Sorry I'm behind on this, but here you go ~ Kevin Convention Newsletter Friday, June 15, 2007 They signed up for the convention because their son¹s ³boss² was scheduled to speak: Bishop Werth from Russia. Bob (75) and Elaine (73) Corcoran of Sierra Vista, AZ., along with their pastor, Fr. Greg Adolph, decided to drive together to the convention. Their son, Fr. Tony Corcoran has been a missionary in Russia and works under Bishop Werth and they just wanted to meet the Bishop. What they didn¹t know was that Fr. Adolph received e-mail from Fr. Tony that he would come to the convention in Bishop Werth¹s place, but to keep that news secret from his parents. Even though Fr. Adolph was anxious to tell the news, he kept his promise through three days of travel. Just as they arrived at the Holiday Inn in Hays, their son, Fr. Tony, walked out to greet them. Elaine was so surprised and fought back her tears as they joyfully reunited. The morning¹s speakers had everyone on the edge of their seats. It seemed as though it just couldn¹t get better, and then it did! Dr. Chris Johnson, Kansas University, shared information the University has been gathering concerning various German dialects in Kansas. He pointed out differences in ³low German² and ³upper German² (Bukovina). By the 1920¹s there was dialect mixing, often by moving to different areas in Russia or marriage. The German we¹ve know is not ³textbook² but area dialects, basically dependent on what section of Germany your ancestors migrated from. The KU website from more information, which includes Germanic languages, literature. And recordings of German spoken is: www2.ku.edu/~germanic/LAKGD/Atlas_Intro.shtml Life Histories of German Women in Russia and to the U.S. by Leona Wasinger Pfeifer kept us all spellbound as we learned in more detail the general view of the women through time periods and how lives changes. I believe that old saying ³A woman¹s work is never done² must have come from a German/Russian wife and mother. Their duties were not only household, child care, making cloth and sewing it; they also planted and cured tobacco an planted and cared for garden, milked cows, fed animals and helped with harvest. And in all this women were still held in low esteem. Marriages were pre-arranged and men made all the decisions. One of the men interviewed for the KU research lived in Schoenchen, just south of Hays. His daughter, Janel (Werth) Moore (Hays) commented that if there were two dialects in the marriage, the mother¹s dialect, the mother¹s dialect was the one the children learned as mothers were the primary teachers. Janel also remembers how furious her grandmother became when she learned I was the male who determines a baby¹s gender. Her grandmother angrily said: ³You men for years us women were blamed for having girls and all along it was the man¹s fault!² Janelle¹s grandpa was the only survivor of 7 children, so his dad advised him to marry a girl from a large family so he would have many children. Thank God I¹m a Volga Boy showcased Larry Weigel Jr, full of jokes and master of a variety of musical instruments. He quipped, ³I was told to have a light program with no message². Between his jokes, his nostalgic German music, and his description of his efforts to interest his grandchildren in their family tree, I¹d say he left quite a message of how to interest the young in their ancestry and their music. From the Ukraine to Spokane: 3 Ways of Preserving a family History was a fascinating journey of a family¹s history through mother, father and daughter¹s eyes. All three wrote their memoirs and all three had their views and separate and distinguished experiences. Once again we were encouraged to get busy and write our life¹s story. Alex emphasized it doesn¹t take any special education or technology skills; if you can talk, you can tell your story. You¹ll be glad you did. The Storytelling Contest was well worth attending; I only wish there¹d been time for the Honorable Mention winners stories to be read also, because each one of the three top stories were so different and touching. I believe it would be difficult to select winner¹s form the stories submitted. Hopefully, the three we were privileged to hear today will be printed in an AHSGR mailing. Our next speaker, Tatjana Schell from Munich, Germany passionately spoke about why it is so important to preserve our cultural heritage. Research and stories must be pursued as she pointed out that many things are disappearing, such as villages once occupied by our ancestors, dialects, and customs. Evan living in Germany, she has seen lack of interest among her peers and reluctance of elders to speak about experience, some probably too painful to talk about. Suppression of German language and religious practices led to them being forgotten. The White Slip Saga was not what I imagined it would bebut Justina Neufeld has a captivated audience as she narrated her harrowing experiences as a young girl in Russia in a totally different approach which took us a while to realize. A very touching and heartbreaking account of persecution, fear, peril, flight to safely only to face jeopardy again. A story of family torn apart, lost, and for only a few, reunited. On a lighter note, Lewis and Dona Marquardt made interesting and curious comparisons of G/R settlements in Emmons County, ND. and Ellis County, Ks. One big difference was how and why they settled where they did. The Ellis County immigrants wanted to live in villages and farm from there; the Emmons immigrants chose the free land which required living on it (farms) to acquire it. Ellis county settlers had to purchase their land. A college of musical talent entertained a capacity crowd tonight as we honored and remembered those who have gone before us but are not forgotten. A wealth of local talent shared their gift of music to end a very busy day in peace and perfect harmony. Opening invocation was by Fr. Kevin Weber of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Hays, Ks. Fr. Weber also sang solo ³Ave Maria². Closing comments and prayers were by Pastor Roger Dennis, St. John¹s Lutheran Church in Russell, Ks. Judy Hoffman Secretary Sunflower Chapter Hays, Ks. -- Kevin Rupp 2301 Canal Blvd Hays, Ks. 67601 krupp@ruraltel.net www.volgagerman.net volgagerman@ruraltel.net