more great Stoesz family photos

If you enjoyed the stroll down memory lane, check out the pictures in that post again. I've added some new ones (thanks to Denis Stoesz). Here's a photo of Denis and Janice on their recent trip to Australia and a photo of the Henry Stoesz family.



If you are planning to attend the Stoesz reunion, please send me your name and state how you fit into the Stoesz family (for example, Helen Stoesz and Don Disher — Bill's daughter). I would like to start a List of Reunion Attendees on the blog. It would be great to see who is coming. Perhaps it will induce others to come too!

A stroll down memory lane

To see pictures, click the picture below (Picasa opens) and then click Slideshow.

StoeszReunion

the meeting minutes

Minutes
Stoesz Reunion meeting held March 16, 2007
at Lloyd & Pauline Stoesz house.

Present were: Ruth Penner, Joanne Kusiak, Janice Rock, Elma Ginter, Willie and Naomi Stoesz, Larry Stoesz, Denis and Janice Stoesz, Lloyd and Pauline Stoesz, Helen Stoesz by phone
Regrets: Carol Zacharias, Rod Stoesz, Roger Stoesz, David Stoesz
Chair – Janice Rock
Secretary – Lloyd Stoesz

Accomodations – campground, motels, billeting etc
Ken to look into booking campsites, reserving a block of rooms.

Saturday – registration to start @ 9:00
- Lunch: barbeque sausage, hot dogs, watermelon, and ask the aunts and uncles to bring rollkuchen

- Supper: pork loin, baked potatoes, cole slaw, applesauce, buns
Denis to look after the pork loin, baked potatos, and barbeque.
Janice & Pauline to look after baked beans.
Elma and Ruth to look after the beverages for the weekend.
Joanne to look after the serviettes, plates, knives, forks, cups, garbage bags.

Sunday – breakfast serve muffins, cheese, fruit one kind, coffee and juice
- lunch potato salad, cold cuts, veggies
- Willie and Naomi to look after cheese and cold cuts

Activities – golf at Oakview (Albert and Glen to look after) for Saturday, baseball, kids activities, choir, and worship service

Powerpoint of each family – Ken to ask Gordon if he would be willing to put it together.

Hospitality desk- Joanne, Ruth, Janice, and Helen to look after name tags, directions, etc.

Send photographs of homesteads, families etc., for the blog.

Each one of us to get tentative #’s of people in respective families expected to attend reunion.

Birthdays to be celebrated: uncle Bill's and aunt Barb's 90th

Next meeting: April 20th @ 6:30 at Denis and Janice's place

Planning meeting

Some of the Stoesz cousins got together last night in Altona at Lloyd and Pauline's to start seriously planning this reunion. We had a good turnout, some good laughs, excellent snacks, AND we managed to get quite a lot done. The minutes from the meeting will be posted on this site soon.

Who was there? Ruth Penner, Elma Ginter, Janice Heinrichs, Dennis and Janice Stoesz, Ken Sawatzky, Larry Stoesz, Willie and Naomi Stoesz, Lloyd and Pauline Stoesz, and myself Joanne Kusiak. Helen Stoesz called in by phone from Windsor; that is why you see Ruth holding up the telephone.

Great posting!

What a great idea, to post the picture of your family, Ruth! We look forward to meeting all of you next summer - and for Joanne's son, here is a good answer to the question about young people!
Our son Brandon is planning to come also - to meet the great Stoesz clan, and to see something of the West.
Talk to you soon,
Helen Stoesz

Hi all cousins, aunts and uncles, cousin nephews and nieces

Many of us have not seen each other for decades. In order to have some prior knowledge of who we have become I’m supplying a picture of me, Ruth (Heinrichs) Penner, and my family. My children do intend to come to the reunion.

The picture is of my family after a full day at Christmas. My three children are Ryan (35), Derek (32), and Natasha (30). The people on the picture from left to right are: Sheryl with Reese, Ryan with Noah, myself – Ruth, Paul and Natasha with Ryan’s daughter Kyra, and Sonya and Derek with Jackson and Kate. My families live in Winnipeg and are about 15 minutes from my house, which allows for us to see and help each other as we want to. I have moved to Winnipeg three years ago, where I have spent a good time doing renovations on the house and yard. Life in Winnipeg has opened opportunities to take part in the city’s cultural activities and making reconnections with old friends, make new ones, and be part of my children’s lives. It’s an enjoyable place to live.

A quick bio of my life:

• I’m Ruth, oldest of six children of Trudy and Andrew Heinrichs
• Grew up at New Hope, 5 miles west of Altona
• Went to school at Neu Hoffung for grade one to ten and at MCI for grades 11 and 12
• Loved to read, but somehow can’t find the time to do so in my adult life
  
• Took teacher training and taught in Altona for a year
• Married Henry Penner and lived in Portage la Prairie for 4 years, where Ryan was born
• Moved to Altona to farm
• Derek and Natasha born in Altona
• Built a complete new and beautiful farm yard just north of Altona Park
• Took part in my children’s lives as PTE member, skating club member, SS teacher
• Started working for School Division in 1985
• Thoroughly enjoyed watching all 3 of my kids being very involved in sports: baseball, volleyball, and basketball
• All 3 kids were away to university by age 18, but came home many summers, which made for a gradual weaning to the empty nest
• In 2001 I suddenly lost Henry
• Had farm auction sale in 2003
• Retired and moved to Winnipeg in winter of 2003
• Here I’ve spent time renovating my small house and small yard
• Am able to babysit the grandkids and see my kids lives
• I’ve been able to take part in concerts, dance lessons, spanish lessons, and drawing classes
• Try many of Winnipeg’s restaurants
• And making new friends, and so on

question

My son wants to know if there will be any "young" people at this event. He's 31. What shall I tell him, cousins? Are your kids coming?

Hi Helen and the rest of you....- I just got the letter re the re-union. Thought I'd like you know that I've changed my mailing address. I'll check out the blog to see if anyone has posted anything. I'm putting the dates into the mix as far as my summer plans go. I'm not sure whether I'll be able to make it, but it sure sounds like fun. Thanks for the letter with the updates and plans to date.

Rosella Stoesz
5402- 46th St.
Yellowknife, NT X1A 1L6
T: 867-873-9672
E: rosella@theedge.ca

Invitation

STOESZ FAMILY REUNION

JULY 7-8, 2007

ALTONA PARK, ALTONA MANITOBA

AN INVITATION TO ALL DESCENDENTS OF CORNELIUS AND ELIZABETH STOESZ

The time is fast approaching for the reunion we proposed to you last year about this time. We have booked the Altona Park for the weekend of July 7-8. We have the use of the Altona community center for activities, and in case of rain. We have also talked with the Gretna Golf Course. Please come! Bring your kids and your grandkids too if you're lucky enough to have some.

Several of you have volunteered to help out with the events, and we will be in touch with you shortly. It's not too late to volunteer now! We are going to need help with

• organizing and preparing the food

• accommodation – billeting

• planning and running different activities — recreation, music, informal Sunday morning worship, family history activities, etc. — and others you may think of

• displays of arts and crafts that we may wish to share with each other

• poster-size family tree for people to see where they are in this large family

• maps of the areas where the original brothers and sisters settled on farms in the area so that any who wish to tour the area can see where their families started

Here’s how we see the weekend developing.

On Friday evening some of us may arrive at the Park; there is a campground available for campers and motel units nearby. Golf is available both Saturday and Sunday morning.

Saturday around noon, the reunion really gets started. We will set up a host desk to welcome people and provide information. We suggest a potluck lunch for those who come early followed by . . .

• Baseball game(s)

• Craft table for the kids

• Tours of the old family farmsteads

• Evening barbecue

• Storytelling, singing, visiting, getting to know each other, etc.

• Pickup choir practice for Sunday morning

A Sunday morning pancake or continental breakfast could be followed by a short informal worship service with a volunteer choir. We could then have lunch together and stay for more fun and visiting until ready to disperse.

Please send your comments and pictures for the blog. Joanne is the administrator of the blog and she can help you with any postings you wish to make. Her email address is: Joanne.Kusiak@gmail.com

Some of you may be wondering about cost. We are hoping to cover the costs of the event through donations. A list of all expenses will be provided at the event. If everyone gives something, the costs could be quite minimal. Any surplus will be donated to a charity such as the MCC.

We are open to all of your suggestions and look forward to your offers of volunteering. We wish you a very healthy and happy Christmas with your families, and look forward to seeing many of you in July 7/8 2007.

Helen Stoesz (519) 251-9625; hwstoesz@cogeco.ca
Ruth Penner (nee Heinrichs) (204) 477-4237; ruth@penners.net
Joanne Kusiak (nee Stoesz) (204) 786-4866;Joanne.Kusiak@ gmail.com
Janice Rock (nee Heinrichs) (204) 669-5530;Janice_rock@ hotmail.com

P.S. We know that for a few of you this time will not work into your plans and we regret that not everyone’s schedules could be accommodated.

Stoesz Family Reunion

A small group of cousins met for lunch last summer and began to imagine how much fun it would be for the family of Cornelius G. Stoesz to get reacquainted - or acquainted, in many cases. We admired the great camaraderie that our parents have shared over the years, and continue to share in retirement - and felt that it would be worth exploring with each other what interest there may be in a gathering of the family in 2007.