2009 What Our Reunion Minutes Indicate 1901-2005

by Frank A. Disinger

Last year when looking ahead to this presentation I believed there would be much in our minutes to touch upon: wit, wisdom, interesting people and topics not previously reported upon. What I discovered, however, was the every day, common ordinary things, that interested our family in their time and in their place!

Secretary’s, during the early years, minutes, mentioned of their interests such as the grounds and tables decorated with flags and other patriotic bunting. I believe the family did provide our armed forces with personnel for every one of our country’s wars from the revolutionary war right into our present campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Occasional, mention being made of those in our country’s service, certainly, not a complete record.

Games were sometimes mentioned, horseshoes, croquet, races and baseball-games, pitting senior members against the younger generation. Boating and swimming in lakes, creeks and swimming pools in parks and at the reunion host’s home are often mentioned.

At almost every reunion for the first 30 years a “member of the cloth” was invited to address our gatherings. They included reverends Roselle, Ehman, Way, Stults, Peacock, Dillenbeck, Peel and Engle. They represented churches in the countryside adjacent to the reunion sites. Sometimes their family members would accompany them, and at one reunion two ministers attended and both made presentations. In 1984, due to very inclement weather, our reunion was held in the recreation hall of Emmanuel United Methodist Church in Lockport. God’s house was certainly a blessing on that occasion.

We cannot deny a religious heritage borne out by our attention to those servants of our almighty and we still give thanks to Him for His blessings upon our gatherings and any successes our family members enjoy.

Most early minutes speak of entertainment by various members. These took the form of recitations in poetry and song-solos or duets-and a Miss Tucker presented a program on Hawaii and Japan in 1911 which was very unusual for those days. Many times a special entertainment committee was formed and at others times the “host family” would provide. Family talent was displayed, in most forms, to the delight of both young and old.

Possibly under the wit category, although not funny at the time, was the subject of utensils for the early reunions. Dishes and spoons were rented and bills submitted for several years. Then in 1912 a special meeting was held for the purchase of dishes and in 1912 ten dozen tin spoons at $1.50, was authorized. In 1929 it was decided to sell all reunion dishes and in 1931 an auction was held with the proceeds going to the treasury. Thus ended the utensil saga, 31 years in the making.

Possibly our early treasury reports could, by some, be in the wit category. Seldom was there much more than change there-usually not more than 5 or 10 dollars. A collection of $12.00 might be received from the 120 people attending.

Food was always a priority and was always listed as bountiful, especially at early reunions. Food for the table was donated in the form of whole chickens or hams, watermelons, gallons of ice cream, vegetables, salads and baked beans. Most farm ladies were excellent cooks and bakers so fresh bread, pies and cakes abounded. Ice cream and watermelon were, however, favorite desserts and lemonade was always available to quench the thirst. Actually we still do well in the food department. Someone is always available at the grill and a dish to pass provides well for “the inner man”.

I am often asked about “famous” relatives. Every family “branch” must have one or two but none made our secretary’s minutes. I will attempt to provide some information, but here again, information of family members would be most welcome and improve much interest in our reunions and add greatly to our family “bragging-rites”.

To this end I’m starting what I call the Dei-lights thumb-nail biographical sheets. I hope they will be of interest to you, could become a reunion feature and possibly add to information for our web site. Five such Dei-lights are submitted this year!

I also include an index of those history papers presented since I became family historian and a listing of our reunion secretaries from the first reunion in 1901 to the present. They deserve our thanks always.

Respectfully submitted,

Frank A. Disinger, Family Historian

Glen was an educator during most of his life. After service in World War I he worked mostly on oil-well drilling crews until 1931. His college education was interrupted during his army service, at Michigan Agricultural College and resumed at Santa Barbara State College where he graduated in 1934. He received his master’s degree from Claremont Colleges while part-time teaching at Washington Elementary school in La Habra. Following his graduation he returned there; became its principal and also principal of the El Toro school.

He became Centralia School District superintendant where the Dysinger School was named in his honor in 1957. In 1961 he retired and made several cross-country trips in search of his roots.

Their trips in his small trailer “Teacher’s Pet” took them from California to Round Pond, Maine, to Lockport reunions and most places in between. My children were amazed at his diving into our back-yard pool at age 73, while parking next to our home to attend our reunion that year.

He won the Buena Park Chamber of Commerce Community Service Award and was feted at a public banquet given by Walter Knott of Knottsberry Farm fame, all in the year of his retirement in 1971.

He is remembered as a kind man and an effective communicator by those with whom he worked.

He is survived by a daughter and a son: Wilda Piantoni of Brea, Ca. and Glen H. Dysinger of Huntington Beach, Ca. 

William was a career U. S. Army colonel last living in Leavenworth, Kansas and was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant following his graduation from Oklahoma A & M College, Stillwater, OK., May 11, 1943 and retired May 30, 1973 as Director of Combat Operations Directorate at Fort Leavenworth.

He saw service during World War II with the 717th Separate Tank Battalion Cavalry in Europe. At war’s end he was accepted in the first class of Army Ground Forces pilot training and served as a helicopter test pilot at Fort Rucker. He was a naval war college graduate and became Director of Instruction at Fort Stewart Army Aviation School.

His overseas assignments included three tours of duty in Europe, one in occupied Japan, two tours to Korea and one in Vietnam. His decorations include the Silver Star and Distinguished Flying Cross with clusters.

Following retirement he served the city on the community development board and the planning commission and delivered meals on wheels for nearly 20 years. Also during retirement he became a weaver, established a mini woolen mill in his home, furnished with a Swedish Damask loom, a jack loom and a Japanese loom. He gave demonstrations at schools and took membership in several guilds of weavers and spinners to improve his skills and was the subject of “The Leavenworth Times Sunday Scene” in the Sept. 27, 1998 issue.

Bill & Liz visited me one reunion morning before 8:00 AM to get directions to Dysinger, N.Y. I gave them directions wearing my PJ’s, slippers, and robe.

He is survived by four children: Tom Dysinger, Denton, TX; Pamela Gibson, Silver City, MN; Bob Dysinger, LaLuz, NM; and Peggy Hensleigh, Winchester, KS.

Bill spoke at our 2002 reunion and so no presentation by our historian was provided. He was a life-long resident of Lockport, NY and was a community service volunteer and dog-handler for many years.

A Coast Guard veteran, he worked 18 years for the city as a sanitary inspector, was also employed by the Niagara County Health Department and the Urban Renewal Agency until his retirement in 1984. He was credited for the implementation of the city’s original 911 emergency program.

He was the author of two books “Manhunters” and “Police Text for Dog Handlers”. He was a lecturer at dog search-and rescue and law enforcement agency seminars around the world. He trained the first narcotics, cadaver and article search dogs in this area and provided two video tapes for dog handlers.

As a volunteer, for almost 50 years, he founded the Niagara County Special Forces Unit, the North American Search Dog Network and co-founded the National Police Bloodhound Association.

He received countless awards locally, including the George Gallager Memorial Award for service to Niagara County and the New York State DeWitt Clinton Masonic award for community service. He also earned awards from 10 other states, Quebec and Australia.

A genuine credit to our family, our city, our nation and the world!

Bill and Natalie have two sons: Dean of Hawaii and Keith of Arizona. 

Lance Grew up on Dewhirst Road in the Town of Royalton, was a 1976 graduate of Royalton Hartland Central School and was cited as a hero by the Highlands County Commission for his act of heroism and bravery.

He served as a paramedic for Highlands County Emergency Medical Services for 27 years. His home is in Sebring, Florida. On July 17, 1997, twelve years ago, he and his crew responded to a call for help from a crippled Lear jet approaching Avon Park airport. The plane veered into power lines and onto the north side of a busy state highway where it crashed.

According to Highlands County Sheriff’s detective Ken Vincent, Lance scaled a fence, ran through an environment of burning jet fuel, diesel fuel, gasoline, and other toxic substances. He dodged burning grass, aircraft debris and wreckage of equipment struck by the plane, helped the co-pilot crawl to safety and then physically assisted the pilot out of the aircraft and to safety.

Lance suffered from smoke inhalation, some minor cuts and burns during the rescues. Following his citation he retained his modest attitude that his action was not heroism but “part of the job”.

Since his “retirement” in 2008 he is engaged in the Builder’s Assist program of Lockwood Air-Cam. This plane is a twin engine, open cockpit plane consisting of an aluminum frame and fabric construction and capable of 120-130 miles per hour speeds. Cost approx. $98,000 plus any special equipment.

Wonder if his 1997 airport experience had anything to do with his choice? Lance, we hail you as a credit to our Deissinger Family at large. 

Josh Betts is most proud of his National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Draddy Award nomination as a top football quarterback. The award is for top scholar-athlete and he placed in the top 16 finalists in 2005.

He was quarterback at Vandalia, Ohio Butler High School and went on to the Miami of Ohio Red Hawks where he was understudy to Ben Roethlisberger for two years. He became first string for his last two years having received many division awards and compiling excellent statistics.

He was drafted to the Indianapolis Colts professional NFL team as reserve quarterback under Superbowl XLI champion quarterback Peyton Manning.

This information copied from parts of several articles published by local western New York newspapers. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Betts

https://twitter.com/josh_betts

The Historian’s Index

Over the past few years since being “elected” historian, I have either made a presentation or had others provide some family background information. These are the papers that followed my original “Deissinger Family History” started many years ago and again updated in 1999.

1998 - 250 Years in America: An Abbreviated History from 1681 or 82 Giving Sources of Information. By Frank A. Disinger.

1999 - Dysinger’s Corners and Neighborhood Post Office Information - Locust Tree and Dysinger. By Frank A. Disinger

1999 - 171 Years in the Town of Lockport: Family Relationship with the Town of Lockport. By Frank A. Disinger

2000 - 8 Generations in Niagara County: Some Prominent in Niagara County History. By Frank A. Disinger

2001 - Niagara County Reunions: Some Minutes and a List of Past Presidents. By Frank A. Disinger

2002 - No paper. Our family member, William D. Tolhurst, his wife Natalie and dog Cleo presented the program. See Bill’s biographical sketch included. (DEI-LIGHT #3)

2003 - Thomas, Son of Nicholas: A Belated Reminiscence 102 Years Later. By Frank A. Disinger - Information of Eldon E. Dysinger, of Michigan.

2004 - Association of the Erie Canal, Lockport, NY and the Deissinger Family. By Frank A. Disinger

2005 - Beguiled - Deluded – Misled: What a Genealogy Researcher Might Expect. By Frank A. Disinger

2006 - The German Connection: Steinwenden, Germany and Vicinity. By Frank A. Disinger

2007 - The Family of Albert Nicholas Dysinger from New York to Nebraska 1830-1908. By George M. Dysinger

2008 - Johan Nickel (Nicolaus) Deissinger: Cradle to Grave. By Frank A. Disinger

2009 - What Our Reunion Minutes Indicate 1901-2005: An Overview of Interest. By Frank A. Disinger

It is my sincere hope that others will provide historical information on their “Branch” of our family tree. What a book we could write!

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention so much help along the way from my daughter Donna and her husband Tim Kleinhans for their assistance, and to all the enlarged family members who, over the years, have contributed all of the material in these write-ups. To all a big THANK YOU!

SECRETARYS

In most organizations that I am familiar with, the secretary is usually long-serving and provides that continuity necessary for information and program stability for attaining their long-term goals.

We were fortunate to have one such secretary, Christina R. Behe, who served our reunion for 34 consecutive years from 1946 thru 1980. She was honored for her service at our 1982 reunion. During her term of office her correspondence with many family branches kept all informed of family happenings, especially vital statistics. Her service was exceptional!

During the other sixty-six years we have elected 17 others who served from 1 to 12 years, some serving as both secretary and treasurer. Because of their important service I list them all:

1901 thru 1908 Edna Dysinger 7 years

1909 Glenn W. Disinger 1 year

1910 Howard H. Disinger 1 year

1911; 1912; 1933 Stacey Behe 3 years

1913; 1914 Charles W. Brown 2 years

1915 thru 1919 Mrs. F.B. Warwick 5 years

1920 thru 1923; 1930 thru 1932 Allan E. Disinger 7 years

1924 thru 1926 Mrs. Mae (Ernest) Corbett 3 years

1927; 1928 Emily Disinger 2 years

1929 Mrs. Eula Corbett 1 year

1934 thru 1945 Mrs. Lydia (Howard) Disinger 12 years

1946 thru 1980 Christina R. Behe 34 years

1981; 1982; 1987; 1988; 1995; 1996 Susan M. Diemert 6 years

1983 thru 1986; 1997 thru 2002 Mrs. Donald (Rita) Diemert 10 years

1989 Mrs. Jackie (Diemert) Meyer 1 year

1990 thru 1994 Mrs. Carolyn (Smith) Casalinuovo 5 years

2003 thru Present George M. Dysinger 7 years

We do appreciate all, in recording, that our secretaries have done for us. We urge each family member to send any vital statistics in so that our records can be updated and as complete as possible.