I came along rather late in my parents' lives, during a time when a woman's bearing a child at that age was often a death sentence (though thankfully in this case it was not). As a consequence, here I am (late in life, coincidentally -- wonder if the government's done a study on that!) considering marriage for the first time, and my mother has been gone for 16 years. Her family all came from a small farming community in Indiana, and her parents even are still remembered with great fondness, but the extended family has become the kind of thing that if anybody sees anybody at all, it's at a funeral. My dad's 90 now and only a couple of people remain on his side of the family. My mother (and I) lived a while in Florida, and both my sisters (14-18 years older than I) and their families live in Florida.
I apologize for the lengthy background, but I felt like I needed to do that to fully explain my questions.
Would it be entirely too bizarre to place a notice in the Indiana community paper that says something like: Grandpa's*full*name and Grandma's*full*name (both now deceased) would have been overjoyed to announce to you the engagement of their grand-daughter, Bride's*full*name (daughter of Mama's*full*name and Dad's*full*name), to Groom's*full*name (son of Mother's*full*name and Father's*full*name). They will be joined in holy matrimony on date*time*location. Expressions of joy may be made to them at post*office*box*address. Please note that this is not a request for gifts, unless you consider a reconnection of contact a gift.
We've considered doing a similar announcement in another area of Indiana where a now-deceased aunt and uncle spent their lives (using their names) and where scattered family still reside, and in an area of Florida using my mother's name. My fiance's parents and their kinfolk all come from two counties in Kentucky. His parents are both deceased, and we've considered doing a similar announcement using his parents' names in the main paper in each of the two counties.
What's our objective? Two-fold. One thing is potentially to re-establish contact with long-lost family members. The other thing is that both he and I seem to be this generation's geneaologists for our families. Finding our "lost" relatives could be an important part of that.
So ... is the whole idea outlandish, unheard of, improper, or otherwise nuts?? Please help!
Marsha