On July 4, 1921, the Heiden family started a tradition which was to continue for the next 58 years. That was the year of the first Heiden Family Reunion which was held at the home of Lena (Heiden) and John Koster, Jr. on Radke Road near Dundee, Michigan.

Nobody knows for sure why the reunion was started. Several family members recall that the Laas families out of Toledo, Ohio were instrumental in arranging them. Miss Libbie Laas, Louis and Rika (Laas) Burmeister. Louis Laas, John and Emma (Ullrich) Laas,  Mr. and Mrs. Walter Burmeister and Andrew and Annie (Ruggelein) Paulsen, all from Toledo were very active in the early reunions.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles (Carl) Laas and Mr. and Mrs. William Laas made the long journey from San Antonio and Houston, Texas, respectively, to attend. That was quite a trip in the early 1920's so the reunion must have been very special to them. These people were often called "distant relatives" but our research shows that they were related to August Heiden's wife, Rika (right).

Generally, the reunions were most commonly held on Independence Day, July 4th. However, some were scheduled for the first Sunday in July and the 1963 even was on June 30th.

In the beginning, the site of the reunion rotated among the homes of several family members. William Carl and Mary (Rambow) Heiden, Ernst "Ernest" and Emma Heiden, Emma (Stock) Heiden, Agnes (Heiden) and John Koster, John and Agness (Brockman) Heiden and Edna (Heiden) and Henry Berns took turns hosting the gathering in the early years.

The event was canceled in 1924 due to “sicknesses and deaths” and in 1926, it was held at the home of C.L. Brockman on Day Road. They were the parents of Agnes (Brockman) Heiden. (Two reunions in the late 1970s were held at the home of Leo and Lucille (Smith) Heiden.)

Use of family homes continued until 1938 when the site was shifted to the Grange Hall near Grape, Michigan on North Custer Road where it stayed until 1954. In 1955, they used the Stowell School on Dixon Road near South Custer for one year and returned to the Grange Hall for the last time in 1956.

From 1957 to 1967, with the exception of two years, the reunion was held at the Ida Firemen’s Park located on Lewis Avenue behind the Fire Station in Ida. The two exceptions were 1959 when the gathering was “Postponed” and 1963 when it took place at Erie Township Park.

After the death of Wm Carl Heiden in January of 1967, a much smaller scale reunion once again moved to the Stowell School house on Dixon Road. It was held there from 1968 to 1977.

The final two reunions in the original string of annual gatherings were held at the home of Leo and Lucille Heiden on South Custer Road. The last one occurred in 1979.

A revival of the Heiden Family Reunion was held on Sunday, September 3, 1995 in Dundee. There were over 125 people present making it one of the best attended reunions of all time.

Throughout the decades, people have taken pictures at the Heiden Reunions and we have been fortunate enough to have accumulated many of them to display here. In some years, an article appeared in the local newspaper with a summary of the event.

The reunions always featured a short business meeting where officers were elected and important decisions were discussed. Minutes were recorded and a detailed accounting of the money amounts collected and expenses incurred were listed in a book.

For the first twelve reunions, William Carl Heiden was elected president. A.J. Paulsen acted as secretary/treasurer for many of the early years. Judges for races were selected and committees were formed for the corn guessing, cracker eating, marshmallow eating and grab-bag contests. Often prizes were awarded to the oldest and youngest individuals present.

In those early years, it was common to see an entry for 10 cents for marshmallows or 85 cents for 24 bottles of pop. From the beginning, a cherished ritual was the arrival of the ice cream. Usually, it came in a well insulated canvas container often packed in dry ice. Later in the afternoon, everyone would gather around as one of the adults dipped cones for all the kids and then for the adults. Early records show an expense of $1.65 for 300 cones and $14.00 for 10 gallons of ice cream.

Picture from left to right: Harold Heiden, David and Bertha Heiden and Mary Lou Opfermann

Sorry, but somewhere along the line, the author's name has been misplaced. If you know the name of the author of this poem, please let me know by email so we can give him or her credit.

In 1915, Herman Heiden and his wife, Reka, moved north from Monroe County, Michigan to Isabella County. They raised their four children there and, eventually, the family grew to a large size. Starting in 1963, the Herman and Reka Heiden Family started holding a reunion at family homes in Isabella, Clinton and Ingham Counties.

Click Here for a brief summary of the events from 1963 to 2005.