Holbert Jazz performer The Rob Holbert Group of Mesquite is scheduled to perform this month during a weekend celebration of the African- American community in Chandler.

“On that Friday, he will play until midnight music from the 50s, 60s, and 70s,” Milton Wallace said. “He found out he’s actually a relative.”

Members of the Wallace family began gathering in the 1940s to celebrate their own legacy and that of other blacks in the Chandler area. But since Vera Martin’s death in the 1980s, the event has happened just three times.

“When my aunt passed away, it went on a hiatus,” Wallace said of Martin. “We had one reunion in the 1990s, and it started back fully in 2006. We now do it every other year for everybody — not just for family.”

About 250 attended the event in 2008. On July 30, the opening day of the celebration, a fish fry and silent auction will kick off the reunion at 6 p.m., at the Chandler Community Center. The Rob Holbert Group will perform at 8:30.

“And on Saturday, we’ll have a ‘Take Me Back’ celebration,” Wallace said. “We’ll go down memory lane and recognize people from the past and those who are making a positive impact. We’ll also have a massage therapist and games.”

The event will end at Macedonia Baptist Church on Sunday.

“We’ll have general services and that afternoon, New Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Fort Worth is coming to celebrate with the rest of the community,” Wallace said. “We will have lunch between the first and second services.”

Wallace said the reunion brings back relatives who have moved to other parts of Texas and across the country.

“People come from California, Michigan, Minnesota, Florida, Ohio, Missouri, and other states. Most of the folks live in Tyler. Most of them come back home for this event.”

Wallace, the family historian, is the son of the late John Milton Wallace. In 2009, Chandler officials renamed 6th Street in front of Macedonia Baptist Church as John Wallace Road.

John Wallace was superintendent of Sunday school, deacon, treasurer, and custodian, and also served in other roles. It was the only church he’d ever joined.

He died in April 2008, at 81. He and his wife, Thelma, had been married for more than half a century.

After retirement in 1982, when Curtis Mathes Corporation closed opearations in Athens, John Wallace became even more active in the community.

He continued supporting his church, repaired watches, mowed yards, and worked at the Macedonia Cemetery, of which he’d been president of the cemetery association.

In the late 1980s, he served one term with the Chandler City Council. He spent 29 years at Curtis Mathes, and also served stateside in the U.S. Army and Navy.

“The reason this reunion is so important is that people can come and find relatives they never knew they had,” Wallace said. “I want to emphasize that on Friday night, it will be a community thing. You can get fish to go, too.”

For the full reunion schedule, visit chandlerreunion2010. com, or call Wallace at 903-849-6115. Holbert’s Web site is robholbert. com.