Reunion History of Jordan and Nora Ritter
Approximately 72 years ago, Jordan and Nora Ritter discussed the idea of having a family reunion with all their children, grandchildren, cousins, and family at Route I, Box 32, Carthage, North Carolina. They lived in Moore County, a small country town in Robbins, North Carolina with a population of about 1000 people. Nora and Jordan were so excited and shared this idea immediately with Mary and Edward Cole, their cousins and closest African American neighbors. This reunion would be the second Sunday in August since most of the children usually came home at this time for their vacation.
Mama Nora (a name given her by everyone who knew her) accidentally or intentionally made the announcement in church and invited the entire community. She emphasized “All Come” and they did. This ended the small fellowship reunion.
The preparation began with Mama Nora, Mary Cole and sister Arbella cooking and baking for days. Food was not a problem since the garden was in frill bloom. Papa Jordan and Mama Nora had beef they had frozen and canned from the fall, and ham cured and stored in the smokehouse. Poultry was plentiful since we had a chicken farm and raised about ten thousand chickens to sell annually. He raised his own corn and wheat and carried the grains to Reynolds Mill and had it ground into flour and meal.
When the first reunion finally arrived, all of the children came home for this special day. These children were present: Edward, Martin, Odessa, Gertrude, Jerry, Arbella, Dorothy, Mozella, Marjorie, Paul (Joe Boy) and Frankie. Every family member was so excited and assisted in all of the last minute preparations. Even the grandchildren were serving food. Everybody ate and stuffed himself or herself with delicious country food. This reunion was a huge success and over 150 family members and friends were in attendance on that Sunday in 1950.
The reunion was changed to the third Sunday in August because some of the grandchildren had to attend summer school and everyone wanted to be part of the family celebration.
On Saturday Papa took the opportunity to show the children the various locations on the property line, namely, “The Four Acre Piece, The Old Place and Down on the Creek”. The grandchildren and some of the children loved to walk with Papa Jordan as he pointed to the acre line of our property. He would also take us to Bellview and familiarize us with his property that surrounded the church. He took time to explain why he donated the grounds to build the church on which was once his property. He wanted his children to have a closer place to attend Sunday school and worship without having to walk approximately six miles to attend New Zion Church.
Papa Jordan and Mama Nora were spiritual individuals. Every Sunday we read and discussed the Sunday school lesson before breakfast. After reading and discussing
