Frank Haight: Come rain or shine, Bowling family reunion reaches 100

What started 100 years ago as a joint birthday party for John Bowling and his wife, Elizabeth, has evolved into a century of family reunions.

On Sunday, June 10, approximately 60 family members from Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Arizona gathered at Sibley’s Hayes Park with food, scrapbooks, photographs and memorabilia for the family’s 100th continuous reunion.

Organizers say the milestone get-together wasn’t as large as in previous years because of the economy. But nevertheless, it was a “great turnout.”

The reunions, which have survived the Great Depression, two world wars and other calamities, might never have evolved had it not been for John Bowling’s son, Conrad, who wasn’t having any success in getting the large Eastern Jackson County family together to celebrate the birthdays of his parents.

Since the birthdays of John and Elizabeth were about a month apart, Conrad  decided to hold a joint birthday celebration on the second Sunday in June, which was halfway between their birthdays.

That started the family reunions and it continues today, says Conrad’s granddaughters, Barbara Meyer of Pleasant Hill, Mo., and Marian Millett of Raytown.

Sitting on the shaded patio in Marian’s s backyard – two days before the reunion – the family reminisced  about the Bowling family and past reunions. With Marian was her sister, Barbara, and Barbara’s son and daughter-in-law, Dale and Elaine Meyer.

The first family get-together, Marian says, was in 1913 on her grandpa Conrad’s spacious Buckner farm, where they continued each year on the second Sunday in June until his death on Oct. 17, 1947.

Following his death, Elmer Bowling, Conrad’s eldest son, hosted the reunions the next two years on his nearby farm. “But for some reason, Marian says, “it was moved to Lake Tapawingo and was there for two years. Then it was moved to Hayes Park (in 1957) and has been there ever since.”

Marian and Barbara say they are committed to the reunions and have attended most of them, with a couple of exceptions.

Marian, 85, has been a reunion attendee since age 5 and believes she has attended all the rest with one exception: “I think my folks missed one when I was a baby when they went to California.”

Her 78-year-old sister, Barbara, has missed two family gatherings.
One, she says, was when her daughter was born. The other, was when her husband was sick.

“Otherwise, I have attended them all.”

Both sisters have many memories of past reunions. They remember the time a 5-year-old girl nearly drowned when she fell into Lake Tapawingo. She was rescued by a cousin who saw her fall into the lake and disappear under the water.

Then four or five years ago, there was the “surprise” wedding at Hayes Park and the special pig roast in memory of the late Arlist Bowling, who always wanted to roast a pig at the reunion.

There are many reunion remembrances, but for Marian, the one she will never forget was jumping and frolicking with her cousins on the large haystack on her grandfather’s farm as a little girl.

Says Marian: “I know my granddad really hated that, but that is one thing I really remember.”

As for Barbara, what she recalls as a youngster was the long, curved drive leading up to her Grandpa Conrad’s farm in Eastern Jackson County.

“(The drive) was rocky and muddy, and on real rainy days (at the reunion), I can remember the men would make bets on who was going to make it up the drive,” she says, recalling some of the vehicles couldn’t make it and had to be pushed.

One would think that over a span of 100 years, at least one reunion would have been postponed or canceled for one reason or another. But such wasn’t the case.

“I don’t think it has ever been canceled for weather or anything else. We have been there in hot weather and in the rain,” Marian says, recalling there have been some stormy experiences, but no tornadoes or wind damage.

“We have been lucky,” says Barbara, who confesses she worries about the threat of tornadoes when it’s stormy because there is no place to go if one drops out of the clouds.

As for who plans the reunion, “It’s an automatic thing,” says Marian. “My husband (Charles) emcees with the help of other people. But no one plans it, because (the event) is an automatic thing. … Everyone knows the reunion is the second Sunday in June, always. There is no other date, so they plan on it all year. And we expect them to remember.”

The reunions don’t vary too much from year to year. In past years, attendees released balloons to remember those who had passed away. This year there was a special 100th anniversary cake to eat, as well as the recognition of Marjorie Perrin for her many years of service to the reunion and for providing genealogy information. Also saluted for their many years of service to the reunion were Marian and her husband, Charles, who was unable to attend because of illness.

Marian and Barbara are usually the first two family members to arrive at the reunion site. Their responsibility is setting up the large shelterhouse so dinner can be served on time. And that’s important.

“We eat at 12 o’clock noon,” says Barbara, explaining that was one of her grandfather’s rules. “… If your are not there to eat, we eat anyhow. That was farm rules.”

Both Barbara and Marian agree that eating is the highlight of each reunion, as is sharing family history and pictures, and  posing for the official reunion photograph.

What does Marian remember about her Grandpa Conrad?

“I remember him well. He was a dignified Englishman, who was so dignified that he didn’t even talk to the children,” she recalls. “He would talk to his sons and he called us ‘chillens.’”

Then there was the old farm rule that dictated the men eat first; the women and children were served next. However, there was no discrimination at the reunions. “We all ate together,” she says.

Bowling family members hope the yearly reunions will last another 100 years and not fade away because of lack of interest.

So that doesn’t happen, they are spreading the word. Next year’s reunion is Sunday, June 9. Ya’ll come.