Thank you for the extensive correspondence and encouragement. As you know the family reunion is in one month. There are a number of items to share with you:

1. Beds. Have you made reservations for a place to stay? If you can't find a place, let me know as I have a couple of rooms reserved at the Paradise Motor Inn that we don't need.

-Friday night welcome and registration at the Holden Leonard Mill from 5 pm. Welcome to a modest bar, coffee, tea and juice at the mill for people as they arrive. Contributions of wine, beer, juice etc. gratefully accepted. We are all on our own for dinner Friday night.

-Saturday morning the mill will be open at 8 am and we will serve muffins, coffee, tea, juice etc for anyone wishing

-Saturday noon we will have lunch at the mill with a few welcoming speeches and a chance to get to know family members

-Saturday night we will have a reception followed by dinner at "the barn" which is the parish house of the first Congregational Church. The barn is located on the circle at the monument.

-Sunday morning we will have an informal brunch at 11 at the mill but coffee tea and muffins will be available from 9 am.

Martha Holden has volunteered to take charge of a small cooking crew for the Saturday night dinner. Turkey, vegetarian food, bake beans etc.

We are looking for volunteers to take charge of each of the informal breakfasts and the lunch Saturday (self serve, cold cuts, sandwich material, a salad, etc.)

George Bickford and Bea Bickford Hicock have agreed to take charge of creating colored name tags for all of us and we will pick these up at the mill on arrival. Each family will have a different color (one for the descendants of Florence Holden, another color for the descendants of Clarence etc. Thank you George and Bea!!

4. Website. Loring Holden, Prof of computer sciences at Brown University has put together a web site. http://www.holdenFam.org. Please check this out. You will see Diantha Lamb's Holden family tree which is color coded to indicate who is coming. Any corrections send to me. Great work Loring and Diantha!!

5. Money. The family volunteer treasurer, Bonnie Holden Carter, has donned her green eyeshade and determined that we can cover the food with a donation of $25 per person which seems pretty reasonable. Please pay when you arrive. Let Bonnie know if there are special circumstances which need her attention. Thanks Bonnie!!

6. Memorabilia. Martha and others have suggested that we put a gigantic family tree on the wall of the mill. Please bring family pictures that we can post. For example, cousin Judy sent me a wonderful picture of Grandfather Clarence and his prize nubian goats. The funniest picture will be given a special award-(a pint of our maple syrup?). You may also want to bring pictures of yourself so that participants can recognize you and where you fit in. Please bring any memorabilia about the family and/or Bennington. Would anyone like to take charge of this?

7. Music. Bring a musical instrument or write a poem or a skit. We are hoping to have a talent show Saturday night. Do we have a volunteer master of ceremonies?

8. e mail. Please let me know if there are people in your family who have been left off this list. I will probably only write to you as a group once more so it won't be abused.

9. Walking etc. Martha is organizing maps of walking tours which will enable you to look at the various family homes, Robert Frost's grave, the massive Holden mausoleum (yes there is still space available!) etc. You can get the Bennington Chamber (see Bennington lodging information on our website) to send you a nice brochure about the town.

Martha and Bonnie are planning to invade Bennington the weekend of the 3 April for last minute planning. Martha's number: 802-229-9036