Turner
- Sykes Reunion
Our next reunion is scheduled for Sunday June 22, 2008, in Gordonsville, Tennessee at the Agee Park. We hope to post pictures after the reunion.
The first reunion of the Smith County Turner family, which included the descendants of Amanda Virginia Turner and her husband William Elias Sykes, met on August 10, 1930 in Sykes, Tennessee with 78 members of the family present. Those attending included 3 Civil War Veterans, J.C. Pritchard, I.W. Evans and J.C. Gold. Mrs. Mary Turner and Mrs. Martha Turner, wives of two of the sons of Wilson and Emily Turner were also at the first reunion. With the exception of one or two years during World War II, the reunion has continued every year since.
Until her death on December 5, 1985 most of the reunions were hosted by Lillie Wills, one of the granddaughter's of William and Amanda Sykes, at her home which was built at the site of the original Sykes home place in Sykes, Tennessee. The reunion currently meets on the Sunday after Father's Day in the Agee Park in Gordonsville. Our family is proud of this annual tradition and encourage other families to meet regularly. We doubt that many families have continued this tradition for a longer period. Oleda Bass Hill, another one of the granddaughter's of William and Amanda Sykes, is currently serving as secretary of the reunion and mails invitations to all known surviving members of the families each year. Many of the descendants of Wilson and Emily Turner and Amanda Virginia Turner and William Elias Sykes have either moved away or died but the descendants of these families continue to meet each year to enjoy seeing each other and eating some of the best old fashioned home cooking available anywhere. At the reunion in 2004, 84 descendants signed the attendance register and we know of a few who attended and forgot to sign the register. All descendants of the Smith County Sykes families are welcome and are encouraged to attend. For the first time in many years, two descendants from William’s first marriage attended last year.
One of the Nashville, Tennessee newspapers sent a reporter and photographer to the 39th annual reunion in 1969 and a copy of the article and photograph published in The Tennessean newspaper can be viewed on this web site.
Our 50th reunion was in 1980 and was moved to the Union Hill Presbyteriam Church due to inclement weather. The article that appeared in the Nashville newspaper is shown below:
Our 2005 reunion was the 75th anniversary for our family and the following article appeared in the Carthage newspaper:
Photographs from the 2005 75th Reunion
