|
 Starting
in 1921, the family of August and Rika Heiden began holding a
reunion during the summer at various locations in Monroe County.
These continued as a regular, annual affair for 56 of the next
58 years until 1979. After that, reunions were held only
occasionally.
The first 16 gatherings were held
at homes of family members and, two later reunions in 1978 and
1979 were also held at homes. In the late 1930s, the number of
people attended was too large to be accommodated at a home so
they moved to bigger facilities. From 1938 to 1956 with the
exception of 1955, the reunion was held on the grounds of the
Grange Hall in
Grape, Michigan, a tiny community in
Raisinville Township a couple of miles from the home of
Wm Carl and Mary
(Rambow) Heiden.
 In
1958, the reunion was moved to the Ida Fireman's Park in Ida,
Michigan. It was held there for nine years with the 1959 event
being canceled and the 1963 edition being held at Erie Park in
La Salle Township. The Grange Hall and Fireman's Park
reunions had probably the peak for attendance.
 In
1955 the family met at the much smaller Stowell School house on
Dixon Road. After
Wm Carl Heiden's death in 1967, there were
reduced crowds and the event was moved back to Stowell from 1968
to 1977. As mentioned above, the 1978 and 1979 reunions were
held at the home of Leo and Lucille Heiden. This was the end of
the annual event.
There was a revival of the
reunion in 1985 at the home of Wm Frank and Helen (Henning)
Heiden, in 1995 at the Old Mill facility in Dundee and another
at the same site
in the year 2000. In 2002, the final reunion was held at the
Fraternal Order of Police hall near Monroe, Michigan.
The following names and reunion locations were included in the old
notebook that was used for minutes of the reunions. We have
images for the dates in RED.
If you have pictures from these or other reunions, we would
appreciate having a copy.
EMAIL |
