The families of James and William Ulery were looking forward to their 95th annual reunion on Aug. 23 at Laurel Highlands Campground Pavilion in Donegal. But, like so many other events this year, the gathering fell victim to the covid-19 pandemic.

“I hated like everything to have to (cancel), but it’s not worth the risk,” says Sheree Sauter of Alverton, secretary for the reunion group.

“I told my sister I hate to even think of canceling, but you don’t want to be that family that ends up in the newspaper because you had your reunion and then people got sick,” she says.

The Keslar family faced the same tough decision in canceling its 85th reunion, planned for Aug. 9 at Mt. Joy Church in Mt. Pleasant Township.

“It was very disheartening and sad,” says Edith Spinneweber of Scottdale, whose great-great-grandfather was one of the family’s original reunion organizers. “I’m a nurse and I’ve worked through all of this, and I don’t want anybody to get sick.

“How would we play games? How would we visit? We’d have to be sitting in all corners of the pavilion. And we have older family members with health issues,” she says.

While the Ulery relatives are sad to break the streak of consecutive reunions, Sauter says they know it’s for the best, under the circumstances.

“When we realized it was the 95th, that made it even worse; but so many of the people who faithfully come are older and have health issues,” she said.

Virtual reunion

The annual reunion is often the only time members of extended families get together, whether they live across the country or in the next county. The adults reminisce and take care of business, while the kids get to know each other through games and contests and everyone overindulges in the potluck dinner.

But desperate times call for desperate measures — or at least for innovation — and some families are taking to the virtual world to stay in touch this year.

Metro Creative A Zoom gathering is one alternative for people canceling this summer’s family reunion.  

Members of the Prestia family gathered for years at the Connellsville Canteen, says Don Orlando of Mt. Pleasant, whose mother was a Prestia.

“Because of all this covid business and other considerations, we haven’t been able to do that for a couple of years,” Orlando says.

Instead, family members have logged in for five Zoom gatherings this year. Thirty-one relatives across three generations participated in a July 12 session, hailing from 10 states from Maine to Hawaii.

“It’s so cool. The technology is really so amazing,” Orlando says. “The chances of us getting together in person are almost zero.”

Everyone provided a brief update and then the discussion opened up for other topics.

“In Prestia family tradition, almost everyone had a glass of wine in front of them,” Orlando says.

No substitute

Online gatherings are better than nothing, but no substitute for being face-to-face, says Carol Palcic, mayor of Southwest Greensburg. Her mother’s family, the Schildkamps, have a reunion tradition dating back to about 1930, revived in 1977 after a lapse.

Family reunions have led her to develop a strong bond with her female cousins. They’ve organized weekend trips and share “remember when” emails.

“We have the relationship we do because of the reunions,” Palcic says.

The Schildkamps have “a strong contingency” in the Greensburg area, and relatives also journey from across the country for annual reunions on Father’s Day weekend. Not this year, though — they’ve had to make do with two Zoom happy hours.

Palcic says she fears that not getting together leads to dwindling interest in continuing the tradition, although “we have a core group that aren’t letting this die.”

Though the majority of Ulery family members live around Acme and in Fayette County, “mostly on the mountain,” Sauter says the reunion is the one time they tend to get together en masse — other than funerals.

“We’ve never missed until now, and I hate to even think about it,” she says.

Relatives come from around Acme, Donegal and Mt. Pleasant for the Keslar reunion. Attendance had waned but seemed to be rebounding in recent years, Spinneweber says. She worries about what missing a year means for the future.

“It’s hard enough to get the younger people involved, and I don’t want it to die on my watch,” she says.

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