Jack Ross (A8E) recalls that this picture was taken around the time of his father's final year in Kilsyth. It shows Reverend John A. Ross (A8) standing on the boardwalk. Jack is sitting behind the wheel of his McLaughlin Buick, and believes that the passenger in the car was his sister Phoebe. The automobile industry was still in its infancy, and this Buick model remained the same during the years of its production from 1923 to 1935. One of its few drawbacks was the fact that everyone had to pile out at the Caledon Hills, so that the car could be turned around to back up the steep incline; this just happened to be the most popular route to Minto as well as to the Waldemar cottage that the Reverend eventually purchased.

When Reverend John A. Ross moved to Angus for his final year in the ministry, he had been considering plans to retire when he reached seventy-five, having spent forty years as a Presbyterian minister in addition to the past four years with the United Church. Thus, in 1929 he rented a house at 923 Logan Avenue in Toronto. [Note: A couple of years later, he moved to 38 Woodycrest Avenue, which was next door to his nephew Jim Ross (A3C).]

Memories of the gathering for the dedication of the monument at Bethel Pioneer Cemetery in 1925 were fresh in the minds of those who attended, and Jim and Phoebe had many positive and supportive responses when they planned the first reunion to coincide with the Reverend's retirement in 1929. With Jim serving as the first president, Phoebe acting in the capacity of an organizing secretary, and volunteers backing the idea, there was little to decide beyond the location where the event would take place.