All About Dennis Christ...

A little bit more about Dennis Christ and his family....

Ann and Dennis Christ retired several years ago, Ann from her position as Executive Director of Central Minnesota Group Health in St. Cloud, MN and Dennis from his as President of Transportation Systems for Unisys Corporation in Blue Bell, PA. We moved to Red Lodge, MT partly to be closer to our son, Peter and his family, and to help out at Bridge Creek, the large restaurant he started in 1997. We still have our lake home in northern MN, and we have a small condo in Horseshoe Bay, TX (east of Austin in the Hill Country) when we need to get away from winter for a while.

Ann serves on the Board of our local hospital (they're building a new one), also on the Board of Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN, and is President of the church council here in Red Lodge. I'm on the board of our local historical society and on the board of Christikon, the Lutheran backpacking camp up the Boulder River south of Big Timber, MT. We both spend considerable time at Bridge Creek helping out and enjoying the food and wine. (Who said retirement was boring?)

Older son, Eric, lives with his family, wife Maureen and girls, Kiernan, 6 and Moira, 3 in Norcross, GA. Eric is President of Patient Placement Systems, a small Internet based software firm. They enjoy traveling a lot, visiting all sorts of places around the world. Check out http://www.patientplacement.com/ for more info on his company.

Peter and his family, wife Anne, daughter Della, 9 and son Bjorn, 7 live in Red Lodge, MT. Together they own and operate Bridge Creek Backcountry Kitchen and Wine Bar. Check out http://www.eatfooddrinkwine.com/ for more info on the restaurant.

Family Profile: Lowell Nelson

Hello Everyone -

As previously promised, I am going to be sending out a profile on different families over the next year. Hopefully this will spark some interest in those of you still debating on attending, as well as bridge the gap between some families who haven't been in contact for some time. I am starting with our family, since I have a picture as well as all the information already :) Look in the next week or so for the next family to be profiled.

A little update now on Lowell Nelson and his family:

Just celebrating his 60th birthday last year, Lowell is loving life as a husband, father and grandfather. Son of Albin & Helen Nelson, he is the second oldest boy in the family. Still working with telecommunications, he currently is in Las Vegas working on building out the Clearwire Wireless Internet system. While the rest of his family is still in Colorado, he is getting to know the staff very well at Southwest Airlines for his frequent trips home. Also just celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary, both Lowell & Kay are enjoying pre-retirement. Kay works for DirecTV as a systems project manager (I think that is her title now!) when not at home playing with her grandson Nicoli.

Stephanie is getting married this summer to a co-teacher at Arvada West High School. Both her and Chuck teach in the science department. She is looking forward to the wedding and starting their new life in her condo in Arvada.

I am enjoying being a mother to a little boy (over a year and a half already) and looking forward to my 3rd wedding anniversary to Kevin. I am taking some time off from grad school as I am changing programs in Clinical Health Psychology. Kevin works as a Piping Designer for an oil and gas engineering company.

That's a little update on our family. We all look forward to seeing you next summer, as the whole family will be in attendance next June.

Hope you are having a great day. Look for the next profile which will be on Dennis Christ and his family.

Sarah

Information You Need

Hi Everyone -

Thanks so much for all the responses to the earlier emails. I am very excited at the response to next year's reunion. I have secured the location of Disney World and you are able to start making plans any time you are ready. Here is what you need to know:

Disney World Contact: 407.939.7429
Group Name: Nelson/Christ Family Reunion 2009
Nightly Room Rate: $159.00 (before tax)
Resort Name: Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort
Dates: June 19-21 2009

Reservations need to be made BEFORE MAY 1, 2009 as after that date the remaining rooms will be let go.

As for all the activities, I will be sending out the exciting details in the coming weeks. I would like to hear from you though regarding what choices you are interested in as I will be setting up the group activities soon. Again, the choices are golf, mini-golf and horseback riding on Saturday during the day. More information regarding Friday and Saturday night will be sent out as well.

I look forward to hearing from you all. Please let me know if you have any questions. I would like to still receive the updated address list from those of you who haven't responded.

Thanks again and I look forward to the next coming months.

Sarah

15 Months AND Counting...

Hopefully if you are visiting this site you have received the initial letter to the family regarding our reunion next year. For those of you who have been directed to take a look at the site, I have included the mass letter in the next post.

My hope is that this area becomes one where people can come and learn more about the family, get excited for next year, and post comments where desired.

Look in the next coming weeks for a profile from each of the families with pictures if provided. It is time we all got to know each other a bit better.

Hope you have a great week,

Sarah

I have attached a recent picture of our family for this post. For the rest of Lowell's family look next week as he will be the first profile. I have all the information already which makes his easy :)

Letter To The Family

Hello Everyone -

I should start with introducing myself for those of you who don't know me. I am Sarah Leone the daughter of Lowell Nelson. Lowell is the son of Albin & Helen Nelson. For the last 8 months I have been working on setting a location and date for the reunion. Previously this was held over the third weekend in July, but for next year I would like to propose a change to the third weekend in June (19th - 21st) for weather reasons. I have been working with the Walt Disney Resort in Orlando, Florida regarding our reunion. Right now I am in the final stages of putting the package together, but preliminarily it is looking to be around $250.00/person for the 3 day weekend. Although this amount may seem high, this is about what we have been averaging the past several reunions. This price includes the following:

*2 nights stay in their moderate level hotel
*Transportation to and from the airport (renting a car is not necessary!)
*Breakfast together Saturday & Sunday morning
*Choice of activity on Saturday (day) which includes: a golf tournament, a miniature golf tournament or horseback riding
*Big family activity Saturday night involving private jeep tour of the Animal Kingdom park and private buffet dinner in the park directly following

There will be an option of adding on a 3-day park hopper pass for approximately $230/adults and $200/children for those who wish to take advantage of the various amusement parks. This is not required however for our weekend activities. Smaller durations of park passes are also available.

All of the rooms will be located in a block together and can be reserved at the group rate for a longer duration if desired. Friday night will include a buffet style dinner at the park located at the hotel with the option of taking part in a sand volley ball tournament or cribbage tournament for adults or having fun on the playground for children.

For the past few years there has not been a large turn-out to the reunions, with the lack of activities for children being cited as the main reason. I am hoping that some time at Disney World will change this. As time keeps passing we are losing more and more touch with each other, with the younger family members hardly knowing their family. It would be nice to stop this trend and have a great showing next year.

Attached you will find an Excel spreadsheet which breaks the family down by the initial siblings in each of the Nelson and Christ families. Please fill out or update the information pertaining to your family. I would like to compile a large contact list which includes all the family members. Please do not be offended if I have forgotten anyone, this is just my starting list. If a family member would like to be contacted through their physical address instead of email please note that.

I have also setup a website which will be updated frequently with information regarding the reunion as well as family profiles so that we all begin to get to know each other a little better. For this I ask that when you send back your contact information, please include a little bit on your family and any current pictures you might have.

I tried for a location here in Colorado in a Dude Ranch setting, but the summer months require a week stay or are not large enough to handle a reunion. I hope that this location works for most of you and welcome any feedback you have. Please do not be shy with your opinions or thoughts as this is a working idea at this point. Since time is an important aspect, please let me know your ideas as soon as possible.

I look forward to hearing from you all soon. I would like to have the updated contact list as well as family profiles within a couple weeks. Again, thanks so much for your help with this.