Sometimes Lester Lubold drives to the Stone Valley Picnic Grove just to sit and envision the laughter and conversations of his Bahner/Bohner relatives joining in their family reunions.
“It brings back good memories when you sit there and think of that,” Lubold said.
This August the Bahner/Bohner clan will add to those memories when it celebrate its 100th family reunion at the grove owned by Zion Stone Valley Church, near Dalmatia. The reunion has been held there for as long as Lubold’s cousin, Bonnie Kuhns, can remember.
“That’s the nice thing. It’s in the same grove,” said Kuhns, who lives near Dauphin. “I say, ‘Isn’t this beautiful? It’s God’s country, by the mountainside.’”
Kuhns’s mother, Ellen Leffler, was the daughter of Elijah and Amelia Bohner, who had 12 children. One died in infancy, but the other 11 went on to have families of their own. Kuhns is the youngest of 11 siblings. One of her aunts had 10 children.
“It’s beautiful to have so many relatives,” she said.
The Bahner/Bohner reunions center on a feast of roast turkey and ham made by family members and accompanied by the usual trimmings of mashed potatoes, gravy and filling. Everybody also brings a casserole, salad, dessert or drinks to share.
“I always have a big coffee pot,” Kuhns said. “Our relatives love their coffee.”
Both Kuhns and Lubold gave the same answer when asked about favorite family food.
“The one I really enjoyed, when my grandmother (Dorothy Feger) was alive, she made fish pie,” Lubold said. “They were the best pies. I just loved them.”
“That’s a Pennsylvania Dutch tradition,” Kuhns said. “Why they named it fish pie, I don’t know. It’s a cookie dough crust. That’s what makes it so good.”
Kuhns said fish pies, with a filling consisting in part of Karo syrup, sugar and vanilla, can be bought today at the Deppen stand at Crossroads Sale and Market in Gratz, on Fridays.
“My aunt spoiled me,” Kuhns said. “I will eat pie, but I never eat pie crust. Unless it’s fish pie.”
Her aunt’s pies were so treasured, one wasn’t nearly enough.
“My Aunt Dorothy made as high as 20 pies (for the reunions),” Kuhns said. “Everybody loves them.” At a white elephant auction at one reunion, one of Aunt Dorothy’s fish pies was up for bids. “Let me tell you, we got at least $25 for that one pie.”
The Bahner/Bohner reunions feature the usual kids’ games, Bingo, horseshoes and a family meeting run by the reunion officers. Although he good-naturedly claims he was “railroaded,” Lubold is the current president. Kuhns is the secretary.
Prizes are awarded for various categories, including most senior family member. Last year, that was Bonnie’s sister, Betty Keiter, 84, and Paul Leffler, 80, Gratz. The youngest babies were 13-month-old Amara Barge and 2-month-old Braxton Catranis. Longest married couples, at 59 years, were Paul and Millie Leffler, Gratz, and Jim and Joan Snyder, Quincy, Michigan. The Snyders also snagged the farthest travelled award at 510 miles.
When he was alive, Kuhns’ uncle, Clarence Bohner, use to make the trip regularly each August to the reunion from his Long Island home, as did Ted Brosious, a cousin to Kuhns, from West Virginia.
“It’s just a good, old-fashioned picnic. I love it,” Kuhns said. “And it’s not unbearably hot, even when it’s 90 degrees. You’re sitting on the north side of the mountain.”
If it rains, everyone takes shelter in the picnic pavilion.
“It’s big,” Kuhns said. “It’s enough so that when it’s pouring down raining, we’re still dry.”
Last year’s picnic drew a crowd of about 60 relatives, but Kuhns anticipates it might double this year for the 100th celebration. She has commemorative mugs and pens for family members and looks forward to seeing at least one cousin who now lives in Washington State. She hasn’t seen him since he was about eight years old.
Larry Kuhns, Bonnie’s husband, is in the process of restoring her father’s 1954 Chevy and hopes to have it ready to drive to one more reunion.
“I love family reunions,” Bonnie Kuhns said. “Family means everything. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have family.”
Having large families helped the Bahner/Bohner clan keep their reunion alive for 100 years, Lubold said. He looks forward to this year’s conversations and laughter in the mountainside picnic grove.
“I just like the idea of seeing these people you don’t get to see for a year,” he said. He also enjoys meeting new relatives or friends of relatives each year, he said, and added, “If people read this article and belong to the Bahners/Bohners, make sure you get there.”
The Bahner/Bohner family reunion is open to any descendents of the Bahner/Bohner family and is held on the third Sunday of every August — this year’s is Aug. 19 starting at noon — at the Stone Valley Picnic Grove owned by the Zion Stone Valley Church, 1899 Mountain Road, Dalmatia. For more information, please call Bonnie Kuhns at 717-921-3468.
