The 2008 Summary is now posted !!!!!

Hello Gooden Family Members,

We are proud to announce the fourth reunion of the descendants of Henry and Julia Gooden.  This reunion will be held in 2009. We are making an effort to gather as many family members as possible.  In order to effectively communicate with all family members while planning this reunion, it is important that we collect opinions, ideas and preferences of family members to make our gathering successful.  We ask that you take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the details and go to the Contact Us page if you have any suggestions for the reunion.

The 2008 family reunion was held at the Cold Creek Resort in Gatlinburg, TN. We started on Thursday night with a meet and greet party hosted by Pam Valentine. There was plenty of wings and pizza. We passed out tee shirts, swam in the indoor pool, went sight seeing, shopped and some just sat around and talked and greeted other family members and friends until one or two o’clock in the morning.

Continental breakfast was served Friday morning at the hotel, although some slept in as late as lunch time. We had a tremendous lunch arranged by Chucky and Pam. After we ate we moved on to Wonder Works. There were activities for all of us, especially the kids who gave us plenty to remember and talk about. At 6:00 p.m., we went back to the hotel for a fish fry and a birthday party. The evening was free time, some went out to different activities others stayed in and entertained each other.

Saturday was Family Day we had a fine meal of ribs and chicken prepared by chef Earl and crew. The sides were prepared by Pam, Mitchell’s wife and Tonya Jackson. We centered our program around ideas we had more than 10 years ago on a trip to Philadelphia. Chucky, Dwight, Robert and Warner spent the trip sharing information on planning personal financing/investing, educational opportunities, business and technology. MC for family day activities was Adrian Davis (Sweet Pea). Speakers were John (Chucky) Valentine, Tina Jackson, Brian Gooden and Barbra Sohan provided information that was read by Angel Gooden. Also we received a report on the induction of Leonard Valentine into Hall of Fame and naming of bridge after him in Mullens, WV. We closed the meeting with Mitchell Valentine speaking on our Grandfather Warner Gooden Sr. After the meeting we went to Gatlinburg for entertainment and shopping. Some of us went across the Smoky Mountains to Cherokee. Most of us didn’t go to bed until 4:00 a.m. because of enjoying being with Family.

Before breaking up Sunday morning we added both Tawan Hayes and Angel Gooden to staff. They will plan the 2009 reunion which is being held the 3rd weekend in, July. The proposed date will be July 16-20, 2009. Angel and Tawan are working on where the event will be held, but it will be in the Tennessee area again since there is so much to do. So start planning now. Put away $5 to $10 here and there so you will be ready when that time comes. We have a bank account and if you want to send in payments, it can go directly to the account for you and your family members then it won’t be so hard on anyone when final fees are due. Hopefully we will be able to post pictures on the website soon. We haven’t gotten them back yet.

We look forward to hearing from you soon and seeing you in 2009.

Affectionally Submitted,

Gooden Reunion Committee

Save the date(s) July 16-20, 2009!
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