A pioneer family that has been here since Oklahoma was Indian Territory held their annual reunion on June 25, 2021. The reunion started Friday night with a hot dog social at the Shay community center building. Friday’s hot dog social is slotted as a chance for all the Armstrong family to drift in from all over the map, making it the unofficial beginning for many events that are a part of the reunion.
Even though the Armstrong family hosts an annual reunion, this year was extra special because they had to make up for lost time. The pandemic forced them to skip last year and that broke a thirty-seven-year record.
The Armstrong family does not always meet back home at Shay. Family members said they have met all over the map throughout the years. The underlying meaning of the Armstrong Reunion was to reunite the familiar and bring in the unfamiliar. Not being related to the Armstrong family did not seem to matter after about one minute, as the entire group quickly made an outsider seem like family.
While sitting around a table in a room full of joy and laughter, not to mention the good old American favorite hot dog and many homemade goodies, every person at the table reminisced about the importance of family.
“Sure, most people keep up on social media, but there is nothing like getting together in person, it is a magical thing that cannot be replaced.” Reunion attendee Melba Ballard said, “I have friends that do not have family reunions, I feel so sorry for them, they just don’t know how important this is especially in this day and time.”
Ballard and other attendees agreed that even though social media is readily available, family reunions are still important.
“Back in time, this was the only way to get caught up with one another,” they said, and a simple glance around the community center revealed that this was a fact.
The family visiting and reminiscing about old times uncovered some funny stories. They used to do a talent show every year and found it amusing. Bill Armstrong began to tell a story about Bob Urioston and what he did for a prior talent show. As soon as he began, Melba and Larry added their take, and the laughter broke out.
A summary of the story circled around, however; the ending never arrived. The family noted, “a person could write for days and still not even get a tidbit of the story.” Cotton Armstrong, lovingly referred to as “Uncle Cotton’ by most, explained how the family arrived in the area.
“My Dad came from Collinsville, Texas up here to farm cotton before 1900,” the oldest one in the group noted. “Dad moved here just shortly after that to be a little closer to business. Most of the people who came with him stayed in makeshift camps as they harvested cotton.” Originally, the Armstrong family was the father, mother, six boys and one girl.
It is impossible to visit with any Armstrong and not get a history lesson about Shay, Indian Territory and the surrounding towns. One big question on several of the family member’s minds was what happened to the school.
The school that was recalled sat just to the west of what now is the Community center. The family recounted details about the school.
“It was a two-room school; primer through eighth grade,” Larry Armstrong recalled. “When it became lunchtime, we had a cook, she just lived a little way from the school. Everyone got a metal Army tray and you walked up to a platform and set your tray up there and she filled it.
Mr. Cotton said that the school they all attended was not the first school in Shay and took a walk down memory lane over it.
“The old school was across the road to the south down the hill.” Cotton noted. “The schoolteacher’s name was Ms. Shay; she was Native American and lived right here at Shay. That must have been why they named this place Shay; I don’t know how long it was there but must have been before 1890 or so.”
Mention of the fact that there is only so much room on a newspaper column broke the folks out in laughter, but they all understood that mentioning everyone in attendance and all the wonderful stories would be near impossible. The good news was that although many stories were heard, the invitation to come back anytime was offered. Let’s just say the door is always open and the welcome mat lay afoot. One thing is for sure, this will not be the last time Armstrong stories hit the Madill Record.
As not to wear out the friendliest of welcomes, the story had to be wrapped up for the night. The Armstrong family all voiced the fact that they missed Lelan Armstrong this year as health reasons kept him from attending in person. He was definitely there in spirit, though.
One would wonder if such a reunion will go on forever. A simple answer from an outsider would be, with all the love, laughter, and fellowship in that room, how could it possibly not? A formal wish from Marshall County would be thank you for keeping together, thank you for still being right here, and may God Bless each one of you for an infinite generation, and most of all thank you for making an outsider feel like family. Encore Armstrong family!