VOLUME XIV, NUMBER 4

Thank you to everyone for a pleasant reunion last summer in Litchfield and Goshen, CT. I sincerely appreciate all the work, volunteerism, and attendance in effort to hold a successful reunion in a new meeting location. 2017 proved to be an exciting year for the DFA, as our membership steadily increased to 547, and our website also continues to gain more visitors each month. See Alan Dickinson’s “2017 Reunion News” posting on the DFA website or use following the website link for more info: http://www.dickinsonfamilyassociation.org/reunion.2017.news.htm  2018 REUNION  Looking forward, our plans for the 2018 reunion are evolving well. The reunion will be Saturday, June 23 with a Friday night gathering of cousins on June 22. We have re-booked the Morrison Room in the Willits Hallowell Center at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA. We chose this location due to its relevance to Emily Dickinson, who studied here during the 1847-1848 school year when it was formerly known as Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. This is the same location as the 2013 Reunion which featured Clifford Stott as our main speaker.  We are proud to announce that our main speaker/performer, Ginger Grace, will perform an interactive play entitled “Inside Emily Dickinson: Her Poetry & Her Life”. Based in Manhattan, Ginger Grace is an established actress and writer who has toured throughout the country with Rich Little in “The Presidents” and has been playing Emily since 2002 in the “Belle of Amherst”. Ginger will perform an interactive play which will prove to be a special, memorable performance. From her website: www.insideemilydickinson.com “This inspiring biographical portrait is based on the letters, life stories, and poems of Emily. Ms. Grace reaches out to the audience for words and ideas and weaves them into the fabric of the play.” Ginger brings a high level of energy and talent portraying each period of Emily’s life. She received a standing ovation at a performance which I attended last spring, so sharpen your pencil and prepare for an impressive performance !  Friday’s dinner will most likely be held at “The Yarde Tavern” 3 Hadley St. (at the intersection of Route 47 and Route 116), in South Hadley’s village center. Several rooms are conveniently available “on-campus”. A list of other accommodations will follow with the January Newsletter. We also plan to have a display table which will feature various Dickinson families that have strong roots in South Hadley and the surrounding communities, i.e. the former George R. Dickinson Paper Factory “constructed in 1882 is located on Sargeant St. between the 1st and 2nd Level Canals” in Holyoke. A short distance downstream from the Hadley Falls / Holyoke Dam was the Dickinson-Clark Paper Co. and Excelsior Paper Co. which were co-owned by George R. and his brother Royal C. The nearby Union Paper Co. (located adjacent to the Riverside Paper Co.) was formed by Simeon Dickinson and his sons Henry & Edwin in 1870. Simeon was the son of Levi Dickinson, the first Corn Broom Manufacturer in the U.S.. There’s also the Dickinson Farm and Apple Orchard located in Granby, MA. Both Granby and South Hadley were once part of Hadley, MA.  See other website links for more info: https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/mount_holyoke http://www.nonotuck.us/kens/Holyoke_Paper_Mills/Dickenson%20Paper/index.html www.dickinsonsfarm.com (Dickinson Apple Orchard Barn is located at 134 South St. in Granby, MA)  Ken Dickinson,Vice President

Here is one of Emily’s shorter poems As imperceptibly as Grief The Summer lapsed away— Too imperceptible at last To seem like Perfidy— A Quietness distilled As Twilight long begun, Or Nature spending with herself Sequestered Afternoon— The Dusk drew earlier in— The Morning foreign shone— A courteous, yet harrowing Grace, As Guest, that would be gone— And thus, without a Wing Or service of a Keel Our Summer made her light escape Into the Beautiful.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR GENEALOGIST Rebecca Passa, our Dickinson Genealogist, requests your inputs on NathanielDickinson’s descendants.  You may send your births, marriages and deathannouncements to Becky at rlpassa99@gmail.com.

E-MAIL CHANGES REQUESTED We know e-mail addresses change frequently and it is easy to forget to update them.  So if you plan to change your e-mail address we would greatly appreciate your sending the new one to our membership clerk, Beth Landolina, at bethL0719@sbcglobal.netIf this newsletter was sent to an e-mail address that will soon be obsolete, please let us know.

We have received a request from Natalia Piller, secretary of the Pushkin Society in America, for information about a watercolor painting they discovered in their archives from 1930-1950. The painting is signed by Hiliun Dickinson, and she is trying to find out to whom it belongs. If anyone knows anything about the painting or whose it is, please contact Natalia at natashapiller@mail.com . Also see: www.americanpushkinsociety.com

Be Thinking  The Dickinson Family Association is doing well, but change is always imminent.  We ask that you think about volunteering to help out.  One office that is facing a vacancy soon is the Scholarship Chair.  We will elaborate on this and other opportunities to help in the January newsletter, but please be thinking positively about joining our operating team.