Wettig Family Reunion
St. Louis Reunion 1997
I had not planned a St. Louis Reunion, but
Tom Wolf (645) of Santa Barbara, California, the son of Irene(Wettig)
and Millard Wolf of St. Louis, and brother of Betty (Wolf) Coonrod,
MD, suggested that since I had to stop in St. Louis on that first
night out of Kansas City anyhow, that I should plan too meet him
there for dinner. He was going to be in the area since his son,
Eric, was graduating from Southwest Missouri University in Springfield,
on that weekend. He suggested that I could meet the three sons,
Geoffrey (1252), Eric (1253) and Matthew (1254), and maybe he
could get some of the other Wettigs to have dinner with us. I
jumped at the chance.
I arrived at the Marriot Courtyard in Creve Coeur,
early in the afternoon. Since I had several hours of free time
I called Marie Vieregge(1127), a Granddaughter of Wilhelmina (Messenbrink)
and Heinrich Friedrich Wettig, and daughter of Wilhelmina Hermine
(Wettig) and John Vieregge of southern Illinois. Marie invited
me over to look through her albums and boxes of old pictures of
the family. This was the first glimpse that I had of this family
history. We selected a large batch of pictures for copying at
the local Kinko.
Tom had arranged for a room at the Olive Garden
for thirteen of the family and guests. Dinner was great. The conversation
flowed like wine -(in fact that may have been wine that was doing
the flowing!) I was the only "outsider" in this group,
but I really didn't feel that way. In addition to the Vieregge
line, 
represented by
Marie, there were representatives of each of the three daughters
- Irene, Irma 
and
Roselle - of Hermann and Bertha (Lenhoff) Wettig, who migrated
from southern Illinois to St. Louis. Tom Wolf, who hosted this
St. Louis Reunion all the way from Santa Barbara, California,
and his three sons represented the Irene (Wettig) and Millard
Wolf branch of the family. Jane (Berktold) (1092) and Tom Potter
represented the Roselle (Wettig) and William Berktold side of
the family. Charlotte Grothman (1429), her daughter, Carol (Grothman)
(1430) Hough, and her grandson, James Hough (1431), gave a three
generation representation for the Erna (Wettig) and Ray Grothman
descendancy.
We missed having a representative of the Rudolph
and Adele (Wotli) Wettig family with us.
A special treat for the dinner and reunion
was provided by Eric and Geoffrey Wolf. Eriic brought along a
very pretty friend, Stephanie, and Geoffrey brought along an equally
pretty and personable friend, Margaret. There was no mention of
Stephanie and Margaret becoming members of the Clan, but one could
feel that maybe they were looking with a critical eye at all of
these other members of this family. I think that what they saw
- a wonderful family gathering of people separated by time and
distance who could still enjoy each other - would convince them
that this would be a family worthy of joining.
I arrived at the Marriot Courtyard in Creve Coeur,
early in the afternoon. Since I had several hours of free time
I called Marie Vieregge(1127), a Granddaughter of Wilhelmina (Messenbrink)
and Heinrich Friedrich Wettig, and daughter of Wilhelmina Hermine
(Wettig) and John Vieregge of southern Illinois. Marie invited
me over to look through her albums and boxes of old pictures of
the family. This was the first glimpse that I had of this family
history. We selected a large batch of pictures for copying at
the local Kinko.
