News

A coach for Leavenworth High School's Junior ROTC Raider program is looking for another national championship this year.

The Hildebrandt family is hosting its 100th anniversary reunion this month in Leavenworth. The three-day event takes place July 26-28 at a different location each day: Sunflower Missionary Baptist Church, Hildebrandt farm and Riverfront Community Center.The reunion is for descendants of George Augustus Hildebrand, the son of a German father, George Auguenelda Hildebrand, and his wife, Ellen Johnson, who married in 1863, in Leavenworth. George Augustus Hildebrand and his son, George Bettis Hildebrandt Sr., homesteaded property in Leavenworth County in the 1920s. The farm, located in the Kickapoo bottoms, is still owned by their descendants. According to family records, George Augustus Hildebrand held the first family gathering in 1924. At that time, the gathering was a picnic for the large immediate family. The tradition continued annually, expanding to include more family members as children married and started their own families. The gatherings continued uninterrupted for the next 100 years.The Hildebrand name has had different iterations from its German origins. A “t” was added later to the end of the family name by George Bettis Hildebrandt Sr.As the reunion plans for this year take shape, three cousins gathered recently to talk about their rich family history. Cousins Wilbur Ferguson, Collette Lapsley and Ethel Campbell share the same great-great-grandfather, George Auguenelda Hildebrand. Over 200 relatives have so far responded that they will attend this year’s reunion, Lapsley said. Ferguson, 86, the family historian, said he remembers attending reunions as a child in the 1940s.“We all felt like we were special because we were farmers,” Ferguson said. “We did not know any city life. If we went to town, the city people would laugh at us and call us ‘country hicks.’ That didn’t bother us because when we went back (to the farm), we knew we had cousins. When I grew up, I had 20 cousins that was within 10 years of my age. That was the family.”That farm in Leavenworth County was passed on from George Bettis Hildebrandt Sr. to George Bettis Hildebrandt Jr. and his wife, Patricia.Patricia Hildebrandt lives in Leavenworth with a granddaughter. George Bettis Hildebrandt Jr. passed away in 2016. His sons, Brandon and Chris Hildebrandt, continue farming on the legacy acreage. The road to the farm bears the family name: Hildebrandt Road. Nestled on the banks of the Missouri River, the Hildebrandt farm has had its share of challenges over the decades as the family battled with the elements, including the flood of 1993. It destroyed their family home which took time to rebuild.Today, the farm is a sprawling acreage of tranquility despite the nonstop chorus of chattering birds. Their noisy presence is only superseded at intervals by trains clacketing along the nearby tracks.“Trains go by and never even wake us up,” Chris quipped. Standing at the Missouri River edge of the property early one recent morning, Chris took in the sight of the swollen waters as if in the presence of a longtime companion. “When you get this close to flooding, it’s bad,” Chris said. “But other than that, it’s good. There’s always something to do on that river. We get lucky sometimes, but we’ve been through a lot of floods over here. It makes for really good farmland. You can grow anything down here. You have to live with the river’s quirks. When it’s good, it’s good.”The family has learned to live in cadence with the river, accepting its bounty in those good times.“My grandfather duck hunted on the river, and they made a living on the river – commercial fishing,” Chris recalled. “We’ve regularly caught 50-pound flatheads out of there.”Being next to the river created an unusual configuration that gave the farm a special nickname many locals still recall. A slough surrounded some of the land with water. Over the years, the slough dried up, though, and the farm became accessible by road instead of by boat. “The river used to run both sides of this at one time," Chris said. “If you look at some of the old maps, it still says ‘Hildebrandt Island.’” With reunion plans firming up in the past few weeks, Chris is prepared to play his part by hosting the annual fish fry on the farm – with fish caught from the river. The fish fry is only one part of the traditional family fare on the reunion menu.“We were all farmers,” Ferguson said. “We all raised gardens. So, we’d bring our green beans, our potatoes, sweet corn, cantaloupes - everything from the garden.” “And succotash,” added Campbell. “Then, there was Aunt Lottie who was known for her cherry pie - because she put bourbon in it!” Lapsley said she hopes the young people in the family will take the time to join this year’s reunion tradition.“You need to know your family,” Lapsley said. “It’s important to know where you came from. It's nice to visualize that group of people that have got your back. That’s part of the reason that the reunions are good.“For detailed information and reservations, family members can contact Colette Lapsley at colette.lapsley1@yahoo.com. RSVP by July 17 for catered events.