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Klafehns Are Laughin': The Reunion Turns 100

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By JEAN KLAFEHN RATH

Special to the Tribune

Published: July 13, 2008

PALM HARBOR - In 1936, a photograph was taken of my extended family, the Klafehns, in front of our old homestead in Walker, N.Y. We were at our annual reunion. The black-and-white picture shows siblings, aunts, uncles, grandchildren, parents and cousins. I am a little girl age 5, sitting in the first row.

We were all related through eight brothers and sisters who emigrated from Germany in the late 1800s and settled in upstate New York. One was my grandfather, John Klafehn.

Those eight siblings who came to America had lots of children - my father, Arthur, was the youngest of 15 brothers and sisters - and the extended family grew exponentially. In my father's branch of the family tree, I'm one of 52 first cousins.

The Klafehns love family reunions. The first was held in 1908 at my Uncle Frank's house in Walker, N.Y. I have an old photograph from that day. There were enough Klafehns to form six rows in front of Uncle Frank's front porch.

For a small child, a family reunion was a happy day. You could run and play with cousins you might not ordinarily get to see. You could eat desserts and ice cream, washed down with lemonade, until you were almost sick.

In 99 years, the annual Klafehn reunion was canceled only three times. The first was in 1943, during World War II. Citizens were encouraged to restrict travel to conserve gasoline for the war effort. Deaths in the family brought the second and third cancellations, in 1964 and 1977.

We've met on the third Sunday in August since the mid-1950s. Reunions used to be rotated among houses of family members, where a big tent might be staked in the backyard. That was before there was so many of us. Nearly 700 were at the 1982 reunion. For a long time now, we've met in an air-conditioned hall in Hilton, N.Y.

Being able to stay connected by computer has made it easier to keep up with family milestones and how many are in the Klafehn tribe. My niece Kristine is now the family historian and sent me the statistics for 2007: 60 weddings, 65 births, 11 deaths, nine divorces. In all, the number of direct descendants grew to more than 2,600.

This year - as always - the Klafehns will hold a reunion on the third Sunday of August. We will meet on Aug. 17 in upstate New York. It will be our century mark in a remarkable tradition, the 100th anniversary of when the Klafehns first gathered for ice cream and lemonade in celebration of family ties.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Jean Klafehn Rath, 76, grew up in Hamlin, N.Y., where she married and raised three daughters. She moved to Florida in 1984 to be closer to her grandchildren. Rath works part time as a receptionist for a rehabilitation and nursing center in Pinellas County.

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