Thanksgiving : A Gift of Holiday Recollections : A Special Memory of a Father’s Love

They had survived their first raw winter in the new land--a harrowing time of scarce food, hard work and sickness that killed nearly half of the tiny band of 102 Pilgrims who had settled in Plymouth, Mass.

And so they gathered in the autumn of 1621, having been befriended by their Indian neighbors and blessed by a bountiful harvest, to rejoice and give thanks, as was their custom, with a harvest festival.

Three-hundred sixty-four years later, the spirit of that first New England Thanksgiving lives on.

It’s a theme with few variations: An annual reunion of family and friends, a festive occasion permeated with the tastes and smells of good things to eat.

But, as years go by, it is the memories of past Thanksgivings and the people we shared them with that help give special meaning to the annual rite of fall.

To find out what significance the national holiday has played in their lives, prominent Orange County residents were asked to share their thoughts on Thanksgivings past and present.

J. Robert Fluor II, vice president of corporate relations of Fluor Corp., said Thanksgiving, 1983, will always be special for him. It was to be the last Thanksgiving for his father, J. Robert Fluor, at the time Fluor board chairman and chief executive officer, who died the following year.

“That last Thanksgiving with Dad was special,” Fluor said. “I didn’t realize at the time how special it would be, but in retrospect, certain details come back, especially how much he enjoyed the grandchildren, getting out there, playing catch with Douglas, playing with the girls, how much he enjoyed little Andrew, my last boy. . . .”