After 31 years of missed holidays, family reunites to share stories, resolves to see more of each other.
LEWISTON – The Ray family in Sabattus has a resolution for the New Year: to see more of each other.
Because after a 31-year separation, they have a lot of catching up to do.
The last time several members of Rita Ray’s family saw each other was at the funeral of her brother, Marvin Crandall, in 1974.
His 20-year-old daughter, Esther, found the loss of her father so painful that she moved away. She married a military man and traveled the country with him, raising a family of her own before settling in Florida.
But she couldn’t bring herself to reconnect with her father’s family in Maine until this fall. A severe car accident and bout with breast cancer made her realize the time had come.
“I guess I had to find myself first and then accept that my dad had passed away,” said Esther, whose eyes fill with tears at the memory. She contacted her mother and got the phone number for Rita, the aunt she hadn’t seen since that 1974 funeral.
When Rita got the call, she was excited to hear from her long-lost niece but doubted she’d actually get to see her. But Esther surprised her. She and her grandson, Taylor, boarded a plane in Orlando and touched down in Portland on Tuesday.
“I’d have known her right off … she looks just like my sister Pauline,” said Rita, beaming at her niece.
The family has spent the last few days going over old photo albums and meeting cousins, grandchildren and kin of every stripe. Rita’s daughter, Kathy, has been particularly excited about reconnecting with her cousin and introducing Taylor – a native Mississippian – to Maine traditions such as snowball fights.
“But I haven’t had a lobster yet,” he teased.
Kathy plans to visit Esther in Orlando in the fall and Esther wants to bring her two sons up to Maine so they can meet their extended family. They’ve all pledged to see more of each other from now on.
“We’re not letting her go this time,” Kathy said.
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