Longtime residents slowly are dying off. Commuters with no roots in Lignum are moving in. Still, there seems to be something that brings former residents back to Lignum. It s home, says Abigail Kearns, who is building a new house on family land. Her sister plans to do the same.
Home means family.
On a recent Sunday, members of the Edwin Willis and the Wilfred Harris families came home for a family meal and day of togetherness. Reunions of the Willis, Gordon, Garnett and Allied Families attract hundreds. In 1992, Edwin and Joyce Willis hosted 450 relatives. He s a widower who has been confined to a wheelchair since a factory injury in 1965. People call and check on me, he says.