Robert was 69 when he organized that first Reunion in 1963. On December 15, 1965, he died while cutting lumber at Murray River. After his death, his son Mac (1.4.3B.7.3.) took over the leadership of the Reunions until his death on September 18, 2002. The Reunions were held every five years after 1963 since Vere Beck (1.) convenient- ly had major milestones for years ending with a “3” or “8” Vere was born in 1783, came to PEI in 1813 and died in 1878.

For many of the Reunions, I with the help of others edited a list- ing of the Vere Beck descendants including family members, names, birthdays, death dates, if available, and spouses. In 2008 Kathy Sen- cabaugh edited a special listings volume which gave the same and more information; however, her volume used a different numbering system. Also for several Reunions ending in 2003 a book of biog- raphies was prepared by James Beck, Ivan Munn, Sharon Beck and others. This 2013 Reunion is privileged to be the occasion of a special publication of the biography of Vere Beck (1.).

In the early 1980s, Barb and I met John Beck, a distant relative, at his home in Crayford, England. While there, I checked the local tele- phone directory for people with the Marfleet name, hoping to gain more information about Vere’s wife, Elizabeth Sarah Marfleet. This led us to John Marfleet in Leicester, England, the secretary of the Marfleet Society. We wrote to John asking about a possible connec- tion of the Marfleet and Beck families. John replied enclosing a copy of the Marfleet family tree showing an Elizabeth Sarah Marfleet mar- rying Vere Beck. That was an amazing find and led to a continued contact to this day with John and Marie Marfleet. John has attended three of our reunions and was the speaker at one of them.

John did some research on Vere’s mother and discovered her name was Martha Lucy Killick. In 2005 Barb and I met with Clive Killick, secretary of the Killick Society, in London. We invited him to come to PEI and be our speaker in 2008. He accepted and gave a very in- formative talk about the Killick name.

Hoping to make better use of the Internet, I was looking for some- one to write a regular newsletter for us. I asked Ivan but he felt the editor should be on PEI. He eventually agreed to start it, and the first

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