Notes from Euel's 90th Birthday Picnic By Bob Murdock - (Murdock Muse, Sept. 1998) A CHARLTON CELEBRATION - July 11, 1998 Nancy and I enjoyed our trip to Leeds, Maine to the party at "Charlton Place" to celebrate the 90th birthday for Uncle Euel, and the 68th wedding anniversary for Euel and Sadie. Their daughter, Joan (pronounced Jo-Ann) Calder, organized the entire event for her parents on short notice, and I think 80 or 90 people came. Joan made a lot of delicious salads, her daughter Kristen did beautifully arranged fruit slices, and Jimmy and other men watched over the chicken barbecue. Joan had set up a lot of picnic tables under some tall trees -a very nice setting. There was a rain delay of about an hour, just like in baseball, but Nan and I arrived just as they were bringing food back to the tables. I had the honor of sitting beside Aunt Sadie, who at 86 is still sharp. "I like to know what's going on," she admitted. She pointed out various members of the Charlton clan. All of Joan's siblings were there: Jimmy, Jane, and Judy, who is hearing impaired. Jane was outgoing, easy to talk with. Jimmy remembered seeing us in Hubbardston years ago. Uncle Euel is doing fine, too. He said, "Christel was always the one I knew the best." And he told stories from his younger days. "I went to a dance one time, and the music was terrible," he said. "I figured out that the trombonist was playing off key, and I let the band leader know about it!" In Maine, everybody calls him "Charlie," but we knew him (Emanuel) as "Uncle Euel," and still address him that way. After all, his mother called him Euel! When it was time for dessert, Joan's daughter Kristen said "Grandpa, do you want to see the cakes before we start cutting them?" He thought a minute."Oh, I've seen so many cakes," was his reply, with the famous Charlton twinkle. After about an hour of the picnic it rained again, and we transferred to the garage to have cake and ice cream. Some of the ladies took refuge in a screened lawnhouse. Aunt Ona Fellows was in the garage, and I got to chat with her a bit. She is a very lovely lady who looks much younger than her age (80-something). She has four daughters, but just one came to the party: Donna Estep ("E-step") from Illinois. Donna and her sisters publish a family newsletter. We gave her the latest Muse, and she sent us a copy of their journal, "Blackberry Dispatch." Uncle Mal couldn't make it because his wife is ill. But his daughter, Judi Patrick, was there with her husband from Laconia, NH. She wants to be on the Muse list. Esther, one of Uncle Mal's previous wives, was there; she is also Sadie's cousin. Judi said she was driving along Rt. 127 in Webster, NH (where Polly and Carl Soberg live) recently and saw a driveway marked "Charlton Residence." Curious, she started walking up the driveway, but was turned back by two big Rotweilers! We have heard a similar story before - from John Howlett, who went there to follow up on a patient. That leads us to a young lady we met who is keenly interested in genealogy: Juni Charlton, Jimmy's daughter. "Nobody else in the family seemed to be interested in writing it down!" she lamented. Sounds like a good pen pal for Uncle Gene. Here’s her address: Juni Charlton, P.O. Box 4006, Presque Island, ME 04769 Now we have connections to all the Charlton branches except for Mom's late sister, Elna Dumas. We didn't see anybody from that family. But we thought it was interesting that there was exactly one cousin present from each of the other branches of the Charlton family: Donna, Judi, and me. The Charlton picnic was a great opportunity to catch up with Mom's side of the family. Footnote, added Jan. 21, 2006: We have just received a message from Tina Charlton, Esther's daughter. Tina said she attended the 1998 celebration, so that means that at least two cousins from Mal's family were there. Comments or additions? Contact editors at murmuse@comcast.net

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