July 2001  Volume 5   Issue 2
Issued Quarterly

Konrad's Kids' Reunion Report Birthdays Seven More Kids Bring Total to 92 Links Midi Music Mini Mall

On June 27th, 42 descendants of Konrad Schwenk (spouses included) from all over the United States and SW Germany converged at Sylvan Lake in the southern part of the Black Hills. Although many had never met personally, nearly all faces were familiar, thanks in good part to Jim Schwenk, the Chairman, who had emailed collages of photos to all attendees prior to the reunion. In short, it was not a coming together of strangers.

A room was reserved in the lodge where the attendees registered and received name tags and coffee mugs. Those had the Schwenk coat of arms (image above) baked onto the surface.* Really first class work! Attendees gathered there later that day and the following day to share old family photographs and documents. We began to call it the computer room. Dave Axtell brought his laptop; Jim Schwenk brought his scanner and printer. One of the many documents and photos scanned was a marriage license brought by Milton Schwenk. It was of his parents, Elmer Schwenk and Lula Dobberstein, who married there at Sylvan Lake on Sept 4, 1931. And this event was the actual reason why this location, of all the other beautiful places in the Black Hills, was chosen. Elmer was a son of John Schwenk who had immigrated to America from near Laichingen in 1867. And of these 42 attendees, 23 are descendants of Elmer.

The first evening, a bus and two vans transported us to Mt. Rushmore. The route there was of winding roads, tunnels, beautiful terrain, even donkeys seeking attention on the roadways. This tour of the Southern Black Hills took about 2 hours. The night show (some had said it would be a lazer show - not so) at Mt. Rushmore was spectacular.

We took our meals at a large building called the Auditorium near the lake, which is down a steep hill from the lodge. After the evening meal on the 28th, we sang old traditional songs like Comin' around the Mountain, and even a couple German songs. The music was provided by a small orchestra comprised of four of the attendees. Just before the sun dropped behind the granite ridges, Dave Axtell took two group pictures just outside the Auditorium. He then began printing out copies for all attendees.** I have selected one of those versions and typed a legend at its lower edge which identifys each of the 41 persons. It is a 253 K file, but we are certain you will find it very interesting. To view it, click here.

After the photo shoot outside, we surprized our German cousins, Rudi and Rita Schoenfeld, with a table full of trinkets, momentos brought by all the other attendees. We simply wanted to show our appreciation for their long journey to attend this get-together. Sadly, four other cousins from near Ulm, Germany, the Hilsenbecks, had to cancel their plans because of illness in the family.

Jim Schwenk deserves an Academy Award for his performance as Chairman!!! His son in law, Dave Axtell, deserves at least a "nomination" for his role in the computing and photographic excellence category!!!

Would you like to view a collage containing many of the events and places mentioned above? We thought so. It weighs 217 K, but is well worth the wait. Just click on this thumbnail version. 

When and where will the next reunion take place? That was not discussed. Maybe in another two years? The first step will be when a person volunteers to organize such an event. Soo, we'll see you then. Don Schwenk

*  Do not put these cups in microwave oven!
** Keep these prints under glass or out of light - so says an expert.
 

Birthdays   For Birthday List for Konrad's Kids, click on cake >

Seven More Kids Bring Total to 92

Since the last newsletter, seven more online descendants of our Konrad have come to the attention of your editors. Here they are in the order of their "joining".  Welcome aboard!

Traude Rehse Scholich lives in Ludwigsburg north of Stuttgart. She was born in Laichingen in 1955. Three of her four siblings are already members of our "Klub". She is married and works as a secretary in psychological counseling for the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Click here for her descent tree.

Jochen Schwenk, born in Laichingen in 1977 and still a resident there, is the brother of Gerd Schwenk, a current member. Jochen works as a paramedic, and drives an ambulance as well as flys a rescue helicopter. He is single and would like to move to America to work and live. For his descent tree from Konrad, click here.

Karen Schoenfeld was born in Poughkeepsie, NY in 1966. She currently lives in the NY City area. Her father and all three siblings are online and counted among the 92 Kids. Click here for her father's tree.

Carol Zimmerman Wenzel was born in 1941 in Kewanee, IL and now resides in Michigan City, Indiana with her husband Joseph Wenzel. Her sister Lois Zimmerman Young "referred" Carol to your editors and she said, "Yes, sign me up." Her daughter Melissa Marin followed suit shortly thereafter (see below). Click here for a tree shared by these sisters and their two online children.

Edward Albert Rapp, who goes by Ned, was born in 1944 in Bridgeport, Conn. and now lives in Greenboro, NC. He is an electrical engineer, is married and has four grown children. His father Ed joined this network of Konrad's Kids a few months ago and later encouraged Ned to do the same. If you want to see their descent from our Konrad, click here.

Lloyd A. Young was born in 1968 in Bloomington, Illinois where he still resides. He is a sports writer for a local newspaper and a bicycle racing enthusiast. His bachelor days are numbered as he intends to walk down the wedding isle this coming August. For his descent from Konrad, see link to tree for his Aunt Carol Wenzel above.

Melissa Louise Marin was born in 1978 in Chicago Heights, Illinois and now resides with her mother Carol Wenzel. She graduated in mass communications and has worked in radio. For her descent tree, see above.

To see headshots of most of these new Kids, go to the Konrad's Kids Page in this web site.

Links
 http://www.fontfiles.com/ Fonts are fun. Here you can download a great variety of them, many of which are free.
 http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=donschwenk This is Don Schwenk's online family tree. More than 11,000 individuals appear in this tree, including, of course, all of Konrad's Kids. All the names are linked to their parents, and descendants - if any. We think you will find this very interesting and informative.

 http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=laur1 This is Charleen Laur Soos' online family tree. It contains more than 17,000 individuals. It works the same as explained above.

http://www.terraserver.com/  Here you can find topographic maps and aerial photographs of places in the US. Check it out. Very interesting!
 http://www.kbb.com/  This is Kelly Blue Book's Website. Here you can check on the retail and wholesale value of your car.
http://www.laichingen.de/ This is Laichingen's official homepage. Check out what's happening in our "cradle community." In the German language, naturally.

http://www.infospace.com/  Here you can locate phone numbers and addresses of people in many countries of the world.
http://www.thumbsplus.com/ will take you to the homepage of ThumbsPlus (Cerious Software, Inc). ThumbsPlus is a remarkable image viewer and organizer program.
http://www.paintshoppro.com/ - This is where you can download as shareware an excellent image editing program.
 
 

Midi Music Mini Mall

Some Webpages contain hidden imbedded links to midi files. That is, soon after you open the page, music begins to play which is usually entertaining, but the visitor has no control over this. Here, we will give you the freedom of choice. If you choose, simply click on the links and adjust the volume according to your preferences. A tip: If a large window opens containing the midi file, simply minimize it so as to allow the continued reading of the newsletter while the music plays in the background. If that doesn't work, right click (Windows users) on the link, then select Open in New Window.
 

Email to Don

Email to Jim

Note to AOL users: If upon clicking those email links above you find the symbols %20 in front of the address, simply delete those symbols.