March 18, 2025
Dear Family,
I have two announcements to pass on from the current Reunion Committee. First, the sad
news that we will need to postpone the Lowry-Avery Reunion originally scheduled for July of
this year. Extensive structural renovations are currently being done on the McCelvey Center in
York and of course this is a major venue for reunion activities. When we originally postponed
the reunion to this year we did not anticipate this problem. Finding another suitable venue for
the lunch and programs after the memorial service has proved problematic at this late date.
Secondly, the good news, we have decided on July 3-5, 2026 for our next reunion and
have already secured hotel space for those dates. The McCelvey construction will take over a
year but we are hopefulat this point that it will be finished; however, knowing the situation this
far in advance will give us a chance to work on possible alternatives. The hotel is the Marriot
Courtyard in Kingsley. This is a new area just across the Catawba River from Rock Hill. It is
very convenient to all of the locations we use and is a very vibrant area with a lot of shops,
restaurants and bars all within walking distance to the hotel.
We are sorry about the postponement but look forward to 2026. In the near future please
look for more details including how to access the website for updates and how to submit updated family information.
Our website is being revamped and should be ready soon. If you use Facebook please
join the Lowry-Avery Clan Facebook group.
We are not sure how accurate our current e-mail addresses are so please forward this
announcement to anyone you think may need it.
Sincerely,
The Reunion Committee
Fred Faircloth
Heddy Brown
Jan Stamper
Freddy Faircloth
April 13, 2022
Dear Family,
My last letter of March 15th reported that the reunion committee would try to hold a mini-reunion on July 1-2 and included instructions on how to reserve a room and register. The committee met recently and decided not to go forward with the mini-reunion since there were not enough registrations to warrant the expenses. The committee did enthusiastically endorse having the next reunion in July 2025.
It is important to note that this will not be the first time that world events have caused delays in the reunion schedule. The first reunion was in 1910 and the second reunion was not until 1923 due to WWI. The third reunion was in 1928 while WWII and other events delayed the fourth reunion until 1950. Just as our ancestors were determined not to let the reunion tradition fade away, the Reunion Committee is very dedicated to having a full reunion in 2025. The committee looks forward to working with all of the family to make the next reunion successful.
Thank you for your understanding and please remember to cancel any room reservations at The Cambria.
We hope you and your family have a special summer.
Sincerely,
Reunion Chair
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March 15, 2022
Dear Family,
I appreciate the responses to our recent survey regarding the postponed 2020 reunion. Based on your feedback, I am pleased to announce that there is enough interest to move forward with an abbreviated version of our traditional reunion this summer, with plans to return to a full-scale reunion in July of 2025.
The gathering this summer will include a family cocktail hour and dinner at the Rock Hill Country Club on Friday, July 1; the memorial church service in York on the morning of Saturday July 2, followed by a short program during lunch. We will also have a group picture on Saturday.
The cost of this summer’s mini-reunion will be $60 per person, with no charge for children 12 and under. We do not want cost to be an obstacle for attendance. If you need assistance with the registration fee, please contact me directly at 803.328.2406 or fred@rockhillcoke.com. Donations above the $60 per person fee are needed and welcomed. We have a block of rooms set aside at the beautiful new Cambria Hotel in downtown Rock Hill. The negotiated room rates are $139 for a king bed room; $149 for a 2 queen bed room and $179 for a 1 king bed suite. I encourage you to reserve your rooms as soon as possible at Cambria.
Please complete the pre-registration form here (Password= LAR2022) for this summer’s mini-reunion no later than April 1. It is important for the committee to have a firm number of attendees as early as possible. Additional information and payment options will follow once we have our pre-registrations.
Our family reunion is a wonderful tradition and special legacy to our ancestors who started it in 1910. We hope to see you this July but if not we look forward to being with you in July 2025.
Sincerely,
Fred Faircloth
Reunion Chair
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January 31, 2021
Dear Family,
Happy New Year to everyone and I know that we all can agree that we hope 2021 will be an improvement over 2020.
When I last wrote to you in the Spring of 2020 the Reunion Committee had made the decision to postpone the 2020 Reunion to July 2021. Since then some things have improved with vaccines available and some things have not with many restrictions still in place. The Reunion Committee met recently and after discussion made the painful decision to again postpone the Reunion with the new dates set for July 1-2, 2022. The advent of vaccines and the hope for increased immunity are encouraging but the committee decided that the overall situation would not be completely back to normal by this summer and at this early stage of improvement it would be difficult to expect people to make schedule and travel arrangements.
We look forward to the reunion on July 1-2, 2022 and the committee remains enthusiastic about making the plans.
On a sad note, we lost our beloved S.K. “Bo” Lowry, Jr. on December 24, 2020 - the third Chief of the Lowry-Avery Clan. Bo loved our family and he was a wonderful leader as Chief for many years.
Please put July 1-2, 2022 on your calendars and most importantly stay safe.
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March 26, 2020
Dear Family,
It has been five years since our last reunion and this would be the time of year that you would be receiving information with details for this year’s reunion along with instructions on how to register; however, as we all know these are not ordinary times. The Reunion Committee has been working for several months on organizing this year’s reunion for the dates of July 3-4 and has already sent out a letter announcing the dates. The committee met last week and after a lot of discussion made the difficult decision to postpone the reunion for one year. Even though the health crisis may have abated by July the next two months are the time for the committee to finalize plans and for families to make their plans and this is simply not the time for those thoughts as preserving everyone’s good health should be our only focus.
We hope that you will agree with our decision. We have a very special family and these reunions every five years are a wonderful time of fellowship that we all look forward to attending.
If you have already reserved a hotel room please contact the hotel to cancel.
The good news is that we have set the dates for next year’s reunion as July 2-3, 2021 and you can expect to receive more information about it before the end of this year.
We regret this postponement but we look forward to seeing everyone in July 2021.
We wish you and everyone in your family good health. Stay safe.
Sincerely,
Fred Faircloth
Reunion Chair