Casey Family Association

News From Bob

Robert C. Casey
CFA President (June 1998 - June 2000)

The reunion in Tulsa was really great! To have the opportunity to see so many Casey cousins we have known for years and to meet those we haven't previously known is an exciting experience. On behalf of the Association, I want to thank everyone involved in setting that meeting up and to extend our grateful appreciation to Don and Betty Steel for their work in securing the site and seeing to it that things ran smoothly while we were there. We're going to do it again in the year 2000 in Springfield, Missouri and I am confident that the role played by Don and Betty in Tulsa will be competently assumed by an individual, or group of individuals, in Springfield.
I can't help thinking about my father's efforts to teach me about familial pride and his interest in the family history. The Casey Family Association would have been a dream come true for him and I know he would approve of the organization, as it is constituted today. He would be especially proud to know that his youngest son has been elected President of the organization for the next two years. This is to say that I am honored to be your president and that I approach this assignment with a strong sense of responsibility and I will do my best to continue to provide the level of leadership to which you have become accustomed -- Mike! -- Help!

News From Bob

The following is an attempt to provide something for the next newsletter. Hope you can use it. Here it is:
Let me begin by saying that I am more than a little embarrassed that I failed to submit any notes for the last issue of Tidings. I wish I had a good excuse but I can't honestly say that there was any good reason I should not have been able to do so. Procrastination is a characteristic I am sure I didn't inherit from the Caseys but nevertheless an affliction with which I am prone to suffer from time to time. I can only hope that my Casey cousins will be tolerant of my failure to communicate and accept this attempt at amends.

In this issue, I want to pay special tribute to two individuals whose contributions to the Casey Family Association give our organization a solid foundation and for which we all should be grateful.

First let me, on behalf of the Association, express our thanks to Mike for the conception of the CFA, for his abiding interest in the organization, and for his pursuit of authentic information about our lineage. I frequently get inquiries from people asking for information about our association and just as frequently, I am unable to provide the data they seek. But I know that if I forward the inquiry to Mike, he will follow up on it and cheerfully share his substantial knowledge of the family and family history. For everything you do for the Association, thanks Mike!

We are also immeasureably indebted to Mary Lea Burlison ["the Cemetery Lady"] for the newsletter. And I might add that she sometimes endures the frustrations that result from my procrastination in getting this column to her. She has been very tolerant and I want to personally thank her for her patience.
We would be remiss if we failed to recognize Paula and Allan for their help in all the things that Mike and Mary Lea do for the Association. I'm sure that we can hardly imagine the support these two provide and we are very much indebted to them.

Frankie and I have just completed our first year of retirement and we continue to enjoy the flexibility and freedom which that condition allows. We had a wonderful trip to Israel in January and we are looking forward to going to Hawaii in September.

Plans for the reunion in Springfield, in the summer of 2000, are beginning to take shape. Many thanks to Sonya Pelton for her work in securing a site for this meeting. I am assuming information about the reunion will appear elsewhere in this newsletter. Begin now to make your plans to attend.

News From Bob

In the last "News" column I mentioned our plans to travel to Hawaii in September. Well we did and it was wonderful. We visited the islands of Oahu, Kauai, and Maui and were very much impressed with the beauty of the countryside and the grandeur and colors of the Pacific Ocean. We are often asked to identify the particular feature of the trip that we enjoyed the most and our reponse to that difficult question is that there were so many highlights we couldn't cite one.

After a day of travel, the first three days were on the island of Ohau. There, the Polynesian Cultural Center presented some very interesting displays and an elaborate show that was most entertaining. Our hotel was on Waikiki Beach where we enjoyed swimming and watching the surfers. Perhaps the most lastingly impressive event on Oahu was our visit to Pearl Harbor and the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial. To stand above and view the sunken hull of that proud vessel was a profoundly moving experience. I remembered that that Sunday in December, 1941 was the day I first heard the word "war"...and wondered what it meant. {I was eight at the time.}

On the fifth day we flew to Kauai {a twenty-minute flight} where we enjoyed a barge cruise up the Wailua River to a place called the Fern Grotto. The rank vegetation and floral growth were really something to behold. Here we also had a thrilling helicopter tour through the Waimea Canyon and along the wild and inaccessible Napali coast.

The last three days in Hawaii were spent on the island of Maui. Here we enjoyed seeing the fields of sugarcane and pineapples and, on the final day we were treated to an authentic Polynesian Luau.
Obviously we enjoyed our trip to Hawaii but it is good to be back home. There are scenes in the Ozarks which will rival many of the places we saw in Hawaii and I am reminded that the next gathering of the Casey Clan will provide participants with the opportunity to enjoy some of that particular brand of beauty. The dates are June 17-18 in the year 2000 in Springfield, Missouri. I hope you will be able to be there and I look forward to seeing you then.

News From Bob

My tenure as President of the Casey Family Association is coming to a close and although I can't say that my contributions to the association have been anything to boast about, I want you to know that I consider it a high honor to have had the opportunity to serve. I would be remiss if I failed to say thanks to all those who have given of their time and talents to the Association, especially to Mary Lea for her work on the newsletter and to Mike for accepting and responding to all the correspondence I forwarded to him.

The reunion in Springfield is shaping up to be one you won't want to miss. The Springfield-Branson area is a very nice place to visit with plenty of opportunities to shop, take advantage of the entertainment that is available, or simply to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Remember, the dates are: Saturday AND Sunday, June 17 AND 18. (If you don't stay for both days, you will miss a lot!) I look forward to seeing many of you at that time.

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