Baylor County Banner • August 4, 1949
Mr. and Mrs. George Parker and baby daughter, Diane, came in on Wednesday evening of last week for a visit with the former’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. G. K. Parker of Red Springs, and Mrs. Parker’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Fred McCord. They came for a 2-weeks stay. George is working for a pipe line company in Kentucky.
Baylor County Banner • <August 14, 1952
Members of two pioneer families of Young and Baylor counties met Saturday and Sunday in the City Park at Seymour for their third annual reunion. Attending were 75 descendants of the late Mr. and Mrs. John Kisinger of Graham and the late Mr. and Mrs. Matt Parker of Red Springs.
Coming from other parts of Texas: Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bailey, El Paso; Mrs. Emma O’Harrow, Mr. and Mrs. R. C. Berkshire and Will O’Harrow of Plainview; Mr. and Mrs. Odis Russell, Snyder; Mrs. Mary Francis Miller, Jacksboro; Mr. and Mrs. H. M. Leach, Kilgore; Mr. and Mrs. R. A. Morrison, Kamay; Mr. and Mrs. Don Worsham, Fort Worth; Mr. and Mrs. W. O. Roebuck of Olton; Mrs. Isabell Barker and Miss Helen Berry of Lubbock; Mrs. Bill Kisinger and children, Pamela and Patricia, of Earth; Mrs. Neal Sessions Baker, Sn Angelo; Mrs. Pat Jesche and Tommy of Miles; and Mrs. Gilbert F. Ray of Corpus Christi.
Attending from Red Springs were Mr. and Mrs. Jim Parker, Carl Kisinger, Gloria and Shirley Kisinger, G. K. Parker, Mrs. Ruth Brewer, Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Parker, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Parker and children, Billy and Sandra, Pat Shannon, R. R. Parker, Mrs. Elanor Barham, and children, Mary A. and George, Mr. and Ms. M. A. Parker and children, Joan and Jean.
There for the occasion from Seymour were Mr. and Mrs. Jean V. Kisinger, Mrs. Etta Long and Mr. and Mrs. John Kisinger and two children.
Attending from Newcastle were Mrs. Helen Berry and George and John Berry. From Graham were Mrs. S. F. Youngblood, Mr. and Mrs. John Y. Kisinger and Mr. and Mrs. G. E. Albright.
Visitors enjoying the reunion of the two families were Miss Joan Johnson of Lubbock; Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Beck of Vera; and Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Moore, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Cox; Mr. and Mrs. Dale Cox and children, Dick and Karen, all of Red Springs.
Baylor County Banner • August 15, 1957
The 8th Annual Kisinger and Parker family reunion was held at the Seymour park August 10th and 11th.
The relatives began to assemble at the park by 2:30 p.m. August 10th. 53 had registered by 6 p.m. and were ready to eat the bountiful supper prepared by the food committee. Afterwards all enjoyed visiting and exchanging looks at the many pictures made the previous year at the reunion.
Several remained over night at the park and had breakfast there the following morning.
Eighty-six had registered by noon Sunday for the barbecue dinner, which was prepared by Jessie Williams.
The day was spent reminiscing by the older folks. The younger ones had movie cameras clicking while the children enjoyed the many different play ground equipment and swimming pool.
After lunch, Carl Kisinger, general chairman, called the business session to order and it was decided in favor of continuing the reunion annually, at the Seymour park the second Saturday and Sunday of August.
The following were elected for 1958. Jim Parker, general chairman; Walt Bullard of Odessa, vice chairman, L. J. Barker of Pampa, chairman of foods, with Ernest F. Dean of Odessa and J. Y. Kisinger of Irving as assistants; George E. Berry of Graham, secretary.
Those attending this year were Mr. and Mrs. L. J. Barker and three children of Pampa; Mrs. Juanice Worsham and two children of Hurst; Mr. and Mrs. Ernest F. Dean, Mr. and Mrs. John Kisinger and two children, Shirley and Judy Glover, Mr. and Mrs. Walt Bullard and Mary, all of Odessa; Isabel Barker and Helen Berry of Lubbock; Deuon Barker of Abilene.
Mr. and Mrs. R. A. Morrison and three children of Wichita Falls; Mr. and Mrs. Owen Roebuck and three children of Olton; J. Y. Kisinger and sons, Steve, Larry and Clyde of Irving; Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Ray of Portland; Mr. and Mrs. R. C. Berkshire and two children of Plainview; Keith Berkshire and two children, Diane and Donnie of Chicago, Ill; Wanda and Connie Larken, Fort Stockton; Craig and Rose Anne Youngblood of Graham; Mr. and Mrs. R. D. Berry of Newcastle; Mr. and Mrs. Bob D. Berry and daughter, Margarette of Killeen; Mr. and Mrs. John Berry and George E. Berry of Graham.
Billy and Bettye Parker, Mr. and Mrs. G. K. Parker, Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Parker, Mrs. Ruth Brewer, Jim and Marie Parker, George R Barham, Carl and Ethel Kisinger, all of Red Springs; Mr. and Mrs. Jean Kisinger, Mrs. Etta Long and Gene Parker of Seymour.
Visitors present were: Mrs. Jane and Maud Shumate of Red Springs; M. L. Tucker and Mrs. Zula Machen of Seymour, Mr. and Mrs. Silas Breland of Olton; Oris Breland of Lubbock; Roy Breland of Houston; Margaret Badgett, Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Shumate and son, Mrs. Eunice Havins of Seymour and Jerry Hatter of Olton.
Baylor County Banner • August ??, 2015
For over 70 years, on the first full weekend of August, members of the Berry, Parker, and Kisinger families tote platters of glistening cakes and cookies and Tupperware containers filled with treasured salad and casserole recipes to a Saturday afternoon potluck supper which begins the reunion of families for an intergenerational celebration, culminating Sunday at a barbeque lunch.
According to Gloria Kisinger Dean, and Mary Allen Barham Slate, the tradition was started in June 1941 when members of the Parker family were gathered together following the funeral of Margaret Nancy “Kanse” Parker. Heavy rains flooded Red Springs and Seymour, keeping family members together through the weekend.
Slate, daughter of Eleanor Parker, said, “They ended up having a great time, and brothers Red and Jim Parker, along with their cousin Jim O’Harrow decided they should gather everyone again.”
She said, “They said it’s a shame we only get together for funerals, we need to do this more often. The O’Harrow’s had sheep and the Parker’s had cotton, so they had to figure out a time when they could host the gathering. They were going to plan it for August the next year, but then the war broke out,” she explained.
About five years later, the summer reunion was planned and the initial meeting site was under the mulberry shade trees at George Parker’s farm in Red Springs.
The reunion soon developed into a gathering of the Parker, Berry, and Kisinger clans and has continued for decades.
Through the years, dedicated family members throughout Texas, the nation and worldwide have marked their calendars and made travel plans to Seymour. The Portwood Pavilion has been the gathering site for later years.
Aside from eating delicious foods and reacquainting, activities have usually included swimming in the community pool and young cousins camping out overnight. This year, a few of the cousins dodged rain showers and played disc golf.
Bobby Slate, Mary’s daughter, remembers a memorable reunion held in the late 60s or early 70s.
“We got to stay out all night at the pavilion and we had a big massive food fight,” she admits.
Carrie Tamm, daughter of the Janie Kisinger and the late John Kisinger, and her cousin Heather Kisinger, wife of Michael and daughter-in-law to Carl and Sybil Kisinger, were in charge of the 2015 event, which included a raffle of items donated by family members to help defray costs of facility rentals and incidentals for the two-day event.
“This is pretty well organized, “ Heather Kisinger said.
This year’s attendance was good, with almost 90 expected for the Sunday lunch.
“It changes from year to year. Some years it’s down, and other times there have been over 100 people,” she said.
This year the family members were able to watch video footage from the 1950s on taken from video reels of past reunions.
Deborah Dean Dufour, and George Dean daughter and son of Gloria and Ernest Dean, arranged for video footage and slides transferred to digital formats.
Judy Glover Googins, daughter of Shirley Kisinger Reynolds, enjoyed watching the footage with her family members at this recent reunion.
“The photos and movies are priceless. I enjoyed watching them remembering our families and each other – the baths in the old galvanized tub in the back yard, the reunions in the park wearing Sunday dresses, the loved ones who have passed on, leap frog, sleepovers, horseback riding, parades, downtown Seymour, Mammas and Daddies when they were young, new babies now 60. So many smiles, tears and gasps of recognition,” she said.
Those interested in purchasing the CD of videos or photographs can contact Deborah Dufour, debdufour@yahoo.com.
For more information, please contact me.
Matt Dean
135 Woodhaven Lane
Taylor Lake Village, Tx 77586 US
(281) 928-9864
mateodb16@yahoo.com
Dean - Kisinger Family Trees