Posted by Sam McCurdy
 
On Tuesday 4th May, Secretary Sam received an email from a John Castricum, a member of the Rotary Club of Bedford in Massachusetts, who stated that "in doing an Ancestry.com search, I found out that I may have a "long-lost cousin" in your Rotary Club, namely Gary Castricum. My family originally came from the Netherlands and settled in New Jersey in the mid 1800s.  My immediate family is now in Connecticut and Massachusetts."
 
Sam forwarded John's email to Gary suggesting that he could respond directly.  At the same time, he provided a Zoom link and password, should John and his Rotary Club wish to make direct contact with us.
 
 
Pastor John Castricum
Sam talks to Pastor John
 
Imagine our surprise when John appeared on screen via Zoom, at our meeting on Wednesday evening.  He had risen at 5:30am USA time, to join our meeting. Unfortunately, Gary was not present. 
 
Nevertheless, we managed to carry on a dialogue with John and learned that he is the local Pastor and has been a Rotary member for two years.  He stayed for part of our meeting before he left to prepare for his normal day, promising to keep in touch with us.
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