Reunion Plans

High gas prices, a struggling economy, and even the searing central California heat did not spoil the fun at the 2008 Doyle Family Reunion held in Fresno, California. More than 100 family members attended events on Friday and Saturday, and many stayed over to close our reunion on Sunday. Among the attendees were over 10 members from Texas. Texas family members making the trip out West were: Kenneth Prosser, Essic and Thelma Williams, Dorothy Ambrose, and Sally Freeman. Also, among the Texas bunch were almost all of Vivian (Prosser) Smith’s children: Andrew (Mac) Smith, Edwin (Tuff) Smith, Thomas and Carroll (Smith) Mayse, and the twins, Kin and Len Smith. Also, in attendance from Oklahoma were Carlos and Carla Jones.

Joining members from Texas and Oklahoma were a significantly large crowd of California family members who, together, opened the 2008 Doyle Family Reunion on Friday night with Family Night or “Get Acquainted Night.” In all, almost 100 family members gathered at the Holiday Inn Airport banquet facility to enjoy a night of good company and good fun. The Doyle Family Reunion Committee really set the tone for the night by nicely decorating the room with balloons and table coverings matching the family colors. Also, the food served was very good and healthier than our traditional fried foods. In addition to pasta, dinner included spicy chicken wings and teriyaki sticks and fruit and other food.

After dinner, Princess Ayers delivered a rather informative account of our history and origin. To the surprise of many, we learned that our Doyle roots did not begin in Africa as one would expect, but in Europe, from Spain, Poland, Britain, and Germany. Our African heritage, on the other hand, sprung from our maternal genes, where we share kinship with citizens from Sierra Leone and Senegal and others.

Following the Program and dinner, the family spent the rest of the night playing games together. Scavenger Hunt was the first game played. Normally, Scavenger Hunt requires forming teams who scurry around town on a wild goose chase, but this game was played there in the room where everyone competed individually and interactively. Our host for the night, Davia Jackson, began the game by passing out a handout with instructions not to look at the handout until the game began.

There were 20 trivia questions on each handout, and the objective was to quickly locate and obtain as many signatures as possible of family members who matched information listed on the handout. For instance, one question was to find someone from Texas who was in attendance, and another was to locate someone with more than 5 siblings. Everyone participated and was given around 15 minutes to make the rounds to complete the handout. After time expired, Brian Parmer was declared the winner after completing 18 of the 20 questions and was awarded a $50 Visa card.

The next game was just as fun and also encouraged interaction and knowledge of family. We played the Doyle version of Hollywood Squares, where family members instead of television celebrities sat in Tic Tac Toe spots. In this game, all of the questions presented surrounded our family history, and served as an excellent learning opportunity for all, particularly for our youth. One game question asked was “how many sets of twins are in the Doyle family?” The answer given was six, but there are 17 sets of twins in the family. One set, Ken and Lin Smith were in attendance, and another twin Derrick Doyle, Sr. was there as well, but without his twin brother Dennis.

Besides the games we played together, the family enjoyed raffle prizes organized by the Prosser girls: Karen Wilkes, Audrey Hornes, Betty Muldrew, and Dee Dee Phillips. Several very nice gift baskets were won, particularly among family members with tickets in the 400 and 500 serial number range. By coincidence, members with tickets in that range won most of the prizes, even after shuffling the basket holding the ticket stubs.

Even though everyone did not win a raffle prize, everyone still received something that evening. Whether it was a nice tote bag donated by Papaa and Renee Eshun or one of the nice programs they also donated or just information learned from the historical account of the games we played, everyone took something home. The night ended late, around 11:00 p.m., and all left to attend the Picnic on Saturday.