May 3, 2025 Virtual Family Reunion
Heiner Virtual Zoom Reunion
Sat 3 May 2025, 10:00 am, MDT, 6:00 pm German time
Attendees:
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Terry Welch
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Bruce Warner
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Kathleen Lindsay
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Scott S Heiner
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Steve Taggart
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Jared Heiner
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James Heiner
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Anita Wells
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Carolyn Kuroiwa
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Colette Miller
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Dana Palmer
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Eberhard Wolf
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Gary Dittmore
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Holly Roberts
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Jeff Heiner
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Jeremy Heiner
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Kristina Heiner
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Karen Dovenburger
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Kelle Newhall
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Kristi Welch
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Launa Gay
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Lorelai Petersen
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Lori Brundage
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Mark Seare
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Marsha Baron
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Nathan Cranney
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Paul Seare
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Phillip Heiner
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Richard Paul
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Sabrina Gunther
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Isabella Wachmer
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Steve Berlin
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Willaim Paul
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Kateyln Jacobs
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Edyth Pehrson
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Jacquelyn Baldwin
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Michael Scholz
Nine people from America who went on the trip; four Germans
Opening Prayer: Kathleen Lindsay (English & German)
Our dear Heavenly Father, we thank thee for this beautiful day and for all thy many blessings. Thank you that we could gather today to honor our ancestors, Martin and Adelgunda Heiner in this our 2025 worldwide Heiner family reunion! We ask thee to bless our German friends and relatives who hosted us last year as we joined them in their glorious Wasungen City festival. We are grateful to gather today to celebrate the blessing of such a rich heritage of pioneer courage, faith, integrity, industry, righteousness, and temple covenants. We pray that we will follow their examples and carry on this legacy! Please bless our genealogy and temple work to go forward under thy watch care. Bless us now in our meeting today that we will enjoy this time together and find joy in our unity as a Heiner family, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Agenda:
Heiner Virtual Reunion -- 3 May 2025
5 Minutes - Intro - Everyone mute your microphones if not speaking - Scott Heiner
5 Minutes - Opening Prayer - Kathleen Lindsay
10 Minutes - Greeting from MHFO President - Jared Heiner
5 Minutes - Overview of the tour - Phil Heiner
5 Minutes - Greeting from Wasungen - Eberhard Wolf
10 Minutes - Video of Adelgunda's house, school, church, museum (Kathleen) - Scott Heiner
15 Minutes - Slide show of September trip - Lorelai Petersen
5 Minutes - Greeting from Walldorf - Sabrina Gunther
8 Minutes - Video tour of Kirchenburg (Sabrina) - Scott Heiner
5 Minutes - Announce illustrated storybook of Martin & Adelgunda - Scott Heiner
60 Minutes - Open time to chat, connect and reminisce - Everyone
Total Time: 2 hours, 16 minutes
The Americans who traveled to Germany consisted of 24 Heiner descendants and 12 spouses for a total of 36 people.
During the trip, we visited the potash mine in Merkers where the Nazis hid tons of plundered gold and artworks during World War II. The Americans found it and removed all the treasures just before the Russian soldiers arrived.
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1999/spring/nazi-gold-merkers-mine-treasure.html
This historic event partly inspired the 2014 film The Monuments Men.
We also visited Point Alpha, a crossing point between West and East Germany with guard towers on either side. Eberhard Wolf was a guard in the East tower at age 17 (1973) https://www.pointalpha.com/en/
Finally, we visited Weimar, the capitol of Germany between WWI and WWII. Weimar is a focal point of the German Enlightenment and home of Goethe and Schiller, the two most revered figures in German literature.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Schiller
Scott announced that at RootsTech in March 2025, he bought an account with Family History Storybooks for a 36% discount. He asked the group for input to make a Martin & Adelgunda Heiner book https://familyhistorystorybooks.com/