunion have been made in Daphne, Alabama. Daphne is just across the bay from Mobile and is easily accessible via IH 10. Daphne is located in Baldwin County, Alabama on the eastern shoreline of Mobile Bay just off I-10: 11 miles east of Mobile, 45 miles west of Pensacola, Florida and 150 miles southwest of Montgomery, the State Capital.

Daphne is a picturesque town on Mobile Bay and is one of the fastest growing areas in the nation.. It offers all the amenities that we need for a reunion.

The reunion itself will be held from June 27 - 29, 2003, at the Daphne Bayfront Park. We have reserved the Sunset room and the park for Saturday and the Sunset room for Sunday morning, as well as the kitchen for both days. A map of the facility will be included in the reunion brochure.

To quote their information, "The Sunset room can accommodate 450 people with chairs and 250 people with chairs and tables. The room is equipped with a bar and a breathtaking view of Mobile Bay.

". . . (it has) access to a kitchen that is equipped with a stove, microwave oven, refrigerator, sink, and food preparation area. An access ramp is available for those with special needs." (It also has a commercial icemaker.)

Myron, Robert, my husband and I visited the facility last June while I was in Alabama. We visited other nearby locations as well, but this one seemed particularly well-suited to our requirements.

Since two of our "cousins" have agreed to have their bands play for us at the reunion, we were especially pleased to note that there is a raised platform for the bands and a dance floor for those wishing to dance.

There are a number of motels in the vicinity, and Myron and I will be negotiating with some of them to see if we can get a group rate if many of us stay at the same motel. We are also working on a location for the Friday afternoon sign-in and a place where we might have dinner together on Friday evening.

In speaking with the Hampton Inn this afternoon, I was told that we needed to know as soon as possible how many rooms we would need. Of course, the more of us who stay at the same place and the sooner we lock in the reservations, the better the rate will be.

So, if you are definitely planning to come to the reunion and would like to join many of us in staying at the same location, please contact me as soon as possible. I will then contact the hotel and determine where our best offer will be and let you know. Remember, if you commit to coming (short of an emergency of course), we'll expect you. Otherwise, the association will incur unnecessary expense. (My phone number - 210-680-5701.)

By staying at the same location, we'll also get a better rate on the meeting room. Of course, everyone is free to stay where they wish. Some of you may even be able to stay at home and commute in every day. A list of available motels will be included in the reunion brochure which will arrive early in the new year. We want to plan well so that this will be a really great reunion.

For those who will be flying to the reunion, Mobile has an airport where the following airlines currently provide service either directly or through connecting flights are Continental, Delta, Northwest and US Airways. Check with your local airport as to which offers you the best fare and schedule.

We look forward to seeing as many of you there as can possibly come.

This has been another painful summer for me. All my great plans got ""clobbered"" by surgery again. On August 15^th, I had hip replacement surgery - again!! This was my third hip replacement on my left hip. Needless to say, having not fully recovered from back surgery, I was not at all eager to go "under the knife" again

But, having no real choice in matter, I had the surgery. Everything seemed to be going well for the first three weeks. Then, disaster struck. The prosthesis came apart, and I once again had to go to surgery. Luckily, it did not require a second incision (they manipulated it back in place under a fluoroscope in the afternoon). However, it did slow my recovery. I came home again on Sunday, September 8^th, wearing a "Star Wars" type brace. I must wear it 24 hours a day at least until February, and I can certainly tell you it does mean things to my effort to sleep. It continues to slip out of the socket without warning so healing is very slow. I have so lucky to have Don to take care of me everyday. Hopefully, all this will be well in time for the reunion next June.

Well, enough "I" information

The 2003 reunion promises to be our best ever. We have found a wonderful place to have it - one that should attract many more of our Whigham "cousins" to make the trip to share this reunion with us. Please make a special effort to join us this year. Plan your vacation around it.

If you have not yet attended one of our national reunions as yet, you have no idea how many wonderful people you will meet. It has been one of the greatest experiences of my life to come to know so many who share our family heritage. Put it on your calendar. You will be glad that you did.

Joyce Whigham Dorrycott

WHIGHAM POLITICAL LIFE

A legacy left by Joseph Whigham (1799-1883?) lives on in another of his descendants. While Joseph focused on serving in the Georgia legislative branch, our cousin, Boyd, this year ran for Attorney General of Alabama. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful. If you didn't vote for him or send him a contribution, it isn''t too late - to make the contribution that is.

There are among our extended family Democrats, Independents and Republicans. There may even be members of the Green and Libertarian parties. But, the important thing is to be involved in our government and in the election of those who make governmental decisions.

Others in our family have run for office in recent years. Evelyn Gandy, the Lt. Governor in Mississippi at the time, ran for Governor of Mississippi in 1980. This was also the year I ran for state representative in Texas. Neither of us were successful that year.

Maybe others of you have run and/or been elected to political office. Why not share your experiences with the rest of us? Perhaps we can encourage more of our younger Whigham descendants to run for office themselves in the future.

We are the chosen.

In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve.

Doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the story tellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. We have been called, as it were, by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: Tell our story. So, we do.

In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors, "You have a wonderful family; you would be proud of us." How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot say.

It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who am I and why do I do the things I do.

It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying I can't let this happen. The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it.

It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family.

It goes to deep pride that the fathers fought and some died to make and keep us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us.

It is of equal pride and love that our mothers struggled to give us birth, without them we could not exist, and so we love each one, as far back as we can reach.

That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we are they and they are the sum of who we are. So, as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take my place in the long line of family storytellers.

That is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and restore the memory or greet those whom we had never known before.

(Unknown Author)

NOTE: James Elliott Whigham recently notified us of a rare blood disease that has been uncovered in his family. This disease, hemochormatosis - too much iron in the blood has thus far been discovered in his siblings, Shelton, Marty, Cathy and two of Marty's kids. It causes diseases such as cancer to spread rapidly and affects mostly Scottish and Irish descendants.

On a more pleasant note, our historian, Robert E. Whigham, Jr., attended the wedding of his only son, Robert E. Whigham, III, on July 6, 2002, to Josephine Lee, in Birmingham, Alabama. Josephine is a graduate of Hollings College in Roanoke, VA. and received her Masters Degree in Learning Disabilities from the University of Alabama Birmingham. Congratulations!!

As you may remember, our cousin, Coraleigh Whigham Gassen, hosted a Whigham Reunion in June in Laurel, MS. Don and I attended as did a number of my Whigham first cousins and other relatives I met for the first time.

Stella Whigham Bryson, her husband, Eldon, and their band "Azalea Bluegrass" furnished the entertainment for over an hour. We were especially appreciative of the donation of their time. Azalea Bluegrass, joined by David Johnson's band, will provide the entertainment for our 2003 reunion in Daphne.

After the reunion, Don and I drove to my sister's in Lake Mary, FL, as we usually do when-ever we are east of the Mississippi. While there we visited with J.B. and Mildred in Geneva (FL). It is always good to get to see all these Floridians again.

We then visited for several days with Myron, Burnell, Pat and the gang in Samson. I had my first experience at picking blueberries, and I was fortunate that they gave us some to bring home. Plus, Myron had a great "ice cream supper" for us, so we got to visit again with many of our Geneva County family.

We also got to Bennie Ray's on the third Saturday to visit the "picking house." It was a really fun event and especially pleasing as I got to see Roland's sister, Doris, whom I hadn't seen in over 50 years.

Then, as we left Millry, we went by Providence Cemetery to visit my family's graves. As we were walking through the cemetery, I noticed a man and woman walking around the Whigham plots, so I went down to see if they were Whighams. Sure enough - they were - the son and daughter in law of one of my cousins, James Robert, whose family were an important part of my childhood. Before I left, I got all his information and a check to join the association!! Welcome aboard! James, don't forget to send your family information - including your parents and Janice's.

And, for any others of you who have new or additional information. Please get it to me by January 31^st. The second volume of "The Whigham Chronicles" is going to print. Send it to:

Joyce W. Dorrycott, 6454 Village Park,

San Antonio, Texas 78250-4053

Phone number is: 210-680-5701