NBC-10-Philadelphia-kimwolterman

Margie & Betty

My sister and I drove to Cincinnati last weekend for the Crusham reunion, typically held every other year. Jim was invited to a Nascar race in Bristol, Tennessee so he did not come to the reunion with me. Of the eight children in my mom's family only two are still alive. Margie is 91 and Betty is 86. They joke, with a hint of seriousness, that they should not let me take a picture of the remaining siblings because each time I do there is one fewer in the next picture. I love these two ladies like my own mother, so I don't want to think about them not being around next time I make a trip "home". We lucked out with the weather as it was in the low 80's with a nice breeze and a low humidity level. There were fewer people at the reunion though. My sister counted 27. Six of Aunt Betty's seven girls were there, so it would have been a smaller crowd yet without them. A benefit of the smaller gathering though is that I was able to have a nice chat with almost everyone. Normally there are people I don't get a chance to visit with.




Kathy and I went to the Cincinnati Public Library downtown Saturday morning before heading to the park. (I will make a genealogist out of her yet!) We looked up the Kubler and Metz families that I am gathering information on prior to my trip to Germany and Switzerland. I am trying to get a better feel for when the Kublers, in particular, arrived in Cincinnati and when the father no longer shows up there. Because we split up the city directories, I haven't had a chance yet to see how my list compares to Kathy's.

Victor Kuebler

Sunday morning my cousin and I met up at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Cemetery to look for the grave of Victor Kuebler. He was the brother of my ancestor Joseph Kubler (and I am really curious as to why his tombstone spells the name Kuebler when it is not spelled that way in many of the directories or back in Switzerland), and I had seen his grave on findagrave.com. On the website it listed his parents, so I am positive I have the right guy. At the base of the stone of Victor and his wife were three flat stones that read Stella, Mother and Father. I don't have a Stella Kubler in my family tree so I don't know who she is, and now I am curious about the other two. Are they Victor's parents? Victor's brother Joseph also has stones saying Mother and Father in his plot in Connersville, Indiana. The cemetery records there are quite poor, so I can't tell who they are. Maybe the St. Als records will be better and I can identify the three stones. It is possible they don't belong with Victor at all. My dead relatives never make it easy for me!









We had an uneventful drive home on Monday, after stopping to buy our supplies of frozen Skyline Chili and goetta. Now to analyze the new information I found...

marina at Table Rock Lake

When my nephew died unexpectedly in January, my siblings and I talked about how it seems that we only get together for weddings and funerals. We decided it was time for a Kubler family reunion. My sister grabbed the bull by the horn and got things rolling. She knows us too well - a lot of talk and not much action. Because she and her husband own a time-share down in Branson, she booked a week for all of us to stay at one of the resorts there. I will be the first to admit that Branson is not my favorite place, mostly because I do not enjoy spending half of my vacation stuck in traffic on Highway 76. However, I would have gone back to No Town, North Dakota again if it meant spending time with my brothers and sister and their families.

So on the 13th I drove to Union to pick up my sister and brother-in-law, and we rode down together. Jim came down later in the week on his motorcycle as he had some meetings he couldn't get out of. My brother from Texas and his wife arrived that night along with their daughter, her husband and their two children. The rest of the family trickled in as their schedules allowed. At the peak time we had seventeen people spread out among six condos. My children we unable to come as getting to Branson from Los Angeles or Washington, DC was costly and time consuming. Plus they didn't want to take vacation time to go to Branson. I understand that.

The condominium setting was quite lovely, with four outdoor pools and one indoor, and a nice fitness center which I actually availed myself of on three occasions. The units were appointed with everything you needed, and I made breakfast each morning in mine. The rest of the time we either made lunch at my sisters or ate out. We had several evening meals there as well. Trying to go out to eat with that many people was a challenge, but we managed to do it a few times.

home of Laura Ingalls Wilder

I guess the beauty of Branson is that there are so many things to do. (If you don't mind sitting in traffic trying to get there.) My sister, niece, great-niece and I drove the hour and a half to Mansfield to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum and grounds. That was definitely a highlight of the trip for me. It was fun to see the houses where she wrote her books, as well as the memorabilia like Pa's fiddle.

Ten of us went on the duck boat, which takes you around first by land and then onto Table Rock Lake. We had a lot of fun on that. The guy who drove our boat was probably the best guide I have ever had on a tour. Not only was he knowledgeable and personable, he was hilarious. He really quacked us up!

my brother and sister-in-law make the most of their quackers

my great-nephew steers the duck boat

But the best part of all was just spending time together and catching up on what everyone has been up to since we last met. We packed a lot of memories into seven short days.

My sister came and stayed two nights with us, and that was fun. We went out to eat, shopped and enjoyed the Missouri Botanical Garden on a particularly beautiful June day. We also went through a box of photographs that I had taken out of mom and dad's photo albums after dad died. I have been sorting them into bags for each of my siblings, but there are some I know that we all might want to have copies of. Kathy helped with the sorting. Now I have a bunch of scanning to do. Bleh. But I also have a batch of photos to take over to Cincinnati for the family reunion, so that will be fun.

Katie is now in Barcelona for a few days. She called yesterday to let me know that she and Megan had arrived safely. In a few short days I will be picking her up at the airport. Can't wait to see all of her pictures and videos, and hear all about her adventures!