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Siblings Slideshow 5 - Adults and Families - 1980 - 2020

(click here to go Slideshow 6 or here to go to the Siblings Main Page)

This slideshow is from 1980 to 2020 and contains photos of the Christopher Five at reunions, gatherings and outings in various groupings. Unfortunately, I don't have photos of all the various gatherings we had over the years, if you do, please contact me so we can arrange to have me copy the photos and post them on this page.

In 1980, we had two gatherings at Dayle's place in Benton Harbor, The Ravines trailer park off of Empire near Crystal. The first was with Grandma Ackerman, Mom, the Christopher Five (Dayle, Bernie, Larry, Jimmy and Robin) and Dayle's family, and Bernie's fiancé Pattie Reschke. The second gathering had Aunt Patty, Dan and Patrick join Mom, the Christopher Five and family. The Branson's were moving to Buffalo that summer and it was nice to see them before they moved away. Again, the gathering was held at Dayle and Jim's place in Benton Harbor. There is a photo in the slideshow of Grandma Ackerman, Mom, Dayle and Julie - four generations (Shortly before Grandma died, there were five generations together when Julie's daughter Alexandria joined Dayle, Mom and Grandma - I don't have a photo). Charlie Scovern came up with Grandma Ackerman on one of the reunions at Dayle's at the Ravines.

In the fall of 1980, Bernie married Pattie and Robin and I were in the wedding party as you can see from the photos below. I only have the one photo of Robin's wedding (I was in Sweden that Spring). I believe Mom, Dayle and her kids had a photo taken outside of the church. Grandma Wally and Ava came up to Benton Harbor to visit Dayle's family for lunch in the summer of 1982 when Dayle and Mom lived next door on Ridgeway in Benton Harbor (Larry was there also, there is a photo in the slideshow). Dayle moved that year to a home Jim and her were renovating on Higman Park Road. She held a few family gatherings there. There are a few photos from 1982-83 reunions at Dayle's (Christmas and summer) shortly after they moved in and were still repairing the home from a major fire. Bernie and Pattie had come up from Houston to attend both of them. There are also some black and white photos I took of Jim, Robin and Dad working on Jim's car. This is the last time Dad came to a family gathering.

The Chicago Cubs were a part of our history going back to Mom laying on her living room floor listening to the Cubs as a young girl, her and Aunt Patty. We watched them all the time in the summers because almost all their games were broadcast on WGN. In 1979, we began going to Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs on the regular for several years. All of us, at one time or another, have been to Wrigley field by ourselves but most often as a group of family members. We had a caravan of cars drive into Wrigley on Pattie Reschke's (Bernie's soon-to-be fiancé) birthday on August 21, 1979. It was Mom's first game in person. Mom and some of us took the South Shore Railroad in from South Bend to downtown Chicago and then the "L" to Wrigley Field. I can't find any pictures of those specific trips but there were many other trips of Christophers heading into the North Side to catch a game. Jim, Chris and Larry went into a few Cubs games in 1984 when they were vying for the pennant (Dayle joined us on one of the trips). There are some photos of us at a game on Dayle's and Larry's page.

In 1988, I married Barb Vance, and I am trying to find more photos of the family who came up to Fowler to attend our wedding (I have one photo and two placeholders in the slideshow below). In 1989, Mom had us all over to her place on Cutler Avenue in Allegan for Christmas, and again that Spring. In 1991, we gathered at Bernie's. Grandma Ackerman, Mom, Dayle and her kids came down to Portage to join us.

We had several gatherings at Mom's place at River's Run in Allegan, however I can't find any photos yet, I am sure Mom has some, if not, perhaps some of you do? Also, we had a Christmas at Robin's in Paw Paw that I don't have any photos from in 1990s.

The next photos I have are of us gathering for Grandma Ackerman's Memorial Service in January 2002. We stopped at a restaurant afterward in Stevensville and there are photos of us there, I believe it was called the Firehouse Inn? In 2003, Patrick and Laura visited me at my place in Portage and Bernie and Pattie came over and there is a photo in the slideshow. Dayle had us up to her place in Muskegon on July 10, 2005, and there are photos from that gathering. The next summer on August 12, 2006, we had our last family gathering with Mom. Bernie hosted and Aunt Patty and Uncle Ted were living in Allegan and Patrick and Laura were visiting at that time and came to the reunion. It's the largest gathering we ever had, and you can tell by the photo of the entire gang below. Mom was so happy that everyone came to that reunion. Like the photo of the relatives at Grandpa Warren and Grandma Wally's in 1958 I have created a second photo numbering all the people to identify them (see below).

The next time we all gathered was at Mom's Memorial Service on June 13, 2007. Aunt Patty and Uncle Ted were still living in Allegan but Dan, Myrtha and their children, along with Patrick and Laura came up for the service. Ava, her son, Lynn and Ed also came over to the cemetery to pay their respects. I have a photo of Ava, Dayle and Lynn but I don't have any of the Bransons. I may have some video; I haven't dug into my videos yet.

That summer Jimmy had us all over to his place in Wyoming, Michigan. Aunt Patty and Uncle Ted were still here and came to his place on July 28, 2007. The next time we gathered was another very sad occasion when Kathy passed away in November 2010. I don't have any photos from that day. Robin and his family joined me at Bernie's on July 6, 2019, for the last reunion I am aware of. We snapped a picture that day and the photo is below.

Christopher Group photo at Dayle's - 1980:

1. Jim Chronister (Dayle's) 2. Julie (Dayle's) 3. Pattie (Bernie's) 4. Aunt Patty Branson 5. Jason (Dayle's) 6. Robin 7. Mom 8. Larry 9. Dayle Christopher Chronister 10. Patrick Branson 11. Grandma Ackerman 12. Dan Branson 13. Jimmy 14. Chris (Dayle's)

Christopher Group photo at Larry's Wedding - 1988:

Left to Right: Robin, Kathy (Robin's Wife), Jim Chronister, Dayle, Larry, Barb, Mom, Grandma Ackerman, Grandma Wally, Jimmy, Pattie (Bernie's Wife), and Bernie.

Christopher Group photo at Bernie's Place - 1991:

Left to Right: Bernie, Pattie (Bernie's), Katie (Bernie's), Barb (Larry's), Larry, Elizabeth (Larry's), Mom, Chris (Dayle's), Dayle, Julie (Dayle's), Grandma Ackerman, Jim (Dayle's) & Jason (Dayle's)

Christopher group photo at Dayle's - 2005:

1. Andrew (Julie's) 2. Alexandria (Julie's) 3. Robyn (Chris's) 4. Katie (Bernie's) 5. Pattie (Bernie's) 6. Julie Chronister Elwell (Dayle's) 7. Bernie 8. Jason (Dayle's) 9. Barb (Larry's) 10. Erica (Larry's) 11. Kari (Bernie's) 12. Elizabeth (Larry's) 13. Dayle Christopher Chronister 14. Chris (Dayle's) 15. Jim Chronister (Dayle's) 16. Katy (Chris's)

Christopher group photo at Bernie's - 2006:

1. Jimmy 2.Mom 3.Uncle Ted Branson 4. Aunt Patty Branson 5. Laura (Patrick's) 6. Elizabeth (Larry's) 7. Erica (Larry') 8. Barb (Larry's) 9. Patrick (Patty's) 10. Jim Chronister (Dayle's) 11. Bernie 12. Pattie (Bernie's) 13. Katie (Bernie's) 14. Kari (Bernie's) 15. Joe (Robin's) 16. Larry 17. Dayle 18. Robyn (Chris's) 19. Andrew (Julie's) 20. Alexandria (Julie's) 21. Kathy (Robin's) 22. Robin 23. Dustin (Michelle's) 24. Michelle (Robin's) 25. Chris's Fiancé Katy 26. Chris (Dayle's)