Hukle Reunion 2017

When I did my DNA testing on ancestry.com, I was reconnected to some of my paternal grandmother's family. I was invited to come to the Hukle family reunion this summer, in Oklahoma City.  I made plans and went.

I have lived in Arizona since I was 5 years old. Other than a few sporadic visits, we really didn't see a lot of extended family. And in recent years, my immediate family has left the state too. So I often feel a lot like the lone ranger. It was very different for me then, to be in a room with so many people to whom I am related! As one of my second cousins said, "But you come from a very big family!" 

The older couple, sitting down, is my great grandparents, Connie Lyle Hukle and Carrie Elizabeth DeWater Huckle. They had 11 children. Wallace died when he was 11 from septicemia. Lorman died fighting in WWII and is buried in Tunisia.

Connie and Carrie Hukle

 I am a descendent of Madeline Hukle, their oldest daughter. She married Thomas Barker. Here is the young family. My father is the oldest child, between the twins. I think my sisters and I all look like my Dad. My Uncle Ron brought some photo albums to the reunion and I was able to scan some photos that I didn't have.

My Dad as a teenager.

This is my grandmother, Madeline Hukle as a schoolteacher with her class. She and her sister, Arrahwanda, both taught school as teenagers.

Madeline and Arrahwanda are on the ground near the wing.

My great Uncle Guy Barker in his uniform from WWI.

My grandfather Tom Barker is in this pic, with glasses. I think this is a bank.

Reuben Lloyd Barker and Mattie May Cary Barker with their three oldest children. Before troubles that came in later years.

 Great Uncle Lorman died in WWII and is buried in Tunisia

This picture was addressed to my great uncle Horace, from Burden High School in Kansas. I don't think he was in the photo, but isn't it a fun pic?

One of my great aunts was a nurse as is her daughter and grand daughter, my mother and me.

Janice Parkey and Carol Crumb, some of my second cousins and really nice ladies.

Small photos are early pics of my great grandparents. The scanned photos of them didn't turn out, unfortunately.

Another second cousin, all were so welcoming and fun.

Uncle Ron and Aunt Rejeana, being photobombed by a Frisbee player. Because my father is deceased, Uncle Ron is now the oldest of the descendants, but only barely as he is a twin with Uncle Don.

Uncle Don and Aunt Doris is behind the flowers.

This gentleman is the only one at the reunion who still had the last name Hukle.

The twins, then and now.

My snaps of some of the group shots are blurry. Aunt Rejeana was official photographer. Hopefully, I will have some of those soon to post. We got a photo of myself and my first cousins. We have never even all been in the same room together before.

So glad I went!