2023 Annul Ruth and Arthur Lipscomb Family Reunion held August held August 19,2023 at Ferrell Family Campground in Leadmine with a final count of 81 attending. The day started with a circle of hands and a prayer as we remembered Carol Godfrey who passed shortly after last years reunion and Randolph Lipscomb who passed shortly before this year’s reunion. This is the first time we have lost two children of Ruth and Arthur between reunions, so it was somewhat a somber one however we made the most of it. After eating and spending time catching up, we gave out the following prizes. The oldest male and female in attendance was Gary Lipscomb (83) and Mary Litman Lipscomb (85) which is also the last remaining 2 children of Ruth and Arthur. Youngest boy and girl were Thaddeus Barnhouse (2 years old) and MaeLynn Muccioli (3 months old). Longest married was Gary and Lynn Lipscomb with 62 years and newest married was Patty and Rob Parker with 3 years. We added a new category this year for the oldest grandson and granddaughter of Ruth and Arthur in attendance and that went to Rusty Collett (age 74) and Sandy Wollschlager (age 77). The 50/50 was won by Fred Jones who quickly turned the money over to his wife Brenda “for safe keeping”. Staci Smith made up 3 baskets that were raffled off. A WVA basket won by MeMe Antunez, Wine basket won by Punkin Lipscomb and a Jam basket won by Rob Ridgely. After all the prizes were given out some people went to the Pine Grove cemetery to vote on new trustees for the family cemetery while others went into town to McDonalds to pay tribute to Randolph Lipscomb. Most everyone knows that Randolph and brother Gary spent so much time at McDonalds sitting in the same spot day after day year after year. After Randolph passed, a picture plaque was put up in McDonalds in honor of Randolph provided by Kim Lipscomb Day and now that section is unofficially named the “Lipscomb Table”. It was only fitting that as many of us that could go went to McDonalds in honor of Randolph. Afterwards we went over to the local cake walk and surprisingly we had lots of winners with plenty of cakes to take back to camp to share. The evening ended with roasting hot dogs, marshmallows, laughing, singing, and visiting and reminiscing. Once it was dark enough, we wrote on and sent of Chinese luminaries provided by Punkin Lipscomb in honor of those who had passed before us.
Those in attendance were:
Hopefully no one was missed on the list. Thanks to everyone who make this day possible. Hope to see you all and more next year on Saturday August 17, 2024.