First Cousin Reunion in Austin in 2006

Tim Cowen, Katherine Munal, Tara Rejino, Myself, Jim & Ashley McAndrew, Thomas & Nico Garza
We had a great time at the reunion in Austin on September 9, 2006 at the Z Tejas Grill.

These interesting people are my first cousins, one-time removed. Their mothers are my first cousins. They are descendants of Kenneth Parrish, my father's younger brother. The newest member of the family is Jim McAndrew, who married Ashley Boothe, granddaughter of Kenneth Parrish in May 2006.

Here is a brief summary of the Kenneth Parrish branch of the family tree:
Kenneth Parrish married Marcia Gates and they had 6 children:

• Dr. Timothy Charles Parrish who married Mary Ellen Cronquist
• Tamara Jean who married Paul Cowen (children: Tara, Jonathan and Timothy).
• Trina Jane who married Dr. Michael Boothe (child: Ashley).
• Trudy Lee who married Reynaldo Garza, Jr. (children: Nicholas and Thomas).
• Trecia Anne who married Jamie Munal (children: Katherine and Clayton).
• Julia Katherine who married Michael McKissack (children: Christina and Charles).

Tim Parrish lives in New York city just 9 blocks from Ground Zero. This is an amazing coincidence since our ancestor was the second owner of the World Trade Center land. His sisters all live in Texas.

My first cousins were all born in Iowa, and their children (photo) were all born in the valley near Brownsville in the southern tip of Texas. The first time I met my first cousins, one-time removed was about 20 years ago, and the last time was at the wedding of Ashley and Jim McAndrew in May 2006.

I joked with them that the brainpower in the family seems to be increasing because so many of them have arranged to live in Austin.

For those interested in genealogy, please note that Katherine Munal is a descendant of 5 on the Mayflower, like all of my Parrish cousins, and she is also a descendant of Thomas Jefferson thru the Munal line.

Thomas and Nicholas Garza, in addition to their descent from 5 on the Mayflower, can take pride in their uncle, who was mayor of Brownsville and their grandfather, the legendary and beloved Judge Reynaldo G. Garza. He was the first Mexican American on the Federal bench, appointed by President Kennedy in 1961.

The photo of my cousins looks better proportioned without me because I'm shorter than all of them. Knowing that Tim Cowen is 6'5" and Nico Garza is almost 6'3" helps understand the scale of the photo. My cousins are holding a framed photo of my father, taken on his 87th birthday, that they will deliver to their mothers as a remembrance.

So what are my cousins doing now? Here is a brief list:

• Tim Cowen has a degree in Computer Science from UT and works at Dell.
• Katherine Munal is a freshman in biology at UT with plans for Medical School.
• Tara Rejino works for the State of Texas.
• Jim McAndrew, who has a Masters degree in CS from UT Dallas, works at National Instruments.
• Ashley McAndrew, graduate of UT Dallas, is managing the construction of their home.
• Thomas Garza, is an undergraduate in Accounting at UT with plans for Law School.
• Nicholas Garza is a graduate student in Accounting at UT.