Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Reunion Update

[photo above, l-r: Alan, Robert, Edward Radding and Dave Nappi]

If you think nothing has happened since the August reunion, you are mistaken. Various Raddings have been expanding the connections they made at the reunion on their own. For example:

David Nappi learned at the reunion that his mother had a half-sister. The daughter of this half sister, Judie Pearson, flew to Massachusetts, where a number of visits to family took place. Edward and Linda Radding hosted a visit from David Nappi, Kathy Cragin, Judie Pearson and Cathy McGilligott.

A week later, Joe Radding and his wife Marilee from Ann Arbor, Michigan came out to San Francisco. They contacted Herb and Bonnie Radding and met for dinner. Circumstances kept other West Coast Raddings from joining them.

Also, Andrew and Bonnie Radding visited Andrew’s daughter Judith in New York City in late August. It happened that Ed and Linda Radding were visiting their daughter Jennifer in New York at the same time. The two families got together. It turns out the daughters live only four blocks from each other.

More recently, Steve and Teri Greenfield attended the UC Davis Aggies football game. There they bumped into Emily Ault, the great niece of Bernhard Radding, who Pearl found living in Davis. Her brother, Scott Radding Bland from Sacramento, was there with Emily. He and Steve had never met. Both families headed off to The Graduate for dinner together after the game. There now are rumblings of an early mini-reunion in Northern California.

More than rumblings, the direction coming out of the August reunion was that the next major family gathering will be held in California, probably in 2009. Stay tuned for more details. A survey to ascertain everyone’s various preferences is in the works.

Steve reports that he is putting on the finishing touches on that survey. He apologizes for the delay, which was due to a crashed computer and a very busy schedule. It will be on its way shortly—he promises. Keep the faith.

On another note, Pearl has recovered nicely from her knee replacement and is now bopping around Davis, no cane in hand. She is grateful for this second chance to be mobile again. We’re expecting her here to run the Boston Marathon in April. Herb Radding, in the meantime, is recovering from recent back surgery. We wish him well.

Meanwhile, Eva Radding continues to pursue Raddings around the country and back in time, pouring over various online database records, directories, and historical archives. She is hot on the trail of some descendents of the third patriarchal brother, Berre Racusin. She just needs a couple of pieces of corroborating data.

If you have Radding family news, fire it off to me in an email message (alan@radding.net) and I will add it to the next blog update, which hopefully won’t be another four months in coming.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Radding Reuinion attendees


Hi,


Here is the photo of the Radding Reunion attendees from Saturday afternoon. A small handful of people did not make it into this photo. I don't know how this happened; I thought Steve flogged everybody to get into this photo. Maybe they were in the bathroom. If you want to get the IDs of everybody in the photo, contact Steve or Pearl for the ID set of 2 files (a b&w photo and list of names), stgreen@omsoft.com or pearl@omsoft.com. DOUBLE CLICK THE IMAGE TO SEE IT LARGE


Sunday, August 12, 2007

It happened!

The first Radding Family Reunion actually did happen Aug. 2-5 at the Interlaken Inn in Lakeville, CT, and it was great. Thanks to everybody who made it happen, including Pearl Radding Carpenter, Fay Radding, Cathy Radding McElligott, Eva Radding, Steve Greenfield, and Edward Radding. My apologies in advance to anyone else I should have named but inadvertently forgot.

We initially thought 50-60 people might show up. A week before the event, it looked like 75-80 people would come. By Saturday afternoon, 95 people had arrived! The sudden rush did cause a few logistical complications, but everything was resolved.

Mark your calendar for the summer of 2009, the likely date of the second Radding Family Reunion. A survey will be circulating to determine preferred dates and locations. Judging from the preferences expressed at the breakfast on Sunday morning, it looks like it will be held on the west coast. Those who want to volunteer to help organize the event—and help definitely will be needed—please contact Steve Greenfield (stgreen@omsoft.com).

For those who couldn’t attend, here is a brief and highly subjective recap. Feel welcome to add your own impressions of the reunion in the comment section directly following this posting. To post a comment you will be prompted for your name (your email address) and your password (give yourself a password and remember it).

The children liked the ice cream social on Thursday evening while many adults avoided the extra calories. But it kept the children busy while the adults talked and mingled. Jacob Knop, Julia Radding Knop’s son, took on the much appreciated task of assembling name cards and badges; at that time there were about 85.

Friday was an unusually hot and humid day for the Berkshires, even in August—a perfect day for relaxing in the shade, at the pool, on the lakefront, or in the water. In the evening we switched ice cream for alcohol and had a cocktail party which flowed right into a buffet dinner. We all shook so many hands we must have looked like a pack of presidential candidates campaigning in New Hampshire. The cocktail party also provided an opportunity for those who wanted to gather and welcome Shabbat (the Sabbath) with candle lighting, wine, Scotch, and challah.

The hot and humid weather moderated a bit by Saturday. It turned out to be a great morning at the lakefront. By mid afternoon everyone had gathered for the genealogy session led by Pearl and Cathy. With the arrival of the day trippers our numbers may have climbed past 95. Earl Radding, the oldest Radding present at 95, drove up from Delaware with his son Peter from South Carolina. As it turns out, every family there was descended either from Joseph or Jerome Radding, both of whom arrived in this country around the turn of the 20th century. Eva Radding had tracked down an earlier common ancestor to them—Wolf Rakishki, from Zagare, a small town in what is now Lithuania. We can refer to future reunions as the gathering of the Wolf pack.

The centerpiece of the genealogy session was the Radding family tree produced by Edward Radding on two long strips of vinyl, one representing the line of Joseph and the other of Jerome. The strips were spread, side by side, across five tables, allowing people to view each tree. A PDF file of the family tree will be sent to everybody on the mailing list once Eva makes the corrections collected at the reunion.

After the genealogy session people gathered for a group photo and later assembled in a tent for a cookout. This was followed later still by a bonfire at the lake. Fire toasted marshmallows and Smores (toasted marshmallow, chocolate, and graham crackers) were the fare for that event. The sky over the lake was crammed with stars, which provided the opportunity for those who wanted to end Shabbat with a brief Havdallah program including more candles, the sweet smell of spices, and wine.

The next morning those who weren’t dashing off to catch an early flight enjoyed breakfast together followed by the family meeting that recommended the summer of 2009 and the west coast for the next gathering of the Wolf pack.

Check out some photos from the reunion in the following blog posting.

Photos from the reunion





Here are some photos from the reunion. More will be coming. Stay tuned.
Click on the photo to view it in a larger size.
Top left--Earl Radding, the oldest Radding at 95 (Edward and Peter Radding behind, l-r)
Top right--two beautiful women, each named Lisa Radding
Lower right--Yes, those are assorted Radding cousins on the float on the lake
Lower left--Dustin Peters, Sue Peters, Melanie Greenfield, Josh Greenfield view the family tree


Monday, July 23, 2007

The Latest Numbers

Pearl Carpenter sent over the latest tally and it looks like quite a crowd of Raddings will be converging on Lakeville CT and the Interlaken Inn the first weekend in August. Here is Pearl's latest count:

Thursday 20 adults, 9 children
Friday 48 adults, 11 children
Saturday 68 adults, 13 children

On top of that, I expect (hope) to see some unannounced daytrippers showing up, probably on Saturday. For people living in New England and New York, Lakeville is within range of a reasonable day trip. You are most welcome even if you are showing up with little or no notice.

Eva and I will be arriving on Thursday evening after hiking to the summit of Mt. Greylock during the day. Our children, Lisa (21) and Amy (18), will be arriving on Friday evening.

Watch this blog (bookmark it in your browser as a favorite place) for the latest news or interesting tidbits received up until I leave for Mt. Greylock. After the reunion I plan to keep the blog up and running with a recap for those who didn't make it to the event. And maybe it will evolve into an on-going discussion among what appears to be a far flung family--something to discuss Sunday morning at the reunion.

Feel welcome to add your own comments to any post. Just click the comments link at the end of each post. (You will be asked for your email address and password--whichever password you choose to give yourself. This is a family reunion blog; it doesn't accept anonymous postings.)

Looking forward to seeing and, in some cases, meeting for the first time all of you.

Alan

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Updated Radding reunion schedule

Radding Reunion Agenda

August 2nd – August 5th, 2007

Thurs. 8/2 , 7 pm , Ice Cream Social (A relaxed social evening of meeting and greeting)

Fri. 8/3, before 6 pm, Enjoy the Resort/Area on your own to explore, swim, relax, visit town, etc.

6 pm, Cocktail Hour (cocktails not included, purchase individually from the Inn or bring your own)--mix, mingle, and meet additional family arrivals

7 pm, Buffet Dinner--Eat and be merry

Sat. 8/4, before 2 pm, Enjoy the Resort/Area, swim, hike, enjoy, etc.


2–4 pm, Genealogy


  1. Introduction – Tracing the Two Family Lines

  2. Genealogy Book

  3. Visual Family Tree & Interactive Activities

  4. Where We Grew Up & Live

  5. Trivia Game

5 pm, Group Pictures (Bring on the Cameras)

6 pm, Family Barbecue (Chew the Food, Chew the Fat)

9 pm, Lakeside Bonfire, Dessert Around The Fire

Sun. 8/5, 9 am , Breakfast Wrap Up, discuss future reunions/goodbyes


The above is the official schedule. In addition some unofficial, optional events are being planned. In fact, you are welcome to plan something of your own. For example, Eva and I are planning to host a Shabbat kiddush (challah, wine, candle lighting) on Friday evening. On Saturday evening, we are planning to host a Shabbat havdallah under the stars. These are both brief and will not interfere with scheduled activities. Anyone is welcome to join us.


Pearl and her planning crew have put together a great reunion program. I'm looking forward to meeting so many of you there.


Alan

Thursday, July 12, 2007

How Many Raddings are There?

Many of you have been very helpful in forwarding information about your families to Pearl Carpenter, Cathy McElligott, or me. I have compiled an extensive family tree that will be available to all at the reunion, and by email for those who can’t come. In the meantime, just how many of us are there?

The earliest known ancestor that we share is Wulf (Zev) Rakishki, who lived near Riga, Latvia. As far as we know he had three sons and probably two daughters. The children of his sons Joseph and Jerome—seventeen cousins in all—emigrated to the U.S. in the early years of the 20th century, taking the name Radding, and eventually brought their parents (Joseph died before he could come, but his wife Ida, and Jerome and his wife Dora, came). There was a third brother who came to the U.S. and took the name Racusin, and we don’t know what became of the sisters.

From the information we have been able to gather so far, here’s the count of Wulf’s descendents, through Joseph and Jerome:

Original immigrant generation: 17 Radding cousins
Their children: 54
Their grandchildren: 104
Their great-grandchildren: 128
Great-great grandchildren: 58
Great-great-great grandchildren: 2

Grand total, from Wulf, Joseph and Jerome through the latest generation: 366!

That count, which includes only descendents (not spouses) will surely grow as more and more cousins are identified. We know there are more out there!

See you in August,

Eva Radding