HMC Family Association

WHEN: The Hewitt-Matheny-Cooper Annual Family Reunion will be on August 2, 2026, It is always on the first Sunday in August.

WHERE

IN PERSON: At Maud Williamson State Recreation Site, 22500 Wallace Rd., NW, Salem, Oregon (also known as the Salem-Dayton Highway, OR-221) between the cities of Salem and Dayton, at the intersection of Oregon Route 221 and Oregon Route 153, near Wheatland.

ONLINE: https://meet.google.com/ufr-yfww-hyb

SCHEDULE

9:00 A.M. VISITING and catching up with cousins. COFFEE AND PASTRIES provided by the HMC Council.

10:30 A.M. BRUNCH POTLUCK Bring any traditional or potluck dishes you would like to share. Pancakes, eggs, and bacon will be served with our Reunion Chairs, Scott and Lindsey Fery, manning the grill, and our archivist, Brian and Michelle Hewitt cooking farm fresh eggs to order. Tea, water, and coffee are provided. Plates, utensils, cups, napkins, and tablecloths also provided.

12:00 noon ANNUAL MEETING We are electing two Cooper council members this year. Adam Hewitt and Melissa Gomez, both Cooper/Hewitt descendents, would like to continue. If anyone else would like to be on the council, nominations will be open and we have the option of co-councilors who share a position with one vote.

In the interest of keeping our meeting more concise, please read last year’s minutes here REUNION 2025! FUN with FAMILY. Paper copies will be posted on the picnic shelter also.

Join the GOOGLE MEET online. The online part of the Reunion will be available only at 12 noon for the meeting.

1:00 P.M. PINATA! After the business meeting there will be a pinata for the kids and adults, starting with the youngest to oldest. It’s a tradition started by Arnie [Charlotte Cooper descendant] and Sue Young’s family.

ONGOING ACTIVITIES THROUGHOUT THE DAY

DANIEL MATHENY HEWITT TWO-HOPS-AND-A-JUMP CHALLENGE The Daniel Matheny Hewitt Two-Hops-and-a-Jump Challenge is for all ages. Family members from toddlers to 84 years old have been joining in for eighteen years. Daniel Matheny Hewitt was known for this event, which is: from a running start, go as far as you can with two hops on one foot followed by a jump from two feet.

With different age categories and lots of support, it’s easy to join in at the picnic, or…

for those attending virtually, try it wherever you are and send your distance to Barbara at kerrclifford@hotmail.com.

See the history and details of the event here Daniel Matheny Hewitt Challenge – Two Hops and a Jump.

ARTS AND CRAFTS TABLE: paper, pens, pencils, and crafts for all ages to share; from doodling to graphic storytelling, and making things to take home.

FOR THE YOUNGER COUSINS: Balls and miscellaneous play equipment for younger kids, and their grownup friends, will be available.

CORNHOLE GAME: Tossing beanbags (originally full of corn) into a hole on a board is a game our ancestors played that has become popular again.

FAMILY VOLLEYBALL: Equipment will be available for families interested in forming volleyball teams.

HORSESHOES

GALLERY WALL Bring your old family photos, charts, family trees, or artifacts to display for the day.

REUNION PHOTO ALBUMS full of photographs taken by Olive Johnson and others at the Reunions througout the years will be available for your enjoyment. Help identify familiy members in the pictures.

FAMILY ALBUMS where you can look up information and pictures of your immediate and distant relations. Please update or add entries for any new members of your family on sticky notes on the appropriate pages.

INTO THE EYE OF THE SETTING SUN Copies will be available for $25.00 at the Reunion. You can also order one by mail for $30.00 by sending a check payable to HMC Family Association to Merrilee Johnson, 3751 NE St. Joseph Road, McMinnville, OR 97128.

COUNTRY STORE Come shop at the family’s Country Store for treasures and yummy things.

DONATIONS for the Country Store: Please bring items large or small that may be of interest to family members, including extra produce or preserved goods from your garden, plants, handcrafts, art, household goods, books, services, etc.

It’s a good way to find homes for family mementos that no longer have a place in your life but you want to go to someone who will value them.

CLEAN UP – IT’S A FAMILY AFFAIR! Join in making sure you have all of your things and helping to tidy up the shelter and grounds.

MAILING LISTS If you or another family member you know do not receive the postcard announcement, please send your email and postal mail addresses to Lindsey at lrlatti2d@aol.com or text to 503-881-1417. You can also put them on the list at the registration table when you sign in at the picnic; or in the sign-in or chat if you are attending online.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE REUNION, contact Merrilee, our HMC president at merrilee.s.johnson@gmail.com or 503-550-9339.

FROM MERRILEE, HMC President

“’Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.’ is a 14^th Century proverb meaning that significant achievements, large organizations, or great successes often have small, humble beginnings.

Our family’s story began in 1843 when our ancestors journeyed west on the Oregon Trail in search of new opportunities and the promise of a better future. From those humble beginnings, generation after generation has grown and flourished just as mighty oaks grow from little acorns. As we celebrate more than one hundred years of family reunions, we proudly embrace the oak tree as a symbol of the strength, resilience, and deep roots that connect us. Like the pioneers who came before us, we honor our shared heritage while looking ahead to the generations yet to come. May our roots remain strong, our branches continue to grow, and our family gather for generations to come.”

RETURNING TO THE OAKS

Maud Williamson Park may be changing in a big way.

In recent years, Douglas fir trees in the Pacific Northwest have been subject to dieback from a combination of hotter droughts and insects that attack the stressed trees. The trees in Maud Williamson State Recreation Site where we hold our Reunions, are a stand of mature, second-growth Douglas firs. Over time, Oregon State parks may be replacing them with oak trees.

For more information on the dieback, see extension.oregonstate.edu Trees on the Edge.

Before our Matheny ancestors homesteaded the area that is now the park, it would have been an oak savannah managed by the Kalapuya people. Oak savannah once covered a million acres in the Willamette Valley. Now only about one percent remains.

For a discussion on oak savannahs and efforts to bring them back go to PBS/OPB’s Oregon Field Guide Season 21, Episode 2111, “Oak Savannah”.

WHEN: The Hewitt-Matheny-Cooper Annual Family Reunion will be on August 3, 2025. It is always on the first Sunday in August.

WHERE

IN PERSON: At Maud Williamson State Recreation Site, 22500 Wallace Rd., NW, Salem, Oregon (also known as the Salem-Dayton Highway, OR-221) between the cities of Salem and Dayton, at the intersection of Oregon Route 221 and Oregon Route 153, near Wheatland.

ONLINE: The virtual event this year will again be on Google Meet. The Virtual Reunion link is: https://meet.google.com/qnn-prff-zuy The link will be available on Facebook HMC Family Group as well as here on the website, HMCFamily.org. For Virtual Reunion support contact Melissa Gomez 503-851-4145 or melclark2@gmail.com PLEASE NOTE: the virtual meeting will be for our business meeting only.

SCHEDULE

Listening to comments and individuals over the years, and wanting to be more relevant to younger generations, starting this year, the HMC Council and other family volunteers are trying to increase the fun ratio in our gatherings. The Council is looking forward to hearing your feedback after this year’s Reunion. We are committed to a short business meeting with no extended presentations. Our goal is to keep time to focus on fun as a family.

Join in as early as 9:00 a.m. for visiting and catching up with your cousins.

The meal will be at 11:00 a.m. We are eating earlier to avoid the heat we have been experiencing in recent years. The new meal time comes with a breakfast/brunch menu. Our Reunion chairs, Scott and Lindsey Fery, will be manning the grill! Pancakes with toppings including some homemade jams and jellies, eggs, breakfast meats, coffee, orange juice, water, lemonade, plates, silverware, cups, and tablecloths will be provided.

Please bring any other drinks or dishes you would like to share. Yes, traditional potluck dishes are welcome along with any other creative brunch ideas.

The business meeting will be at 12:00 noon. Elections this year are for two Council members from the Hewitt branch. You can volunteer or nominate someone during the meeting.

PINATA!

After the business meeting, there will be a pinata for the kids and adults, starting with youngest to oldest, carrying on the tradition started by Arnie [Charlotte Cooper] and Sue Young’s family, but including all the generations this year.

ONGOING ACTIVITIES THROUGHOUT THE DAY

In addition to Uncle Daniel’s Two Hops and a Jump contest run by Brad Kerr each year, we are trying a few new things:

[Henry & Elizabeth Hewitt>James Andrew Hewitt>Sylva Hewitt Kerr>Jean Kerr>Brad Kerr]

DANIEL MATHENY HEWITT TWO-HOPS-AND-A-JUMP CHALLENGE

The Daniel Matheny Hewitt Two-Hops-and-a-Jump Challenge is for all ages. In the seventeen years we have been “stretching our stride”, we have had family from toddlers to 84-years-old participate. The “Challenge” is to see how many family members we can include as participants . The idea is to start with a running start and go as far as you can in two hops on one foot followed by a jump from both feet. There are a number of age categories and plenty of support. You can join in at the picnic or…

for those attending virtually, try it wherever you are and post your results online.

For the family history and details of the event see Daniel Matheny Hewitt Challenge-Two Hops and a Jump in the page listings to the right..

[Henry& Elizabeth Hewitt>Daniel Matheny Hewitt]

ART and CRAFTS TABLE

Paper, pens pencils, and crafts for all ages to share in doodling to graphic storytelling, and making things to take home.

FOR THE YOUNGER COUSINS

Balls and miscellaneous play equipment for younger kids, and their grownup friends, will be available.

CORNHOLE GAME

Tossing bean bags (originally full of corn) into a hole on a board is a game our ancestors played that has become wildly popular again.

FAMILY VOLLEYBALL

If there is enough interest, we may have a family team volleyball game this year or in future years.

GALLERY WALL

We would like to create a “gallery wall” of old family photos, the paintings from Sarah Goller, and family charts/family trees. Anyone with items they want to display for the day, please bring them along. We will see what we can accomplish.

FAMILY ALBUMS

The photo albums full of pictures taken by Olive Johnson and others at the reunions throughout the years have been repaired thanks to a group of volunteers last summer. They are now reunion-ready and will rejoin the family albums where you can look up information on your immediate and distant relations. Remember to update entries for any new members into the family albums. (There will be sticky notes to put in the appropriate spaces.)

[Henry & Elizabeth Hewitt>James Andrew Hewitt>Olive Hewitt Smith>Elsie Warmington>Olive Johnson]

INTO THE EYE OF THE SETTING SUN

It’s back! New copies will be available @$25 each. If you don’t get one at the Reunion, you can order one by mail for $30 by sending a check payable to HMC Family Association to Merrilee Johnson, 3751 NE St. Joseph Rd,. McMinnville, OR 97128.

COUNTRY STORE

Come shop at our Country Store for treasures and things yummy.

Please bring donations for the Country Store. Bring items large or small that may be of interest to family members, including extra produce or canned goods from your garden, plants, services, books, household goods, handcrafts, art, etc.

It’s a good way to find homes for family mementos that no longer have a place in your life, but you want to go to someone who will value them.

CLEAN UP – IT’S A FAMILY AFFAIR!

Join in making sure you have all of your things and helping to tidy up the shelter and grounds.

MAILING LISTS If you or another family member you know did not get a postcard announcement this year, please send your email and postal mail addresses to Lindsey at lrlatti2d@aol.com, or text to 503-881-1417. You can also put them on the list at the registration table when you are signing in at the picnic;

or in the sign-in or chat if you are attending online.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE REUNION, contact Merrilee, our HMC president at merrilee.s.johnson@gmail.com or 503-550-9339.