the 69th annual duchaine reunion was held on August 3rd, 2025 in warren, pa. hosting this year were the Canadian families, DESCENDANTS of Harry and Ethel Duchaine.
THE special 70TH annual DUCHAINE REUNION will occur ON sunday, august 2, 2026, it will HOSTED BY multiple familes AT BETTS PARK IN WARREN, PA.
2025 recap — It was a beautiful sunny and warm day, as 28 family members gathered, representing the harry, pearl & bernard duchaine families. COFFEE AND DONUTS were followed by A POTLUCK LUNCHEON AT 1:30 PM. A guess the candies jar was won by bernie hessley jr, and every family member was given a raffle ticket for gift bags of canadian maple syrup and candies. grace was given by Bernie hessley, sr
The business meeting was conducted by sisters, susan connolly & jennifer morgan.
Dawn swagler was a guest of charlotte calarco, our eldest attendee, and hudson hasson, son of Jeremey & beth hasson (Calarco) was the youngest attendee. mathew allen (pearl’s grandson) traveled the farthest. (695 miles)
The following reports were made:
Births:
audrey claire connolly on sept 12, 2024, daughter of james connolly and michelle colton, the great granddaughter of janice murray.
lily hessley flowers on june 25, 2025, daughter of Joe hessley and rj flowers. Granddaughter of bernie & linda hessley.
marriage:
samuel lapointe to leslie alfaro, sept 20, 2024, sam is the son of chris lapointe and jennifer morgan, grandson of janice murray.
deaths: barbara (allen) preumus, on October 1, 2024.
Golfers - chris lapointe and steve calarco, early tee time and soaked feet from the dew!
correspondence was received from brian seabourne and shared.
Family voted to continue to provide the meat for the meal next year as well.
2026 70th reunion plans were discussed. several families will coordinate their efforts. international Golf committee: david connolly & steve calarco. bernie hessley, samantha connolly, mariah allen and susan connolly are all on the planning committee. more volunteers are needed!
contact bernie hassley or sudan connolly to help on a specific task. ideas suggested for this special event are: sawdust coin search for the littles, look-back menu entrees, recipes from the past shared, a saturday scavenger hunt of historical importance to our ancestors, and a photo board with individual family trees. also, the club of 10, 1920, quilt and Rachel & gideon’s family bible will be on display.
2025 family reunion
JANICE MURRAY, BOB DUCHAINE AND CHARLOTTE CALARCO; CHILDREN OF HARRY, EDWARD AND BERNARD DUCHAINE. - 2025
steve and amy calaco’s family: beth and hudson hasson, kate, steve & amy, isabella, alec & jeremey hasson-2025
General Information
The DuChaine family reunion is held annually on the first Sunday in August. The first reunion was held in 1956 at the Lincoln family cottage and was hosted by Edward and Molly (Lincoln) DuChaine. Forty family members were present.
The following was recorded in the 1956 secretary’s minutes:
A picnic dinner was served on the lawn in front of the cottage at 2:30pm. Mrs. Hugh McClellan of Tiona, PA acted as secretary, games were played by young and old. Much fun was had swimming and boat riding, cards were enjoyed in the evening. The highlight of the day was the unexpected dive off the dock in front of the cottage by Master Chris Jaynes, age 2 years, and the heroic rescue of Chris by cousin Gene DuChaine of Mayville, accompanied by much laughing and cheering from the gang on shore. The oldest member present was Harry DuChaine of Toronto, Canada. The youngest member was Master Richard McClellan of Sheffield, PA.
Each year a business meeting is held, minutes taken, and hosts for the following year are selected. The hosts determine the location of the reunion. Recent reunions have been held in Warren, PA and Westfield, NY. Reminder postcards and emails are sent to family members who have submitted their addresses to the secretary. Local parks, with rental pavilions, are generally utilized.
A typical family reunion begins around 11 am with donuts and coffee for the “early birds”. The hosts arrive early to run extension cords, set up two or three picnic tables for the potluck dishes, get the coffee perking and then before you know it family members start arriving with their picnic baskets holding their contribution to the potluck dinner, tableware, and their own beverages and meat dish. Dinner time is determined, and announced, by the hosts in their postcard announcement - generally the dining begins between 1 and 2pm.
Following the meal a brief business meeting occurs, which the hosts chair. One person goes through the items of business, while the other volunteer takes the minutes. Business includes recording births, deaths, weddings – a count of family members present – who traveled the farthest – who is the oldest/youngest – and taking a collection to help defray expenses for the next year’s reunion.
At the conclusion of the meeting, games are held for both children and adults with winners receiving prizes. In addition, some members meet on Saturday morning for a round of golf and that is entered into the minutes as well. The afternoon is spent visiting with each other, eating, playing games, eating, and more visiting!
So, unlike other families who only see each other at weddings and funerals, the DuChaines always have a carefree summer day to spend together, catching up on family news and enjoying each other’s company. See you in August!