BERNBECK-HAUPTSTAMM STRACK I REUNION

23 OCTOBER 1999

Elijah McLean Restaurant

Washington, Missouri

REVISED ON 17 NOVEMBER 1999 - PLEASE NOTE CHANGES IN RED BELOW

      Dr. Otto-Georg Hermann R. Richter

From Bad Neuenahr, Germany

Honored Family Member and Principal Speaker

     It was a very successful reunion in Washington, Mo.!  We had a very good attendance and Dr. Otto-Georg Richter kept us enraptured with his Brother's Keeper and PowerPoint presentations concerning the Bernback Family history and adopted Strack branches.  We were most honored to have Otto present for this historic event.  Also, we were pleased that Stefan Bernbeck from Switzerland was able to attend and accompany Otto in this travels in Missouri. The food and service at the Elijah McLean was excellent and the restaurant staff was most gracious and cooperative in accommodating our last minute changes and getting setup for the computer projection.  We sold tickets for 83 but according to my count, only 79 showed up; those missing according to my records are: (1) Thomas and Judy Bernbeck; (1) Russell Banderman (Beverly was there); and Debra Lamke who did not pick up their tickets.  There were also a couple of very small children who were not counted as their food consumption was very light and we were happy to see that our Strack line is continuing!  However, there could have been some last minute substitutions as things were moving very fast and I could have made a mistake.  I just received a copy of the signed roster from Vera Strack and will correlate this with my records.  If anyone knows otherwise, please let me know.   Sorry, we missed a few of you folks but no refunds as we had to pay for 83 meals.  I am most grateful for the donations received to offset our additional expenses as well as the Otto's offer to pick up the cost of the projector rental through the good offices of the Bernbeck Union in Germany.  At first I thought we would suffer a loss but as it turned out, we have $103.89 left over which we can use for the final report and future mailing notices.  See the final report and financial statement at: 

 Bernbeck-Hauptstamm Strack I Reunion Final Report  

Below are some selected scenes:

Raymond and Vera Strack from Truxton, Missouri

Stacy Skornia from Washington, Mo., and Stefan Bernbeck from Switzerland

Tommy and Mary Ann Dobsch from Mission Viejo, California

     We are very grateful to Tommy and his niece, Debbi Skornia of Washington, Mo., for their most successful efforts in boosting attendance of Dobsch family relatives in the local area.  It would not have been possible to have had such a successful reunion without their efforts.  Since I failed to get a good picture of Debbi and Greg at the reunion, I am providing the below photo which was taken in their lovely home in June 1999.  

Debbi (nee Dobsch) and Greg Skornia of Washington, Mo.

In the right forefront is my cousin, Anne Mullen, Daughter of Thelma Schowengerdt Loring

     Above is the only marker left of the former town of Pitts, where Karl Konstantin Strack spent most of his life preaching and teaching in the Church below.  This sign is near the intersection of Highways M and Y, a few miles East of Warrenton and just South of Wright City .

Strack (Harmony) Church and Cemetery, burial site of Karl Konstantin Strack and Katherine Margaret Renneker

     It was only in 1998 that Dr. Otto Richter, my third cousin in Germany, introduced me to the rich cultural heritage on my Grandmother Karoline Marie Strack's side of the family.

Karoline Marie Strack, Daughter of Karl Konstantin Strack and Katherine Margaret Renneker

(See  Reunion In Germany ).  My Great Great Grandfather, Gottfried Friedrich Christian Strack, a distinguished German Evangelical Reformed Church (Lutheran) pastor in Londorf, Germany, married my Great Great Grandmother, Philippine Luise Auguste Floranze Henriette Bernbeck in 1806.  As it turns out, the Bernbeck family ancestry consists of an impressive line of pastors, magistrates, business leaders, and nobility which has been traced as far back as 220 A.D.   It has been demonstrated that the Bernbeck family descended from such royalty as the Mercian Kings, the Kings of Wessex, the Merovingian Kings, the Carolingian Kings [Charlemagne (Karl der Gross) was one of these], the Von Habsburgs, and the Von Hohenstauffens, among others.  All of this has taught me an invaluable lesson, i.e., that one should never neglect the female side of the family!  When I attended the Bernbeck Family Reunion in Germany last year I was appointed as the representative of the Bernbeck and Strack tribes in the United States and charged with the responsibility of establishing reunions here.  I was greatly assisted in this endeavor by the efforts of Tommy Dobsch, another newly discovered cousin, who developed a mailing list for the Bernbecks and Strack I tribe.  As there are apparently not very many Bernbecks in the U.S.A. and the Strack I tribe appeared to be one of the most prolific and known to us, it was decided that this group should comprise the first reunion and that invitations would be extended to all of the Bernbecks and Strack I descendants. The Haupstamm (Main Stem) Strack I is an adoptive tribe of the Bernbeck family and refers to those descendants of Gottfried Frederich Christian Strack and Philippine Luise A. F. Henriette Bernbeck.  In future years efforts will be made to organize reunions of other Bernbeck tribes and adoptive branches such as Strack II and Strack III.

Further details concerning the Strack Reunion may be obtained from:  rschowe173@aol.com

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