As part of the Curry Family Reunion, a backpack giveaway will be held on Aug. 20. It is a way to honor the late Mattie Louvenia Ford Johnson Curry and Joseph Alexander Curry and their 13 children.
Photos courtesy of Dr. Michele Liles
For the Curry Family, their upcoming reunion will be a time to connect and help the community.
Dr. Michele Liles, the chairperson of the Curry Family Reunion Committee, said the family has a reunion every two years in Bennettsville.
In 2019, the family gave away 50 backpacks filled with school supplies to the children in the community. This year’s reunion will be held Aug. 18-21.
Liles said they are doing another free, filled backpack giveaway from 9-11 a.m. on Aug. 20 in the parking lot of the Marlboro County EMS building on Marlboro Street (across from Wells Fargo).
The backpacks will be clear ones. They will be designed for a variety of ages.
There will be a health walk and a Health Fair with a speaker, and free blood pressure checks and health screenings will also take place.
Liles added they will hand out free COVID at-home test kits (one box per family until gone).
“We want to leave our footprint as the Curry family in the Marlboro community,” she said. “We want this to become a tradition. Our grandparents weren’t selfish, they gave back and were active in the community and their church.”
Liles and her family members are the descendants of the 13 children of the late Mattie Lovenia Ford Johnson Curry and Joseph Alexander Curry.
Mattie Curry, known as Big Mama by her family, had 13 children. Eighty-seven-year-old John James Curry is the last living Curry sibling. He lives in New York and hopes to be at the reunion.
The other siblings were Florida Johnson Chavis Colter, Lucille Johnson Moore, Isadora Curry Dease, Luther Alexander Currie Sr., Joseph Alexander Curry Sr., Charles Mae Curry Sr., Frank Curry Sr., Mattie Curry Boston, Ophelia Curry Miller, Ruth Curry Bethea, Willie James Curry (who died as an infant), Elease Delores Curry and John James Curry.
The reunion should have been held in-person in 2021 but was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Liles said everyone is excited and looking forward to reuniting.
“We did the best that we could, but it was a Zoom-like virtual reunion with us going through our regular family reunion program (minus the health fare and backpack giveaway),” she said. “It was a good time, but it was bittersweet because we haven’t seen each other in so long.”
This year, family members are coming from all over to see family in Bennettsville. Safety measures are in place, such as family members need to be COVID tested a week prior and to not come to the reunion if they’re positive or if they’ve been exposed.
The family will have a weekend of events, which includes roller skating in Florence, a family fish fry, and a banquet.
The backpack giveaway and health fair will be for the public. On Sunday, Aug. 21, the family will attend Historical Sawmill Baptist Church, which was their grandparents’ church.
During that time, a donation will be made on behalf of the Curry Family to the church. A catered event will be held following services.
Afterward, Liles said everybody would visit the grave sites of family members buried at the church. “All of our grandparents are buried at that church,” stated Liles.
Money was raised for the backpack giveaway and other things through different fundraisers held within the family.
She talked about the family crest, which is based on their family values, by John James Curry.
The values are love, trust, honesty, and loyalty.
“He always tells us at every reunion, if his sisters and brothers were here, they would be so proud.”
She added he encourages them to keep going.
“We’re representing what they stood for, so we’re very excited,” Liles said.