After a family funeral last fall, Bob Dingmann and a couple of his cousins decided they should have a cousin reunion while everyone was still around to attend. Dingmann took the reins.

 

He, his wife Mary Jo Mosher and sister Helen Funk organized the event, sending out invitations to all the family members before Christmas, with the thought that at that time of year no one would have April 29 booked for anything yet.

 

It turned out to be perfect timing.

 

They received RSVPs from 121 people, so they planned around 150 to actually attend. The day of the reunion over 200 showed up. They ran out of food.

 

 “It was an amazing turnout,” said Dingmann. “They just kept coming in.”

 

The reunion attendees were all members of the John and Bertha Dingmann family, who were married in 1889. The couple had 14 children, who combined had 45 children of their own.

 

“The Dingmanns were really involved in Clear Lake,” said Bob Dingmann. “There’s a lot of them in the new Clear Lake area history book. My uncles owned businesses here, including the hardware store, mortuary and car dealership.”

 

The Dingmann cousins organized family reunions in the past, but they had been largely for the 45 first cousins. They’d never attempted to get all their family members together before.

 

The event was held at St. Marcus Catholic Church in Clear Lake, which was the Dingmann family’s original church; some relatives are still parishioners there.

 

Family members kept coming through the doors of St. Marcus throughout the day. Every one of the 14 original Dingmann brothers and sisters and every one of the 45 first cousins had at least one representative at the reunion. For the first time, four generations of the Dingmann extended family were together under one roof, from first to fourth cousins.

 

Two more fourth cousins were born the weekend of the reunion.

 

The four oldest cousins, Bonnie Chisholm, Duane Dingmann, Jean Skinner and Connie Aumann, who were born in the late 1920s and early 1930s, were able to attend. The two youngest cousins, siblings Allen Dingmann and Carol Niedcielski, were also there.

 

Relatives came from all across the country, including Alaska, California, Illinois, Iowa, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin.

 

“Duane [Dingmann] was floored at the turnout,” said Bob Dingmann. “He couldn’t get over it. Doug [Dingmann] couldn’t believe that many of the younger generation are so interested in family.”

 

The event went so well the Dingmann cousins are planning another reunion in five years