KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH FAMILY REUNIONS

Wanting to do something special for the family reunion celebrating the 100th anniversary of her late grandparents' wedding, Louetta Hency Beard wrote a musical drama about the family.

"My family is very musical and I thought this could be something they would all enjoy," said Beard, a music educator from Anderson, Ind., who put on the musical at the Hency family reunion held in Cape Girardeau recently.

While not all families have someone like Beard who is capable of scripting a musical, it is an example of how a little advance work can make a family reunion even more special.

Beard's "Voices in the Wind" told the story of Warren W. and Effie Lou Burger Hency, who married in 1900 in Ohio, moved to Southeast Missouri in 1903 and had 11 children before moving to Indiana in 1941.

"At first it seemed there was little material for a story," Beard said. "Grandma and Grandpa were two common people dealing with life's joys and sorrows."

But after several weeks of researching their story, including reading the memoirs of her father, E. Raymond Hency, Beard saw she had plenty to fill the one-hour musical.

The production, which she said involved members from several branches of the Hency family, detailed Warren and Effie's many moves in their struggle to survive, the births of their 11 children, five of whom died in childhood, and other events in their lives.

The Hency family reunion also featured a two-hour caravan tour of sites in the Cape Girardeau area of importance to the family, a large meal together, games for the children and a worship service.

"It's important to realize where you come from," Beard said. "By getting together with family, you get back to your roots. Coming together reminds everyone of who they are."

Anna Morris of Marble Hill helped organize the Eftink and Eeftink family reunion held in Leopold. She, too, believes reunions help keep family members in contact.

"People are spread out so far over the world now," Morris said. "But family members need to stay in contact with one another."

About 200 people came to the Eftink and Eeftink reunion, so named because there are two spellings of the family name.

Morris said when people come to the reunion, held every two years, they often bring pictures, newspaper clippings, dishes and tools for identification and to show off.

"We try to have tools to show the young children how things were done long ago," Morris said. She said there might be a churn for butter or tools to repair shoes.

The pictures and newspaper clippings are often items found in a box that people bring in hopes that family members can help identify people in the photos.

The high point of the reunion is the sharing of the meal. "Everyone brings a dish of food and we set it on a long table," Morris said. She said often people make recipes their mothers or grandmothers made.

"There's a lot of sharing of information," Morris said.

Planning tips

Not everyone has a musician in the family that can write a musical drama like Louetta Hency Beard did for the recent Hency family reunion. But there are many activities that can be planned to make a reunion special.

* A talent show, announced on the invitation to the reunion, gives family members a chance to show off their abilities.

* Allow time for those family members interested in genealogy to provide an update on what they have learned about the family history since the last reunion.

* Create certificates to be passed out to family members for categories such as oldest and youngest family members, who traveled the greatest distance, who has attended the most consecutive reunions, etc.

* Create a family recipe book. Have family members send in their favorite recipes and use a computer to put them together.

* If you have a genealogy software program capable of printing large wall charts, print a chart of your family and hang it on the wall. Have a marker available for corrections and updates to the tree for next year's reunion.

* Have a tape recorder to record stories from older and younger members of the family. Someone can be assigned to transcribe them and send out the stories in a newsletter.

* Have a guest book for attendees to sign when they arrive. Having them write their address and phone number will help when sending out invitations to the next reunion.

* Have family members bring old photos of themselves or parents and grandparents for identification and to spark stories about the past.

* Ask everyone to bring a baby picture with their name on the back and put them on a display table. Then have everyone try to guess who each picture is.

* As an icebreaker, have everyone introduce themselves by telling the story behind their names.