It was not just another Smith Family reunion! Nauvoo was again the site as it had
been for the first reunion twenty years ago for this special anniversary reunion.
Though the Foundation hasn’t sponsored a family reunion as yet we have supported
Buddy’s persevering efforts to organize the family reunions.
About one hundred and seventy family members representing Hyrum, Joseph, Samuel, and Catherine participated and enjoyed:
1. A new City of Joseph Pageant with special family seating,
2. A musical enactment of Father Smith, Hyrum, and Joseph singing to William and
then to the family as a whole, about the need to love and unite, (more below)
3. A historical review of the Smith family from Buddy
4. History of Father Smith by Scott Fullmer, a descendant of one of Joseph’s body guards.
5. Update on the Samuel family from youthful descendants
6. A wonderful dinner at the Nauvoo Hotel,
7. A moving account of the Carthage martyrdom by Ted Gibbons, two survivors of the jail attack. The family sat by the well where Joseph died. (Our imaginations and emotions were deeply affected.)
8. A moving song by Chris Frogley who played Hyrum in the recently released docudrama video of Nauvoo. The family sat at the Carthage well listening as He sang in the role of Hyrum professing loyalty to Joseph just before leaving to Carthage. Lorena H. Normandeau, a Joseph Jr. descendant, originally composed this song as well as the others mentioned above.
9. A beautiful portrayal of Lucy telling her story by Jayne Ann Payne.
10. Tours of the Nauvoo historical sites
11. The dedication by Patriarch Eldred G. Smith of a new memorial to the Joseph Sr. and Lucy family located southeast of the temple site (some distance from the homestead family cemetery).
The camaraderie, warm family feelings, renewing of family bonds and enlarging the memory of family stories made this reunion a life-impacting event. One family member who has not been to any past reunions and currently serves as mayor of Boise, H. Brent Coles, commented that the feeling for the family and resultant commitment to the family vision of imparting family
values across generations will involve him from now and forever.