Sunday, June 26, 2016

With the Masons at Humeston's Front Street Inn


It's not true at all that I crashed the Mason family reunion on Saturday to see the interior of Humeston's Front Street Inn without paying rent --- although there are probably going to be more photos of the house here today than the family.

I was there to visit with the seven siblings, spouses, children and grandchildren --- descendants of the late Ray and Marlene (Shore) Mason. There they are (top, from left): Gary, of Marshalltown; David (Patty) of Corydon, Mary (Ed Frank) of Norwalk, Richard (Rhonda) of rural Corydon, Marcia (Jack Lufkin) of West Des Moines, Don (Susan) of Oxford, Mississippi, and Ken (Sharon), of Overland Park, Kansas.


Here they are again, this time with spouses, on the front lawn of the Inn.




And here's the whole clan, again in the front yard of the inn, a beautifully restored 1908 house right on Highway 65 (Front Street) at the north edge of Humeston.

The Masons were kind enough to invite more distant cousins to attend. So I represented my mother, a first-cousin of Ray Mason; and Christine (Kenton) Coons and Julie (Fred) Fuller represented their mother, a niece of Marlene (Shore) Mason.

The siblings set about as high a standard as I've experienced for a family reunion, renting the entire inn for the weekend (it contains four bedrooms) for lodging and socializing as well as a nearby cabin in the country to ensure an adequate number of bedrooms.


This is what the potluck table looked like just after noon on Saturday, set up in the east end of the inn's long living room. There was ice cream made the old-fashioned hand-cranked way later on.


And here's a view of the serving area looking into the inn's formal dining room beyond.


This area also contains a vintage fireplace, restored to its original condition.


And offers access to the sun porch to the south.


And a conversation area to the west.


Here's the staircase leading from the foyer to a large sitting room, four bedrooms and two bathrooms above.

Here's the sitting room on the landing above, opening to the inn's four bedrooms, two off the sitting room and two more down the hallway to the left.




We got to talking during the Mason reunion about the huge Miller family reunions that we all used to attend, ending some time in the 1960s. It was great to be able to participate in the continuation of an old family tradition.

5 comments:

Ken said...

Thanks, Frank. We're glad you could join us. For the record, however -- and for the benefit of future genealogists, who will no doubt rely on your blog for centuries to come -- Christine Coons and Julie Fuller were actually representing our mother's niece, rather than her first cousin. Their mother, Mary Ann (Smith) Hoskins, was the daughter of Mom's older sister, Mildred (Shore) Smith. So Mary Ann was our first cousin, making Christine and Julie our first cousins once removed. (Mildred was 16 years older than Mom, which led to the generational shift.)

Frank D. Myers said...

Thanks for the clarification!

Don Mason said...

I'm also very glad you could join us, Frank, and thank you for the nice post as well. By all accounts the house was a big hit so I expect that, if we can get it again, we will be back in Humeston next year. I hope you will be able to join us again and perhaps, as we discussed, help us broaden our list of cousins to invite.

Sorry I was so occupied and didn't manage to visit more with you. Perhaps next year, or perhaps we'll be able to catch up with you in Chariton on one of our few trips up that way each year.

Unknown said...

Frank:
I also enjoyed visiting with you. I came into the Mason Family in November 1962. I had just returned from Southeast Asia (with MCB10 Det. ZULU), and married Mary Louise Mason on Nov. 4/1962. We were married at the Methodist Church in Chariton.

I guess that I am not familiar with any other veterans in the family other than Leland Shore. I understand that you served in Viet Nam. I would be interested in learning more about what unit you were with. Most of my time was in Udorn ,Thailand. While there we did some projects at Karate/ Bangkok, Nakon Phanom. Udorn is located about 30 klm. south from Vientiane , Laos & 30 klm. west from Cambodia border. Looking forward to another visit.
Ed Frank

Frank D. Myers said...

Hi Ed --- I served with the 519th M.I. Battalion, 525th C.E.G., in Saigon nearly all of the time, as leader of a translation/interpretation team at a place called the Combined Document Eploitation Center co-located with the Combined Military Intelligence Center in a compound not far outside the main gates of Tan Son Nhut. We dealt, along with R.V.N., Vietnamese civilian and Korean military co-workers with a majority of the documents captured in country (and outside upon occasion, too). We issued alerts when intelligence of immediate value turned up, and a variety of other reports, too. That was a LONG time ago!

Great to visit with you, too.

Frank