CAPE REUNION COMBINES BUSINESS WITH PLEASURE

Vandivort Properties, a Missouri corporation which owns and operates more than 3,000 acres of farm land in Southeast Missouri and Northern Arkansas, has helped keep the Cape Girardeau family a close-knit one. In fact, their annual family reunion is really a gathering of the shareholders.

"We hold a corporation/family reunion every year over the Fourth of July holiday in Cape Girardeau," said Harriett Stein Smith, a member of the family now living in Indianapolis, Ind. "These annual gatherings give the members of our family an opportunity to return to Cape Girardeau each year to renew and our heritage."

"The 1992 reunion will be the largest yet," said Rita Vandivort of Cape Girardeau. "We're expecting more than 100 people here from more than a dozen states including Michigan, New York, Florida and the state of Washington."

This marks the 35th straight year that the Vandivorts have gathered in Cape Girardeau.

Activities during the three-day gathering include the convention's 4th annual golf tournament, to be held this morning at the Cape Girardeau Country Club, and tours to Trail of Tears State Park, Bollinger Mill, the Missouri Department of Conservation at Cape County North Park, and Cape Girardeau's various antique shops. An annual business meeting will also be conducted.

"The annual visit to Bollinger Mill is special for us," explained Vandivort. "The Vandivort Family donated this mill to the historical association which eventually turned it over the state."

The group will also tour the two Vandivort Family farms located near Morley and Diehlstadt.

"We alternate the farm tours," said Vandivort. "Last year we toured the two farms in Arkansas."

The Arkansas farms are located near Blytheville. Dick Bangert is manager of the four farms.

The three-day event will be capped off with a giant fireworks exhibition.

"We look forward to the annual meeting," said Smith in a letter to The Missourian. "The Vandivort name is an old and respected one in Cape Girardeau and we're grateful to the community which has been a part of our `family' for more than 90 years."

Clyde A. Vandivort came to Southeast Missouri as a child from Butler County, Penn. with his parents. He attended old Lorimier school, Normal School, and Washington University in St. Louis.

He later served in the Army serving during the Spanish-American War. During the first half of the century, he was involved in the insurance business, was a banker, judge, and farmer, acquiring property in Scout County and in Northern Arkansas near Blytheville, Ark.

"My husband, Charles A. Vandivort, managed the farms until his death in 1982," said Rita Vandivort.

Charles A. and Rita Vandivort started the annual business-family reunions following the death of Clyde Vandivort.