May 7, 2023 :

The Colony Cemetery Association held its Homecoming and Annual Meeting on Sunday, May 7, 2023, at the church in Colony.  Thirty-one participants gathered for the pot-luck lunch and meeting. The Beale-Pavlica family reunion shared in this one event. 

President of the Cemetery Association J.J. Beck led the group in a blessing, written by artificial intelligence ChatGPT, before the meal and conducted a meeting for the Beale-Pavlica reunion after the meal.  He awarded the jar of Werther’s candy to Doug Mica whose guess on the number of pieces in the jar was closest to being accurate.  Money was allotted for cemetery donations to the Praha Cemetery and the Colony Cemetery.

Those who were first time attendees were Mark Brown, Ken Brown’s son who has recently retired after 30 years in Taiwan; Mable and Oliver who are grandchildren of Shawna Bruns; and Don Deyo, husband of Brenda Beale Deyo.

The annual meeting of the cemetery association was then held, with the main item of business being the need for repairs to the Colony Church.  The work will need to be completed in order to renew the insurance coverage.  Etta Brown had succeeded in getting a bid for the work, and the need for donations was discussed.  Using money from the reserves along with several $1,000 donations, a donor offered to pay the upfront cost for the remainder so that work can begin and will wait for reimbursement from donations from other members. A donation campaign will be conducted, using the email addresses and mail addresses that have been collected. 

The joint Reunion/Homecoming will be held again next year on the first Sunday in May.