2017 Hollingsworth Reunion - Dallas / Ft. Worth

2017 Hollingsworth Reunion - Dallas / Ft. Worth

Attendees gathered in Dallas at Embassy Suites, Dallas DFW Airport South. The first full day,  Thursday, began with a tour of Fort Worth, stopping at the Fort Worth Water Gardens and Sundance Square. The next destination was20170427_113300_resized1.jpgFt. Worth Stockyard Cattle Drive the Fort Worth Stockyards featuring the historic  cattle drive. After lunch on our own, we departed for a self-guided tour of the U.S. Bureau of  Engraving and Printing. Greenwood Cemetery and Oakwood Cemetery were the next stops  where five descendants of Valentine, Sr. are buried in each cemetery. Dinner was awaiting our  group at Joe T. Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant.

Dallas/Fort Worth National Cemetery with four burials of veterans who were descendants of  Valentine, Sr. was our first stop on Friday morning. Next was the John F. Kennedy Memorial and  a self-guided tour of the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. Lunch was at the revolving  restaurant atop Reunion Tower. A self-guiding tour of the George W. Bush Presidential Library  and Museum was our next event. A visit to Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park was a tribute to  one of Valentine, Sr.’s descendants buried there. Our seats had been arranged for dinner and a  jousting tournament at Medieval Times.

Saturday morning we traveled to Tom Bean, Grayson Co., Texas, to visit White Mound Cemetery.  Carey Hardy provided stories about his ancestors buried there. Lunch had been prepared for us  at Rick’s Chophouse in McKinney, Texas. The county seat of Collin Co., McKinney was named for  Collin McKinney, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Rick’s Chophouse is located  in an historic hotel that dates back to 1885. The restaurant is decorated with restored repousse  (pressed tin) ceilings, leather, and dark mahogany wood. The ambiance is enhanced with  wrought-iron chandeliers, Western pictures, limestone walls, and wood floors.   Back at our headquarters hotel, we had a couple of hours to relax before the hotel’s  barbecue buffet dinner. The final event of the reunion was the Annual Meeting at the hotel.

20170427 184132 resized1DVHSS Reunion attendees gather for DinnerTo honor some of our Hollingsworth veterans buried in Dallas and Fort Worth, a small bouquet  of flowers was placed at a veteran’s gravestone (or at the cemetery entrance if the burial location  was unknown). Placing a bouquet at Oakwood Cemetery was Dewey Hollingsworth, at  Sparkman/Hillcrest Memorial Park was Kathy Hutchison, at Greenwood Cemetery was Betty  Hebert-Reese, and at Dallas/Fort Worth National Cemetery were John P. Hollingsworth, Pat Neal,  and Boyd Hollingsworth.