Anita Ream Video Narrative by Dave

To: Members of the Ream and Biggs families, and their friends

Re: A Ceremony to Remember Anita Ream

The digital video disk that accompanies this narrative records a ceremony held in Tallahassee, Florida on 17 April 2005 to commemorate the life and death of Anita Biggs Ream. Anita was the mother, grandmother, or great-grandmother of most of us.

Before describing the ceremony, a brief biographical sketch is in order. Mary Anita Biggs was born on 3 October 1906 in Buffalo, Missouri, a county seat town in the southwestern portion of that state. At that time, Anita's father, Reverend J. Quincy Biggs, was the pastor of the Disciples of Christ church in Buffalo. He and Anita's mother, Nancy Arizona Davidson, were natives of Rocky Comfort, a village also in southwest Missouri where the Biggs and Davidson families had close ties. Anita had one older sister, Portia, and eventually one younger brother, John Melvin.

The Biggs family moved from church to church every few years, all over the United States-from Missouri to Oklahoma to Washington state to Idaho to Texas to Kansas to Ohio to New York to Pennsylvania. The parents eventually retired in Daytona Beach. Anita was an outstanding student, skipping a few grades in school, and graduating from Fort Worth High School at age 15, with a grade point average of 99.54%! She then attended Washburn College in Topeka, majoring in mathematics and minoring in French; she also took many courses in musical theory, history, and performance. Anita graduated with high honors in 1925 at age 18.

Anita and Portia taught school in Ohio for a year before moving to the excitement of New York City in 1926. There, Anita found jobs that allowed her to pursue her lifelong interest in music. She played the pipe organ in churches and silent movie houses, selected recorded music to be played in other theaters, and taught piano to children. Also in New York, she met a young Wall Street lawyer named Joseph Ream; they married in 1929.

For the remainder of her life, Anita was a traditional housewife, providing strong, loving support to her husband and their five children while they pursued their business and school interests. She and Joe Ream lived in Paris for a couple of years, and then in a succession of family homes in the New York City area.

In 1952, while living in Princeton, New Jersey, Joe and Anita decided that they no longer wanted the fast-paced life of the New York law and business world. They began searching, in all parts of the United States, for an easy-going environment where they would be able to purchase land and raise cattle. They found what they wanted in northern Leon County, Florida, a few miles north of Tallahassee. They built a house on the high ground above the lake on the Thomasville Road (just north of the Ox Bottom Road), and transformed an empty, overgrown 628 acres into Rocking Chair Ranch. During their time in Tallahassee, Anita and Joe made many friends and excelled in academic courses at Florida State University.

Unfortunately, Anita had only a short time to enjoy her new home. She had been battling cancer for more than a decade, and finally succumbed to the disease on Sunday, 17 April 1955 at age 48, in Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. She was buried in Oakland Cemetery, in a lovely older, established neighborhood of Tallahassee. Joe joined her there after his death in 1988.

The Ream family left Tallahassee in 1957, after Joe sold the ranch and moved to Washington, D.C. None of their children settled in Tallahassee, although each has come back to the area occasionally, primarily to visit the gravesite and visit with old friends.

For several years before 2005, Nancy Rose, Anita's daughter, had wanted to have some sort of ceremony to remember Anita. She was motivated by the fact that she could not clearly recall her mother's funeral and burial in 1955 because of her emotional state at that time. By early 2005, she had conceived the idea of a gathering, with her brothers and a few old friends from Tallahassee, at Anita's grave on the 50th anniversary of her death. She and her husband Jack Rose then worked hard to plan and organize the event. The result of their efforts is the ceremony depicted in the DVD.

The ceremony and later reception (also planned by Nancy) were held on a picture-perfect Sunday afternoon on 17 April 2005. Most of the DVD was shot at the graves in Oakland Cemetery by Alberick Manners, a professional videographer. The ceremony was led by Brant Copeland, the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Tallahassee. This was the church the Ream family attended during their time in Tallahassee. Also, Rev. Copeland officiated at Joe Ream's burial in 1988.

All four surviving Ream children-Nancy, Jack, Dave, and Chris-attended the ceremony, and each said a few words that are recorded on the DVD. In addition, Teresa Long Dean, longtime friend of Nancy from their high school days, shared some of her memories of Anita. The guitar player, Sean Beavers, provided soothing music. Jack Rose ensured that the event moved along smoothly. Others in attendance included Teresa's husband John and several other friends of Nancy: Abigail Fain Sirmans, accompanied by Gary Royers; Mary Alma Roberts Lang; and Lynn McManama Barrera and her husband Marc. Denise Cawthon, wife of Joe Ream's great friend Victor Cawthon was there, along with her look-alike daughter Genny Rosenberg. Denise and Victor provided much hospitality over the years at their Crooked Corners farm. Jack Conrad and his red-haired brother Marshall Conrad, residents of neighboring Millstone Plantation and childhood buddies of the Ream boys, attended the ceremony, as did Chris's friend no-haired Bill Gwynn and his wife Quincie Hamby.

After the half-hour graveside ceremony, the group moved to Chez Pierre, a pleasant restaurant in a former Victorian home on the Thomasville Road, for a casual outdoor reception, including interviews recorded on the DVD. Bill Owen and his wife Carolyn, old friends of Chris, joined the group at Chez Pierre, as did Andra Copeland, the pastor's wife.

For those who may have the opportunity to visit the graves of Joe and Anita Ream, Oakland Cemetery is located just west of Bronough Street in central Tallahassee, near the Governor's Mansion. The graves are in the northwest portion of the cemetery, in a spot designated Block K, Lot 123. A telephone call to Wayne Britt, Tallahassee's Cemetery Superintendent, may be helpful in finding the graves: [850] 545-5842.

The Tallahassee ceremony was of special significance to us-Anita's four surviving children-for it brought back a flood of memories of the beautiful, lovely lady we are so proud to call our mother. We hope that other descendants and friends who are too young to remember her will be curious to know more about her. We'd be happy to share.

Dave Ream 1 June 2005