A Garrison School Reunion Book, First Edition, is now available for
$10 at Amazon.com and other online booksellers, and will be also be available at
the reunion. We need a photographer to take photos at the reunion events to be added
to the book for inclusion in the Final Edition.
Please email, call, or write classmates you’re in touch with or have contact information for to tell them about the reunion and encourage them to come. Anyone who isn’t able to come is invited to send a message to be displayed during the reunion.
Here’s the current schedule of events:
Friday, Oct. 23
1:00 Set up displays and memorabilia in the school cafeteria,
2:00 Introductory talk on the Germans from Russia who settled around
Garrison School from 1882-1920, many of whose descendants attended Garrison with
us,
2:45 Dedication of Germantown Sign at Garrison Creek Bridge
3:00 Historical Walking Tour of the Germantown Neighborhood
4:00 Introductions and Reminiscences--Members of the Classes of 1956-1960, Teachers and Administators
5:00 Displays & Dancing
6:00-9:00 Reunion Dinner & Party at Mill Creek Brew Pub--No-host
Saturday, Oct. 24
Class or Elementary School Breakfasts (to be arranged)
9:00-1:00 Downtown Farmers Market, 4th & Main
Tasting at many of Walla Walla’s more than 150 wineries
Class or Elementary School Lunches (to be arranged)
11:30-5:00 A Salute to the Heritage of Walla Walla's Germans from Russia, free seminar, Garrison
School Cafeteria (details below)
7-10:00 Fourth Annual Victorian Ball sponsored by the Kirkman House
Museum, M-F Community Building (details below)
Dan Clark is coordinating the reunion for the class of 1958. If you are from any of the graduating classes from 1956-1960 and would be willing to help out, please email Dan at clarkdn@charter.net, or call 509-522-0399. Also, please email Dan to let folks know you're coming, so we can expect you.
The links to the right include Garrison's first Golden Sabre annual in 1956 as well as the 1957, the 1958, the 1959, and the 1960 Golden Sabre, along with A Brief and Expanding History of Garrison, information about German immigrants in the Garrison School neighborhood, and a reunion book from Prospect Point which was one of the schools in the Garrison district. We'll be posting more information on this site as the reunion approaches. If you have things to share, please email clarkdn@charter.net.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24 11:30 am to 5:00
pm
Free Seminar on the History and Resources for Research on Walla
Walla’s Germans from Russia.
Noted Northwest genealogist Doris Eckhardt Evans of Almira, WA and
the Big Bend chapter of AHSGR will be available during the day to assist
researchers.
“A Salute to the Heritage of Walla
Walla’s
Germans from
Russia”
11:30 am WELCOME and Introduction of Speakers and
Guests
Charles Saranto of Walla Walla’s Blue Mountain Chapter of the
American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR) and on the National
AHSGR Board.
11:45 pm “Catherine the Great’s Call to the
Germans” KEYNOTE
The “Germans from
Russia” are a unique ethic group from Germany that sought freedom from
oppressive rulers and an opportunity of self-determination by accepting the
invitations to become colonists in tsarist Russia in the 18th
century. These invitations included numerous special privileges as inducements.
As the privileges were rescinded a century later – many immigrated to North and
South America and the Pacific Northwest.
Speaker: Dr. Richard D. Scheuerman of Spanaway, Washington -
Professor from Seattle Pacific University in Seattle and noted Northwest author
from the Palouse whose ancestors came from the Volga village of Jagodnaja
Polyana
1:00 pm “Stories of the
Germans from Russia in Walla Walla’s Russaecke”
Life in this immigrant ethnic community - 1st and
2nd generation interviews
Historian Jean A. Roth – President, Greater Seattle Chapter of AHSGR
and Director of Education for the Seattle Genealogical Society and Library.
Jean’s father was born in “Russaecke” in 1907 and her grandparents came from the
Volga villages of Walter and Frank.
2:00 pm FAMILY HISTORY
RESOURCES for the GERMANS FROM RUSSIA
An
update on the genealogical resources now available for researchers - especially
since the fall of the Soviet Union nearly 25 years ago. These include the American Historical Society of Germans from
Russia (AHSGR) Origins Project and Village Coordinators and The Center for Volga German Studies (CVGS)
– Concordia University of Portland, Oregon. The new Center for Volga German Studies supports
research into and the preservation of the heritage,
history, traditions and accomplishments of the Volga Germans. This repository
has many records now available from Russia. Speaker: Dr.
Brent Mai formerly of Purdue University – Current Director of the CVGS.
Historian, Author, and records acquisitions.
3:15 pm Family Search: Obituaries of the Germans
from Russia (former SOAR project) and the website
“FindaGrave
Two important free on-line research tools for the Germans from
Russia
Speaker: Sue Schessler Ramey
of Burlington, Washington – Director of the Mt. Vernon LDS Family History
Center. Sue’s grandfather was born in the village of Walter, Russia and her
grandmother was born in “Russaecke” in 1904.
3:45 pm. “From Germany to
Russia and then to Walla Walla: One
family’s Journey” Speakers: Michael Frank of Vancouver, Washington and the
Oregon Chapter of AHSGR and Larry Frank of Walla Walla’s Blue Mountain Chapter.
Their family came from Kautz, Russia and settled in Walla
Walla.
The Kirkman House Museum presents its
FOURTH ANNUAL VICTORIAN BALL
Saturday, Oct.
24, 2015
Milton-Freewater Community Center
Doors open at 7:00pm
Dancing begins at 7:30pm with the Grand March.
Dancing begins at 7:30pm with the Grand March.
featuring civil war era dances taught by
a dancing master and
a 12-piece Country Dance Orchestra from
LaGrande
No partner or experience necessary. Tickets $20 per person, students $15.
$25 at the door. Vintage dress desired but not
required.
Sponsored by the Kirkman
House Museum
For tickets or more information:
kirkmanhousemuseum.org, 529-4373
