The 33rd Headden Family Reunion

On Sunday, September 12, 2010, we had the 33rd annual Headden Family Reunion. “Before we get started, let me tell you where the restrooms are.” Then the Master of Ceremonies, Cousin Tex Roberts, went on to explain about the registration table, the auction items table and the memorial table. Everyone had already found where to put the food. Cousin Calvin Fletcher said grace and the eating started. Eating seems to be the central activity at most family reunions. There was a lot of good food for everyone to nibble on while they talked to family members they had not seen in a long time.


When you haven’t seen some relatives in years, you can be sitting next to them and not have a clue who they are. There are a lot of my relatives that I wouldn’t remember because I was just too young the last time I saw them. I didn’t remember Uncle Lee Headden’s children who were a little younger than me. I do remember going to Moncks Corner where they lived. I remember priming the hand water pump in their front yard and the taste of the water I drank from it, but I don’t remember them. For some reason, when I think of going to Moncks Corner to see Uncle Lee as a child, I think of a Ferris wheel. Maybe we went to a fair when we were there. I don’t know.

Tex went down the list of all of Granddaddy Lewis Headden’s children and asked who was there from each family. Someone was there from all but one family. There were also over 100 people in total. Unfortunately, the last of Granddaddy Lewis’s children, Aunt Roberta Barnes, passed on last year. The “baby boomers”, my generation are now the ones fading into the sunset. We were kids and we played together. We grew up and went our own ways to make our lives. Now it feels good to sit together and talk about those days before we went our separate ways.

Eddie and the Cadillacs played some great country music. The band was lead by Eddie and Ernest Headden. Their father was Uncle Kenneth (Caney) Headden. A number of family members have been big fans of music. One of the interesting items on the memorial table was a guitar owned by Uncle Shep Headden. His grandson, Leroy Headden, brought it for us to see. I don’t remember if it was the same guitar that Uncle Shep played, but I remember going with my father, Foch Headden, to his house and listening to them record music. I was too young to understand how it worked, but we were with Uncle Shep in one room while he was playing the music and someone was in another room with a recording machine. I’m pretty sure they were playing some Hank Williams songs.

I talked to as many of my relatives as I could. I met new relatives. Some of them told me about things that are going well and some told me about things not going so well. I hope the next family reunion finds everyone in a better situation. Thanks to Alroy, Janis, Dale, Tex, Azalea, Eddie, Ernest and others for making this year’s reunion enjoyable for the rest of us.