52 Ancestors Week 28 Reunion: Grandfather Wallis's Portrait

My mother's family (Summers-Sasscer) has always been fond of family reunions and when I was growing up, reunions were a yearly event, at least for Christmas. At first these were held at my great-grandmother's house, then at my grandmother's and my mother's homes.  Later, family reunions with a hundred or more in attendance were held at least every couple of years, sometimes at a family member's home, sometimes in parks or other public venues.

Somewhere along the way, a tradition grew up.  When my grandmother died in 1987, there was discovered in her house an amateur portrait of our 5X great grandfather, Francis Ludolph Wallis (Kent County MD 1804-1855).  It was really not a very good portrait, and no one particularly wanted to have it.  So, we hit upon the idea of "gifting" the portrait to one of our cousins.  It was duly wrapped in gift paper and presented to a cousin who happened to have "Wallis" as part of her name.  The next year, she wrapped it back up and "gifted" it to another cousin.

Eventually, as our reunions were no longer held at Christmas, the tradition evolved into a vote for who should become the next guardian of the portrait.  The voting was completely without rules, stuffing the ballot box was encouraged and bribes to the judges were routine, since the decision of the judges was final, without regard to the actual voting.  There was a requirement that the portrait must be hung in a visible location in the winner's home, with photographic proof of the display available at the next reunion. Some attempts were made to ensure that the portrait visited different families, so if someone was chosen as the guardian, his or her siblings could breathe a sigh of relief for the next couple of years since they probably would not be chosen.

Cousins soon vied with each other on who could devise the most exciting adventures for Grandfather Wallis during his visit with them.  So part of the reunion ritual is a recounting of Grandfather Wallis's year(s) with the current guardian before moving on to his next home. He has gone sailing, climbed mountains, travelled across the country and even across oceans (most recently to Finland), and appeared on television in an episode of Motor Week. In the picture below, he is being toasted at the Merenkavijat Sailing Club in Helsinki.  The Club is inside an old cannonball factory from the early 1800's, so he looked right at home.  

Here is an account of one of his earlier adventures with cousin Tommy Summers. 

 

The photo below shows Cousin Tommy in 2000 handing off the portrait to Cousin David with previous Guardians Cousin Gene and Cousin Elisa.  Notice the spiffy Grandfather Wallis Guardian hats that come with this singular honor.  I'm sure there are still a couple of those floating around in someone's basement. 

For almost 30 years now, Grandfather Wallis's portrait has been a highlight of the Summers-Sasscer reunions.  Not only is it fun, but it also gives everyone an opportunity to review the family history to determine just how they are related to Grandfather Wallis.

Just so you know how seriously the family takes this ritual, see the Rules of Engagement below for this family tradition.

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT FOR THE GRANDFATHER WALLIS PORTRAIT GUARDIANSHIP VOTING:

Votes are cast by writing the name of a person onto an official 2019 Summers-Sasscer-Scrivener Grandfather Wallis Portrait Guardian Nomination Form or SSSGFWPGNF.

To be considered valid, each SSSGFWPGNF must contain the name of an actual living human being who is related by blood, marriage, coincidence, happenstance or geographical proximity to one, or all, of the Summers, Sasscer, or Scrivener families.

Attempts to influence the voting process through electioneering, gerrymandering, partisanship, bribery, flattery, pandering, trolling, or bullying are highly encouraged, though officially frowned upon.

Anyone CAUGHT attempting to cheat in this esteemed process will automatically and immediately be declared the winner.

Only one vote per SSSGFWPGNF will be counted and the decision of the judges may be completely arbitrary final.

In the event of a tie vote, the Marquess of Queensbury Rules will take effect, and the matter will be settled either by fisticuffs, nerf gun duel, or rock, scissors, paper, as agreed upon by the affected nominees.

Must be present to win, or else it’s no fun for the rest of us!

Previous Whiners Winners are ineligible to win again in their lifetimes.

Vote Early! Vote Often!

By dint of extensive research in the reunion archives, I believe I have a fairly complete list of the Distinguished Order of Grandfather Wallis Guardians:

1993: Wallis Hall Cain

1994: David Scrivener

1995: Gene Dwyer 

1996-97: Elisa Sasscer

1998: Steve Summers

1999: Tommy Summers

2000: David Summers

2001-2002: Paul Summers III

2003: Cathy Baird Blanton

2004: Theresa Gaegler Magnino

2014-2019: Darlene Summers

2019: Phil Scrivener

Grandfather Wallis when he is at home