The 1990 Paige and Janes Family
Picnic
at Pleasant Lake, Michigan
Early in 1990
I called my step-sister, Pat Weck, and contacted some others in my family about having a picnic during my Michigan vacation to include the Janes and Paige clans. Howard and Marilee Paige would celebrate their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary on April 2 of this year, and they had made it clear to everyone not to do anything special in commemoration.
In a sense, this get-together would highlight the anniversary without getting overly symbolic or mushy. The Janes and Paige families had never shared such an event (picnic) together. Initial feedback was positive, so a date was decided on: Saturday, June 2. It would be my last full day in Michigan before returning to California.
Friday June 1—the Gathering of the Clan
I drove into town to Jennie’s house mid morning. Aunt Esther Page had already arrived. Shortly the three of us picked Aunt Hilma up from her apartment on Stewart Street and headed out to Horton. There we collected Aunt Helen and Uncle Clyfford, and I took everybody to a Horton restaurant called “Lock Stock and Barrel,” owned by my cousin Terri Lynn Jackson. Terri wasn’t in, but we had a very nice lunch anyway. Then Aunt Helen invited us to their place for a visit.
We returned in the early afternoon. Aunt Esther Page had other commitments for the afternoon, so she took Aunt Hilma back to Stewart Street on her way. We were expecting Mary and Angie West. They would be driving in from Minneapolis. Before they arrived, Connie and two of her little ones, Shannon and Ryan, showed up. They were on their way back home after picking up a gift car from her parents (Charlene and Bob). Besides seeing Jennie and me, she was hoping to see the Wests. Mary and Angie arrived almost too late. Connie had just begun loading everything and everyone back into the car when they pulled up. The Smeaders stayed another hour or so before they had to leave. Of course, we took lots of pictures.
Charlene and Bob showed up later, and they, Jennie and I, Mary and Angie, and Howard and Marilee went to Loud and Jackson’s (The Parlour) for ice cream. We had a lot of fun. We went back to Jennie’s afterwards and continued visiting. Then Charlene and Bob stayed overnight. Howard, Marilee and I left for their place after 9:00 o’clock P.M. Mary also spent the night with Jennie, and Angie stayed with her grandparents Alvar and Marie West.
Saturday June 2—the Day of the Picnic
Mid morning Howard and I drove over to the county park at Pleasant Lake to check out the facilities. After we were through, we went nearby to Aunt Neva and Uncle R.D. Crippen’s house. Luckily we caught them home, and they invited us in for a visit. During our chatting, Aunt Neva [who would survive a bad stroke in September] asked what was so great about California, since we never knew when we’d have earthquakes. The 1989 San Francisco quake was still very vivid in her mind. In defense of my choosing California I mentioned that the occasional earthquake was seldom as bad as the cumulative effects of Michigan’s hot, humid summers, with her constant mosquitoes and frequent, sometimes horrendous rain, lightening and wind storms, even tornados. Winters could get quite frigid, with freezing rain and blizzards generally making life miserable. She wasn’t convinced but I was, and it wouldn’t be long before some of my points were driven home.
It was late morning when people began arriving at Pleasant Lake’s county park pavilion. The sky looked like rain was in the offing, but the probability didn’t dampen our efforts. Other picnickers had arrived before us, but there was room and tables enough for all. Our group was not large but it was quality.
On the Paige side were:
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On the Janes side were:
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Phil brought and was in charge of the barbecue grill on which were cooked hamburgers, hotdogs and knockwurst. Everything else was lined up on a series of tables under the pavilion’s protective roof. There was far more than enough food. Everybody brought their favorite and best dishes, and felt the need to taste some of everything, even though it meant overeating.
When we were done eating, everybody walked down the hill to the county park’s beach.
Angie had brought her long legged, long armed puppet monkey named Beau. Both Todd and Dustin had fallen in puppy love with Angie, and the love of her easily got transferred to Beau (monkey love?). Angie had fun with the little boys and Jodi, making Beau talk to them or wrestle them to the ground. While Angie was out on the boat, they fought over who got to hold the trouble-making monkey. Dustin, especially, became excessively attached to Beau. We didn’t realize how much until Bud and Elaine had to leave Jennie’s house for home later in the day. Poor Angie got the awful task of extricating Beau from Dustin’s little arms amid rivers of tears and outbursts of hysteria (from him).
Bobby Weck’s friend Tom sailed up with his catamaran, and the two boys invited Angie to go out on the lake with them. This she gladly did. The rest of us sat and stood around chatting and watching the interplay between freshening wind and speeding, blue-sailed boat. Despite the boat’s stability, it frequently got knocked over, then had to be righted by three young folks treading water.
On this occasion was the very first time Howard had seen his little great-grandson Dustin. Dustin was just shy of being four years old. Kinda sad, especially since it will probably be up to Dustin to carry on the Paige name. Perhaps the reason for Howard’s standoffishness was that he was overcome by the significance of it all. I took a picture of them standing side-by-side.
Time went by, and the sky got much darker, while the wind increased.
Finally, the catamaran came close to shore and dropped Angie off. About that time we were all ready to go. The water had been too cold for swimming, and the only ones to venture out wading were Donna and Charlene. Both did a lot of screaming before calling it quits and running for towels. Also, a small amount of moisture was beginning to be felt in the wind.
Now the Janes clan went their way, Howard and Marilee went home, and the rest of the Paige clan went to Jennie’s for what remained of the afternoon. While the women prepared for dinner in the house, the men sat in the garage talking and drinking beer. Meanwhile, Jodi was the drum major of a little flag waving, patriotic kazoo parade including Todd and Dustin that kept circuiting the house and garage. By now it was raining off and on.
Dinner over, the party gradually broke up. About an hour after the Bud and Elaine retinue had left we were hit by a horrendous lightening storm. It wasn’t so bad at first, so I didn’t hesitate in leaving Jennie’s house for Howard’s, where I was to spend my last night. However, by the time I arrived the rain was coming down in buckets, and the lightening was furious. In my whole life I don’t believe I had ever seen so bad a lightening storm. Great bolts of electricity seemed to be hitting everything. Claps of thunder followed abruptly after lightening hit, so we knew that it was all close by.
Despite the storm I felt the need to call Jennie and make sure she was all right. She was alone, since Mary and Angie were spending the night with Marie and Alvar. However, she sounded okay. Then Marilee received a call from Aunt Neva, who asked for me. Her first words, when I answered, were “You didn’t have to make your point so strong!”
Howard turned on his emergency transmission scanner, and we listened to an assortment of messages about trees down, houses hit and ablaze, roads closed, etc. This was too much for Howard, so he and I got into his Dotson pickup truck, much to the dismay of Marilee (who would be left alone), and headed off towards Pleasant Lake. The lake area had been hit hardest, and some even said they saw funnels (tornados). We saw downed trees and a sky filled with electricity shooting to Earth. By the time we got back the storm had moved on and was lighting the horizon with its glowing feelers.
© 2010 Charles W. Paige
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