44th Annual Gerking Reunion / Athena Christian Church Heritage Celebration
Where is Athena?
Schedule for the Weekend
More Details about the Heritage Celebration
Gerking Reunion Details
Lodging
Recap & Registration Form
Other Interesting Activities in the Area
Questions?
| If you're planning
to stay in the area for a while, here are a few ideas for other places
you might want to visit. Pendleton, Oregon Sheriff Til Taylor Memorial - Tilman D. Taylor was the son of David and Sarah Ann (Gerking) Taylor. It is said that he "made it a point never to shoot a man" and had, in fact, recently rescued the man who fatally shot him during a jailbreak. He served as Pendleton Roundup president from 1912 until his death. The web site "Wanted, Dead or Alive" gives a stirring account of the Til Taylor saga. See a newspaper article about Til Taylor here and a picture of the statue honoring him here. Baker City, Oregon The National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center is open daily from 9a - 6p and is wonderful for those of all ages. Walla Walla, Washington (Note: the Walla Walla Valley Chamber of Commerce sites contain programming which may make it difficult for some browsers to load, but the Fort Walla Walla and Whitman sites should do fine). The Walla Walla area is home to the old Fort Walla Walla Museum, the Whitman Mission National Historic Site, and many other interesting attractions. Click here for the Walla Walla Valley Chamber of Commerce attractions page, which lists even more places to see and things to do.
Family Research in the Area The number of places to do genealogical research in this area is overwhelming — it is very fertile territory for searching out your family history. If you plan to stay around for a while and do research, the county courthouses, city halls, and libraries all are sources of great information. The small City of Weston Library has more historical and genealogical information packed into its building than can be imagined. The Gerking family also had a presence in Weston, so the library there is a very good place to search. There are numerous area cemeteries that serve as the final resting place for Gerking and associated family members. A list of Umatilla County cemeteries and their locations is found here and a similar list for Union County here. Be aware that due to vandalism some cemeteries may have access restrictions. This includes Blue Mountain (Kees) Cemetery, which requires obtaining a key to get inside the chain link fence that surrounds it. At the reunion I will have information on where to get the key, or send me email. Questions? Email or phone:President Susan Dreske McBurnettEmail [email protected] Phone (503) 649-5680 Historian Janelle Jackson Email [email protected] Phone (503) 288-1076 Secretary-Treasurer Beth Perry Johnston Email [email protected] Phone (541) 265-7875 |
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Gerking Home Page
The 44th Annual Gerking Reunion will be a little different than usual! We’ve been invited to join members of the Athena Christian Church, as they host a Heritage Celebration. The church, founded in 1873 by Jonathan Rice Gerking, is celebrating 130 years of existence this year. In addition, the church’s historic building was built in 1903 with the help of Jonathan Rice's son, J.N.B. (Jonathan Napoleon Bonaparte) Gerking, and his sons and grandsons. Now the church is hosting a “homecoming” for all members, former members and descendants of former members. The church has been attended by many members of the Gerking family over the years, and we are very excited about this chance to go back to our roots and to learn even more about our ancestors and their history.
It's been many years since the Gerking Reunion has been held in this area, and we are hoping for a big turnout from family members in Eastern Oregon and Washington (as well as from other places, too). It's time to renew acquaintances with the older members of our family and to meet the younger members, so please plan to attend. If you've never attended a Gerking Reunion, this is a wonderful chance to learn more about your heritage!
Athena is a small northeast Oregon town 230 miles (about 4 hours) east of Portland, halfway between Pendleton, OR, and Walla Walla, WA. A few miles west of Athena is Gerking Flat, where Jonathan Rice and Nancy (Myers) Gerking, along with some of their 13 children, settled in the 1868-1871 time frame. About three miles south is the historic Blue Mountain (formerly Kees) Cemetery, where Jonathan Rice and his wife are buried, along with other members of the Gerking Family. (See sidebar for Blue Mountain Cemetery access information). Many Gerkings and related families are buried in the Athena Cemetery.
We’ve planned our reunion around the Athena Heritage Celebration schedule in order to take advantage of all the Celebration events will offer. This will shift our reunion meal and meeting to late afternoon/early evening on Saturday, August 9, a break in tradition from our normal meeting day. Because we do not have a host family this year, we will need to make some choices about where we'll meet, and we will need you to register if you plan to attend the reunion. Click here to go to a printable registration form (more details below).
Here are plans for the weekend:
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2003
1:00 - 4:00 pm Athena Christian Church Open House — A self-guided “open house” will allow folks to tour the building and grounds on Saturday afternoon. Church members and historians will be available to meet you.
5:00-ish pm Gerking Family Reunion No-Host Dinner and Meeting — Place to be determined. See below for more information.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 10, 2003
9:30 - 11:00 am Worship Service — All are invited to join the worship service, which will begin early to take advantage of the cooler morning air. If a quartet or group of singers from the Gerking Family would like to share a favorite worship song or hymn, they are most welcome to share during the service and/or later in the afternoon celebration. (Bixby Family, are you listening?)
11:30 am Lunch — This will be provided and served by the church either in the church fellowship hall or at the city park (about 6 blocks from the church). A “free will” donation basket will be available for any who can spare a few dollars to help offset the cost of the meal. We will need RSVPs for the lunch so the cooks can plan adequately.
1 - 3:30 pm Heritage Celebration — The afternoon Heritage Celebration will most likely be held in the building. We’ll do our best to cool the room, but experience tells us that August afternoons can be uncomfortably warm, so commemorative hand fans will be provided.
The afternoon will include music, an audio/video presentation of the church’s history, introductions of visitors and special guests, greetings from friends who could not attend, and a time for sharing memories and stories. The celebration will adjourn at mid-afternoon so guests who must drive home will have several hours of daylight in which to travel.
3:30-4:30 pm Tour & Talk Fellowship — Any who wish to stay longer to tour the building and/or talk with friends are welcome to attend the “come & go” fellowship time, which will last about an hour.More Details About the Heritage Celebration
The congregational history package will be available for purchase during the weekend and will include the printed text of the book “Christians on Wild Horse Creek,” a 100-page illustrated history of the congregation, and a computer CD that will include the entire text of the book (with
Acrobat Reader), research notes and photos that did not find a place in the book, and possibly the Heritage Celebration presentation as well. The information will be placed in a quality 3-ring binder with pockets so folks can integrate additional info as desired. The package will sell for about $30. Commemorative 2003 church pictorial directories containing a 4-page version of ACC’s history will also be available for about $5 each.
There's a very nice overview of Athena Christian Church's early history, including names of the charter members, at the web site Pioneer History to about 1900, Churches of Christ & Christian Churches in the Northwest, Umatilla County. The site is put together by Dr. Charles Dailey.
Gerking Reunion Details
Saturday Dinner and Family Meeting
Although the church has kindly offered us the use of their facilities for our family meeting, to ease the time problems associated with travel we think it will work better to have a no-host dinner and meeting at a reasonably-priced, kid-friendly restaurant in either Pendleton or Walla Walla. Many people will be traveling on Saturday, most likely getting into the area mid-afternoon that day, and this will allow them to get settled into a room or camping space and minimize further travel that day. Pendleton and Walla Walla are a little less than an hour’s drive apart, so no matter where you choose to stay the drive to the dinner/meeting would be reasonable. We would end the evening early enough for people to get back to wherever they're staying at a reasonable hour.
Lodging
Kayla Durfee, our contact with ACC, has written that Athena has no motels, but there may be limited RV accommodations in town. Pendleton (20 min. away) and Walla Walla (35 min) each have several nice motels and RV parks, and Milton-Freewater (15 min) has a large RV park right off the highway. Adams (5 min) or Weston (5 min) may also have RV parks.
President Susan has also turned up the following on lodging:
- There is a toll free number that can be called
for lodging information in Pendleton. It is 1-800-311-5174 or if people
have Internet access, they can go to http://www.redtaghotels.com/hotels/pendleton-or1.htm.
The Pendleton Travelodge is located at 411 SW Dorion
Avenue, Pendleton, OR 97801 and goes for about $63.00 a night. It is centrally
located in downtown and is close to most all local attractions. The Pendleton
Chamber of Commerce has a list of lodgings
on the web. You can contact the Chamber of commerce for information by
email
or call 1-800-547-8911.
- For RV parks, I found: Arrowhead RV Park, Hwy 84, exit #216, Pendleton. Phone number 541-276-8484, and Brooke RV court, 5 NE 8th St. Phone number 541-276-5353. Also, The Lookout RV Park at 601 Airport Rd. (I-84, exit 207) 541-276-6014, Pendleton. The nicest looks to be the Wild Horse Gaming Resort and Hotel (I-84, Exit 216) East of Pendleton. A toll-free number to call is 1-800-654-Wild(9453). These might possibly have camp ground sites also.
Recap & Registration Form
We will need RSVPs for the Gerking Reunion dinner and meeting in order to get a head count and reserve enough space. The site for the dinner will be determined by responses received from those planning to attend the reunion, and we will do another mailing with complete details to those who respond.
We will need to know if
- you plan to attend the reunion dinner/meeting and the number of people attending with you;
- you plan to attend all or part of the associated activities and the number of people attending with you;
- are part of a group that would like to sing during
Sunday worship; please give a few details.
If you're planning to attend, please fill out the registration form and mail it to Secretary-Treasurer Beth Johnston as soon as possible, but in any event no later Monday, July 21. You may also send email with all the needed information or phone Beth. Address and phone information are on the registration form. Click here for the registration form.