The annual Dyer-Souther Heritage Association Reunion which honors the memory of early Union County, Georgia settlers, Bluford Elisha and Elizabeth Clark Dyer and John Jesse and Mary “Polly” Combs Souther will be held Saturday, July 19, 2008 at the Family Life Center, Choestoe Baptist Church. Descendants of these pioneers and related families are cordially invited to attend.

The church is located on Georgia 80 (The Micajah Clark Dyer Parkway) eight miles south of Blairsville.

Registration begins at 11:00 a. m. The noon meal, a covered dish feast, will follow at twelve noon. Eating utensils and ice will be provided. Families are asked to bring food and soft drinks or tea and spread with others to share at the mid-day meal.

A program and Heritage Association business session will follow at 1:00 p. m. Time will be allowed for visitation, sharing of family information and fellowship.

One of the features of this year’s meeting will be “Meet the Authors.” A very recent publication by one of the members of the Dyer-Souther Heritage Association, is by Charles H. Souther of Huntsville, Alabama. He will be present with his recently-published book, From the Mules and Wagon to the Space Shuttle. Another author expected is Dr. Joe Turner of Gainesville, GA, whose book by him and his late father, Dr. James Harry Turner, entitled High Humor of the Hills , is now in its second and expanded edition. Others are invited to bring books they have written, whether they have been recently published or awhile back. It will be interesting to see how many in the extended family have been blessed with the gift of words and writing.

If you have old family pictures to display, an old-timey tool or artifact you would like to present through the Dyer-Souther Heritage Association to the Union County Historical Society, or other items or information of historical interest, you are invited to bring them for display.

The youngest, oldest and the ones who traveled farthest to the reunion will receive certificates of recognition.

Every year people new to the reunion have heard about the gathering and attend for the first time. A pleasant atmosphere of good will and fellowship permeate the gathering. The Dyer-Souther Heritage Association Historian Ethelene Jones and President Bill Collins join in saying, “Y’all come! You will like it. This is a good way to spend a delightful day in the mountains of North Georgia.”

For further information call Ethelene Dyer Jones, historian, at 478-453-8751 or e-mail her at edj0513@alltel.net.