January 2009 Update!

Happy New Year to all! We hope you are all still planning to make the Herr reunion part of the your 2009 activities.

A few updates for everyone:

-Clara Jean Herr just celebrated her first birthday. Hers is the only Herr birthday in January! She had a cowgirl themed party and quite enjoyed her angel food cake. Since her mom and Grandma do the blog, we thought it was our prerogative to post two photos:
-We know that Diana and Ed celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary on July 16th of 2008. Their family is looking forward to attending the July reunion - here's a photo of that memorable day way back in 1983. For those with a keen eye, you'll see a young Ms. Liz Herr in the below photo. It should be noted that Liz will be a bride herself in September of this year! See if you can keep your eyes away from Bruce's stylish tie. Yikes. -Another reminder for all that we are currently gathering memorabilia (a.k.a. Mary and Peter have been cleaning out their basement) to be displayed at the reunion - so plan to bring whatever you think would be fun and/or embarrassing to share.

-Lastly, soon it will be time to begin making reservations at the Starved Rock Lodge - we'll keep you updated when more information is available.

Mystery Photo (from Sarah)

Hi Mary,

Even if I didn't recognize the beautiful Herr-Cardillo girls, Brooke the
Dancer, Starr the Environmentalist and Hope the Drummer, the University of
Arizona Wildcats Mascot in the background is a dead giveaway for any Tucson
resident.

Thank you for this website! It's a great way to get us excited about this
summer (and to remember to keep our calendars free).

s

Happy Halloween!

Here are a couple of the youngest Herrs on Halloween night. Clara the Bat and Henry the Lion.
And the whole family....
Does anyone else have Halloween pictures to share?

A Note From Pat

Hi Mary & Pete - Thanks for your news and also congratulations to Liz. Or I guess it should be "best wishes" if you're fussy. They might like Cincinnati. I do know it's pretty close to Indianapolis.
It seems that 2009 is a big year in our family as well since Patrick will finish med school in the spring and marrying his Sarah on May 30th. He called me a couple of weeks ago to say that he's applying to the UofA for residency-------wouldn't that be great? I later heard from Teresa that he's also applying to a number of others so I'll tone down my enthusiasm. Their other son Taylor is doing his junior year foreign study in Tibet/lndia so his latest email said he'll be living in a tent for the next 6 weeks.
Andrea & Mike's son got married last Aug, Mariah's master program finishes in the spring, Sierra & Nick are in NZ where they are touring the country to share his bronze medal from the Olympics to the people there. And Gyp & Don with their four kids are spending the year in Alexandria, VA where he is completing his religious studies and will be ordained and return to their church in Madison, WI.
Bob's oldest, Allie, is now in college at Spring Arbor, MI which has ties to the Free Methodist church.
Lastly, Joy & Dave's Starr graduates this year in Dec from the U of A and Brooke in her second year of dance at SUNY Purchase, NY while Hope is a sophomore in HS and plays drum (this for Pete). She loves the steel drum class the most.
Just last week Joy and I returned from six days in NYC. Terry met us for the week-end. We had a B&B in an old brownstone on the upper west side. We took the train to Purchase and were able to attend Brooke's modern dance class as well as an all school rehearsal so we saw lots of dance and loved it. B came back to the city with us for the week-end and we all had a fun, fun time.
Gosh, Mary, I think I just wrote my Xmas letter. Aren't you sorry you asked? It's always good to hear from family and I am looking forward to seeing Bruce & Ellen at Thanksgiving time as well as Sarah & Jeff. I am looking forward to the reunion, but I don't know how many of us will be there. Too soon to get a commitment. I have to mention Bonnie before closing. We are now in certification class so I think she will graduate next spring also. She fills the void and keeps me going.
Love, Pat

The Results Are In!

The results are in! After weeks of exhaustive testing, the National Geographic Genographic Project has announced my results -- on the matrilineal side, Haplogroup L; on the patrilineal, Haplogroup I1a. As far as I can tell, this means that after our folks migrated from Africa they wound up in Western Europe, which is what we knew before we began the project. But it's fun to see the results. Check them out at www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/journey.html. The passcode for my matrilineal results is "FWB8MQUJ76." For the patrilineal, it's "FWMD5A395E." I've already completed the questionnaire, so please don't add any more information, but enjoy browsing the site.

Thanks!

--Bruce.

Mary and Peter's Trip and Congratulations Liz and Van

Mary and Peter took a trip to England and Ireland at the end of the summer. Here are some photos and captions from Mary:


Viewing Hadrian's wall in England

Durham Cathedral - where our group was the "choir in residence" for one week

Preparing to sing an Evensong at Durham Cathedral in England

Peter enjoying the Cliffs of Moher

Cathedral ruins at Cong (Ireland)


And, as promised, here is a cute picture of the newly engaged Elizabeth and Van. This picture was taken shortly before Van moved to Cincinnati for his new job with Coca Cola. Liz is finishing up her masters work in vocal performance in Chicago. They are planning a wedding for September 5th, 2009 in Deerfield.
Bruce identified his daughter Sarah, but we still haven't gotten an identification in that second mystery photo! Thanks to Dave for his post...we look forward to hearing from other Herrs out there with news (hint hint, nudge nudge).

from Dave

We have been going through old photos gathering up memories to share. I will bring printed copies to the gathering, but these seemed well suited to share on the blog. We have all seen pictures of Henry. Here is a couple of famous ones of Peter in 1975. Could anyone guess that he is Henry's father? Some of us remember when Grandpa Peter looked almost the same as this. note the legendary "mean" look that the elder Peter passed on to his offspring.

The girls, of course, are Sarah and Rachel after a visit out here to Disneyland in 1977.

Dave