Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Waltz Family holds 70th family reunion
The old adage about the family that plays together stays together could have very easily been written about the Waltz Family.
During Sunday’s 70th consecutive annual family reunion in Coopersmith Park, Waltz kids will play games, including sack races, three-legged races and an egg toss, while adults will enjoy softball and horseshoes.
Along with the games, family members will sit at picnic tables and catch up on family births, deaths and weddings.
“I don’t see them the rest of the year,” said 88-year old Dorothy Waltz of Oxford. “This gives us a sense of belonging. I belong to this family.
“And it’s nice to see the next generation coming along.”
Gail Glass, of Collegeville, said that the potluck event gives family members a chance to meet in person rather than simply following each other on Facebook.
“The face to face interaction is nice,” Glass said. “This is the only time of the year we all get together.”
Sylvia Fuller, of West Chester, said she enjoys watching the Waltz children play and to look at old photographs.
“As we age, we change,” Fuller said. “As a family we grow and change. It’s fun to look back at the photos and see how young they look.”
Times have changed with the advent of cell phones and laptops.
“Life is busy and we don’t visit like we used to, so a once a year reunion gives us a chance to visit and catch up with each other,” Fuller said.
Glass said that family is all about relationships.
“The reunion is a time for interacting,” Glass said. “It feels like a time you can slow down from the hectic way of life.”
Samuel and Christina Waltz were married in 1892 at the Grove Methodist Church in West Whiteland Township and had
nine children, seven boys and two girls.
The name Waltz is German, but of Latin extraction,” reads the Waltz Family History and Genealogical Record, Lineal Descendants of Frederick Reinhart Waltz. “(The family name) has the same definition as Voltz in the Latin, or Valce in French, meaning to move in a circular motion turning round or rolling, or as applied to rolling the ground.”