Our Grimes reunion

Today was the annual Grimes reunion when we gather to honor the memory of our James Shorter and Malissia Tillis Grimes ancestors. The reunion started during WWI when their oldest son John was leaving to serve in WWI. It was also her birthday that week-end in October when they were telling Uncle John good-bye. Fortunately for him, the war ended soon after and he did not have to fight. He was the oldest of 14 children and needed on the farm.


The family continued to meet every year the first Sunday in October to celebrate grandmother Grimes birthday. I remember going to the reunions when I was young, getting to play with cousins that I seldom saw except at the reunion. The reunion fell by the wayside when Grandmother died at the age of 92 in 1952. We lived near her the last few years of her life and I got to know her very well. I wanted to take piano lessons and we didn't have a piano so I would walk to her house to practice. She always came into the living room to listen to me practice. Now that's a very sweet, loving great grandmother to suffer through a 10-12-year old practicing the piano.

A few years later, my Aunt spearheaded a campaign to renew the reunion. She invited some of her first cousins to help and they had a reunion in my aunt's yard for a few years. Later they started meeting at civic rooms or churches. Pictured here are some of the children of James Shorter and Malissia Grimes. My grandmother Fannie Wilson is on the front row, right end. In 1998 the reunion was held the first Saturday of October, outdoors at the new picnic pavilion behind New Ebenezer Church where many of the Grimes are buried. James Shorter Grimes was the first person to be buried in the cemetery at New Ebenezer Church when he died from typhoid fever in 1903.


Grandfather Grimes was the son of John William Grimes and Julia Ann Garrett. Today was a special day. We held a grave marking ceremony and placed a marker at the foot of his grave with information about his service in the Civil War. The ceremony was carried out by a local group of United Daughters of the Confederacy. There were men dressed as confederate soldiers who participated in the ceremony. A lady dressed in black placed a wreath on the grave and at the end of the service, the soldiers did a canteen salute. This was very impressive.


Paul Grimes, a great grandson of John William Grimes, participated by reading a biography of his great grandfather's life. Descendants gathered at the tombstone for a photo after the ceremony. These descendants all belong to John W. Grimes son, James Shorter Grimes.