When I was coming up, almost every summer, some Thanksgivings and some Christmas, Daddy and Mama would pile us in the our 1955 Chevy and we would head on down Highway 80 to Grandma’s house. There were ten of us in that car and you know I do not remember feeling crowded or crammed. The excitement of going to see Grandma’s and Grandpa (Poppa) and seeing Aunts, Uncles and cousins, picking blueberries riding the horse, (maybe it was a mule for all I know), sleeping out on the porch, the smell of poppa’s pipe, the charm of Grandma, a lady who, despite the zillion or so grandchildren running around, knew how to make each one feel like they were Grandma’s favorite. She even knew how to coax me into washing dishes. Yes, we looked forward to going to Vidalia and Grandma’s house. And, of course, all-l-l-l the food – a kids paradise. We had a ball. After Grandma and Poppa passed, the yearly reunions also passed.
It was the memories of these reunions at Grandma’s that this reunion was born. My dear Father (Quincy Pullin) and my dear Aunt (LaVera Wilson) often would speak of those days and how good they were and how much we as a family needed to find the occasion to come together. They would say, “Y’all young people need to know who your cousins are. If you don’t, you might whine up marrying one of your cousins”. As a result of their insistence, I called for the formation of a committee to organize a family reunion. In 1981, the committee was organized. We all agreed it would be a good idea to get together so everybody could get to know everybody else. We elected LaVera Wilson as President. Based on family history supplied mainly from Aunt LaVera, we decided that our family would be Pullen/Mason. The first reunion was held in Savannah, Georgia on July 16th through the 18th, 1982. Since that time, reunions have been held every two years. In 1984 (St. Petersburg, FL), 1986 (Atlanta, Georgia), 1988 (Vidalia, Georgia), 1990 (Washington, DC), 1992 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 1994 (Charlotte, North Carolina), 1996, (New York, New York), 1998 (Atlanta, Georgia), 2000 ( Bahamas via St. Petersburg, Florida), 2002, Savannah, Georgia, 2004, (Houston, Texas).
During the organizing effort for the first reunion, LaVera made contact with Lillie Mae Holmes of Wrightsville, Ga., who is part of the Hicks-Pullen’s clan. An invitation was extended to the Hicks-Pullens to attend our first reunion. But due to the organizing effort for their first reunion, they were unable to attend. In July 1984, the second Mason-Pullen reunion was held in St. Petersburg, Fla. After that reunion, members of the Mason-Pullen clan visited the gravesite of the Hicks-Pullen descendents. In September 1984, the Hicks-Pullen held their first reunion in Dublin, Ga. At this reunion, members of both clans agreed to work on merging our family reunions. In July 1985,at the Hicks-Pullen’s third biennial reunion, they agreed merge with the Mason-Pullen reunion. In 1986, at the Mason-Pullen reunion in Atlanta, GA , members of the Hicks-Pullen clan attended this reunion in efforts to achieve the merger.
(Note: Since the 1986 reunion, the Hicks/Pullen branch has not joined us in the reunions as a body but continues to communicate and some cousins continue to attend both reunions).
Past reunion programs (coming soon)