Our Family's Journey Through Time
The Thirteenth Annual Jones Reunion was held on June 18-20, 1999 at the home of Gary and Panela (Hutchins) Dorstewitz. A total of sixty-one family members assembled in Lawrence, Michigan coming again from as far as Florida, North Carolina, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. This was a bittersweet reunion this year as Ann Thoms was hospitalized the previous Monday for gall stones and inflamed pancreas. Her condition was termed as very serious and possible life-threatening.
Phill Thoms joined us Saturday and provided an update of her condition. Needless to say our prayers and best wished were with them both.
Friday visitors met at Pan and Gary's and dined on traditional picnic fare--hot dogs, hamburgers, polish sausage, a variety of salads, and desserts. The weather indeed was cooler than last year's century mark, and even a small bonfire was enjoyed in the evening.
Saturday the relative kept pulling in and the size of the vehicle didn't matter. Eric Heidenreich too the prize with his 40 foot tractor-trailer rig. Most were content to stay close to the center of the reunion and occupied themselves with conversation, card playing, and basketball among others. Soup and sandwiches and all the trimming were placed out for lunch and Saturday night wound up with a pig roast, barbecued chicken, and all the fixings and desserts. Sunday, most of the family was still "in town" and a continental breakfast was enjoyed again, with lunch being the traditional "clean-up-the-leftovers" meal.
On Saturday, the annual business meeting and fine arts auction was held before the evening meal. The auction netted $606 even. At the business meeting a card was passed around for everyone to sign for Ann. The minutes from last year were read and approved and we moved on to new business.
On November 2, 1998, Samantha Ann Seggerman was born to Angela (Heidenreich) and Craig Seggernan. She weighed in at 7 lb, 10 oz and was 20" long. She is an addition to the Fred and Betty Heidenreich branch of the family. Diana (Jones) and Mike McKenzie welcomed the birth of their son Shawn on April 1999. Shawn's grandfather is Donald Jones.
There were two weddings since last year. Tom Heidenreich married Marilyn Mortiz on April 10, 199 in Illinois, and Kerrie and George Edington, together with their family and friends, renewed their vows in Florida on October 19, 1998. Tom is the son of Fred and Betty Heidenreich and Kerrie is the daughter of Pamela Hutchins-Dorstewitz.
Amy Jean Kukman graduated May 9, 1999 from Eastern with a degree in elementary education and Amanda Diana Sampsell received her associate's degree in elementary education from Kalamazoo Valley Community College on May 10, 1999. She will pursue her degree at Western Michigan University and Amy is looking into various teaching positions for the fall. Amy is the daughter of Karen (Mitchell) Sterling and Amanda is Sandra (Hutchins) Merchant's daughter. Congratulations to both!
The date of the reunion was discussed and members present were asked if the third weekend was satisfactory to most, and it was so that will be out target date next year. A discussion was held on whether to set up a permanent locations, having it in a host city at a motel/hotel complex, or leaving it as it is. After much discussion, it was decided to keep it the way it is for next year, but David graciously yielded to Rollan. So! Pack your bags and get ready to travel to North Carolina the third weekend in June, year 2000.
This year there were first-time visitors to the reunion. Rosalyn Buelow, Wilbur Jones' granddaughter, came from Pinconning, Michigan. With her came some of her family: Amy Garner and her three daughters Kasey, Koleen, and Kimberly from Stanford, MI; Gene Glass and his friend Missy Hittle from E. Jordan, MI.
Pam Hutchins-Dorstewitz passed out copies of the minutes of the last 29 reunions to the brothers and sisters so each might have a record of the event. In doing so, it was discovered that somewhere a year was miscounted and instead of 1999 being the 29th annual meeting, it was actually the 30th. Changes in all future minutes will reflect this alteration.
Bills, port-a-potties, postage, and stationery this year totaled $954.91. $935 was withdrawn from the savings account, $606 was netted from the fine arts auction which resulted in a deposit of $586.09 into the Jones Reunion account. As of June 23, 1000 the balance was $622.71 plus interest.
See you in North Carolina.
Respectfully submitted,
Pamela Hutchins-Dorstewitz
by Pamela Hutchins-Dorstewitz; Re-typed and slightly edited by Cheryl Jones Cash.
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