Sunday, July 21

By Sunday morning we were set up for sixty people to have lunch in our garage and house. It was a brutally hot day, so we tried out our air conditioning system by keeping all doors and windows closed. (We were pleased that it worked quite well.)

We found space for the drink coolers just inside the garage door.

The food was in our kitchen – hot food on the table, salads on the kitchen counter, and desserts on the cabinets along the wall (left)

There were close to fifty people here – so there was room for everyone.

After lunch we folded a few tables and set up for a slide show “Trip to Europe” hosted by my brother Dale and sister-in-law Dot who recently went on a Hershey/Hirschi Reunion tour of Switzerland, France, and Germany.

Dale brought the wrong thumb drive of slides, so during the time he went home for the correct one, I showed a few pictures from our Heagy family because of a recent article in the Manheim Historical Newsletter that caught my attention.

The article was about my Great-Great-Grandfather Heagy who marked a turtle when he was 19 and found it again when he was 87. Henry is seated between two of his sisters.

Now back to the Hershey Reunion trip.

Several people went to a lot of work to put the Hershey/Hirschi Reunion trip together – even doing DNA to find our closest relatives in Germany, Switzerland, and France.

Dale and Dot did a great job of taking us along on the trip and telling us a bit about our European relatives and places our ancestors lived and worshiped. They said the relatives they met really felt like relatives and sometimes resembled some of us – even with the same sense of humor.

They closed their slide presentation with this blessing from Walter Hirschi to the American Hersheys.

That is an amazing blessing!

Cerwin and my cousin Joel Hershey – my Uncle Ken and Aunt Erma’s oldest son.

Uncle Glen (Aunt Julia’s husband), Marlin (my sister Nancy’s husband) and Larry (Marlin’s son-in-law and current owner of the Hershey Homestead). Larry and Karen are the 6th Hershey generation to own the farm. Their son Travis is a co-owner and is the 7th generation.

Aunt Lois, Cousin Marian, and Aunt Julia asking Dale questions about the trip. (Lois and Julia are the only living siblings to my dad.)

My sister Nancy, Sister-in-law Brenda, and Nancy’s daughter Karen looking at a horse hair necklace that Dot bought in Europe.

It was a great afternoon that made us thankful for our Godly Hershey heritage.