2007 Organizers!

The 2007 Collins-Haynes-Fisher-Goff (C-H-F-G) Family Re Union was held in Oklahoma City, OK on June 22-24th. Amy Edison was Chairperson or Chief Hostess with Valerie Walker and Ramona Green co-hosting. The Best Western Saddleback Inn and Conference at 4300 Southwest Third Street was the Host hotel and banquet site. The hotel offered free shuttle from/to the airport; free parking; complimentary breakfast on Saturday & Sunday morning; shopping and fast food close by; pool & Jacuzzi. The kids had a great time and we all enjoyed visiting and exchanging family updates. (see Goff link).

Other committee members: To be listed as soon as I get names from Valerie.

Again, Friday evening was gather and gab night.There was much to talk about because many of us had not had a chance to talk face to face since the reunion was held in Oklahoma City in 2001! For whatever reason the 2003 San Diego Reunion was not supported by the majority of the family. Our Oklahoma family were attending home-going services for Linda Faye King in June 2005. We missed seeing them in Rockdale, Texas. So here we were, together again, and what a time we had!

Eddie Madden, entertained us with some Goff history; Ray Lamar had video from the 2005 reunion to show, however, we had technical problems with the television set. It was great to see Aunt Dee (Devorah Lamar) again. She is 93 years old, but still she has made 3 of the last 4 reunions: Oklahoma 2001, Rockdale 2005, & Oklahoma 2007. Now that's saying something! And seeing that she is the oldest member of our combined families that we know of, we should be trying to get all the family history she can offer while she still remembers and is still with us.

After a hot lunch on Saturday, we had a caravan to the home site of great grandfather Solomon & Amy Stewart Goff, and the Bradfords. The community is near Washington, Ok, in a small settlement called Jerusalem, about 30 minutes from OKC. The community includes a church, a school, a cemetery, and their homes on 5 acres of land. Our caravan was derailed when some of us became lost from the lead car. Several carloads of family found their way to Jerusalem because of their cars' computerized navigation systems. So some made it there; some didn't.

Other places visited was the site of the bombing, and the near-by casinos. The banquet Saturday night was great. The food was hot & delicious, and after the ceremonies, the younger set danced the night away!

The 2009 reunion is planned for Houston, Texas. Our 'Fisher' branch of the Collin-Haynes- Fisher-Goff family is hosting this one. We decided to have a reunion committee, with representatives from several familiers will be supporting and helping with planning strategies. Start making your plans now and saving your money. Every time we get together we meet family who have not attended before. And everytime, this has been someone that I had never met before! In Rockdale (2005), I met my grandmother's (Josephine Fisher Collins) nephew and family. This year I met my father's (Cavitt (Bully) Haynes) brother's (Hugo Haynes) son Charlie C. Haynes and his children. This is really exciting for me. Sure hope to see a lot of you there. Love You, T.J Haynes-Johnson.