Sunday morning was beautiful. There was a little threat of rain in the area on the drive over from Louisville to Carbondale. This was country that Erin and I had traveled many times in our summer excursions to the east coast - but, that is another story. It was great to see that cluster of lakes and small towns around the Crab Orchard Lake area. Back in the days when I was a hunter and bird dog man, I traveled to the Brittany National Championships several times to see my friend's National Champion, Yankee Boys Tommy, run. I had some good hunting with that little dog - but that is another story, too!
I called the local
Hostess, Yvonne Poston. She was rather pessimistic about the possibility
of a good turnout for the Reunion on Monday night. She gave me
local telephone numbers for many of the key local family members.
I called them and found that there was a building enthusiasm for
the Reunion. . In fact, when we assembled at the Ponderosa Steakhouse
on Monday, we had 28 members of the family present. A great Reunion!
The Ponderosa had given us a nice private room for the evening and from six O'clock until way past my usual bed time, the room was filled with talk (and Steak & Potatoes!) The southern Illinois area is the home of the Otto Wettig (504) branch of what I have called the Heinrich Friedrich (503) & Wilhelmina (Messenbrink) (502) immigration, (even though Heinrich Friedrich didn't emigrate.) Otto, the second son of Wilhelmina & Heinrich Friedrich had five daughters and three sons. This family was well represented.
Bill Wettig (509),
the oldest of the Otto Wettig Family and obviously the Patriarch
of the Family, was there.Bill was 84 years old at the time of
the Reunion. I have learned that he suffered a stroke shortly
after the Reunion and died in the following year.
Rufus Wettig (511) and his wife Delores were there. Their family was well represented by Reunion Hostess Yvonne Poston (517) and her husband Mike, and their children Bryon, Heather Yvonne and John Thomas.
Bill's daughter, Judy Alms (514), was there. Son, Everett Wettig (512), and wife Cynthia came up from Eagleville, Tennessee for the affair.
Linda ( Wettig) Kueker (533), a daughter of Otto, was there with her daughter, Karlyn (609) and her husband, Norlon Eggemeyer.
Emma Wettig (536) and husband, Wilbert Schoenbeck were also there. Emma is also a daughter of Otto.
The only representative of the Henry Wettig (531) family, a son of Otto, was a Grandson, Marty Dean Wettig (1243), a student at Southern Illinois University. I have corresponded via the computer with Marty for the past two years and have grown very fond of him. I look forward to more contact with him and with his family in the years to come. He is a young man with a future!
The Carolina Wettig
(1095) branch of the family was represented by Ralph Pestor Kipp
(1420) and his wife Bonnie. Ralph's mother was Hermine Sophie
Pestor (1131) I still do not have any photographs of Carolina,
who was the first of the Heinrich Friedrich's and Wilhelmina's
children to emigrate to this country.
In fact, I don't have very many pictures of the families here in southern Illinois I am hoping that all of those at the Reunion will search through their old photo albums and through their old papers and send me color laser copies of any pictures or information they can find.
Donald Eric Wettig (454) and his wife Lisa also attended this Reunion, their fourth in six days, as representatives of the Karl Heinrich Friedrich Wettig family. Of course I was there as a representative of that family, too.
It was hard to come to the end of this round robin of Reunions. I don't know when I have had so much fun! When I counted all of the new family members I had met from May 19 through May 26 it was an unbelievable 78 "new" Wettigs! And I was ready for a break!