Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, September 01, 2011

After three weeks of temps in the high 90's with high humidity, the weather broke to welcome members of the FARIS/SAWYER family to southern Iowa August 11-15, 2011.

Family from Texas, California, Hawaii, Illinois and Nevada met with family members from around Iowa for the weekend.

The FARIS/SAWYER clan began the weekend by greeting the first of the travelers at Rumors Bar and Grill in Mount Ayr Thursday evening. Twenty-four members of the family were present for this casual meal to kick off the festivities.

Friday evening 39 family members met at the home of Lyle and Betty FARIS to share a meal of grilled meats (FARIS meat), salads, pie, birthday cake and homemade ice cream.

Saturday family members were invited to travel to Mount Pisgah, south of Lorimor. A group of 25 enjoyed a guided tour of the Morman settlement and learned many details about the history of this stop on the Morman Trail.

Saturday evening was spent gathering at the Southwest Iowa REC building where 43 family members enjoyed a meal catered by Jan FORD.

Following the meal, family pictures were taken and the family had the opportunity to "see" and "visit" with DeAnna FARIS PENNINGS via Skype from Afghanistan.

BrieAnn BYRD and Hallee STEWART entertained the group with their clogging routine.

A short family meeting was held to discuss the next reunion and a family cookbook. Trivia questions from a 100-year-old journal belonging to J. Can FARIS (father of Wilbur, Lynden and Roberta) ended the evening.

Sunday 27 family members traveled to the home of Ron and Lucille DEEMER of Davis City to continue the weekend of "food and fun" while members of the Lynden FARIS family traveled to Osceola to reunite with Gladys WICKETT FARIS' family.

Monday 19 members of the family traveled to Des Moines to take in the sights of the Iowa State Fair.

Family members who attended the various events from out-of-town were Gladys FARIS and Karla MOBERLY of Santa Rosa, CA; Bob FARIS of Santa Barbara, CA; Richard and Judi FARIS of Kaneohe, HI; Jim and Katie FARIS of Lancaster, CA; Kevin and Carol FARIS of Las Vegas, NV; Kenny and Kelli FARIS and Erynn and Jacob COLE of Joshua, TX, and Moji MOMENI of Urbana, IL.

Family members attending from Iowa were Lee FARIS, Rodney and Liz FARIS, Russ and Jackie STEWART, Trent and Hallee, Louise STAMPER, Lyle and Betty FARIS and Debbie KLOMMHAUS, Kylee and Konner of Mount Ayr; Richard FARIS and friend of Ames; Justin FARIS of Creston; Shawn and Jennifer BYRD, BrieAnn and Austin of Diagonal; Ron and Lucille DEMEMR of Davis City; Larry and Christine OPFER, Eva and Ethan of Colfax; David DEEMER, Kip and Jeremy of Lamoni; Taylor PENNINGS of Sioux City, and Jeff and DiAnna TAYLOR and Alaina BRINKS of Altoona.

Some trivia highlights from the entire weekend are Gladys FARIS was the senior member of the family in attendance. She is 97 years of age and the widow of Lynden FARIS. She still lives in her home in Santa Rosa, CA with assistance from her children.

Richard and Judi FARIS traveled the farthest to attend this reunion, coming from Kaneoke, HI.

Moji MOMENI of Urbana, IL rejoined the family after having been a foreign exchange student from Tehran, Iran living with Ronand Lucille DEEMER in 1978-1979.

Kevin and Carol FARIS of Las Vegas, NV, along with Kenny FARIS of Joshua, TX returned to Mount Ayr after having not visited for 20 and 25 years respectively. Kevin and Kenny had traveled to Mount Ayr routinely with their parents, Jim and Katie FARIS of Lancaster, CA in the summers when they were growing up to visit Wilbur and Eva FARIS (Kevin and Kenny's grand-parents).

Members of the group gathering Friday evening enjoyed seeing the beautiful, newly constructed home of Lyle and Betty FARIS.

When the group traveled to the Iowa State Fair Monday, the lunch meeting spot was the Cattlemen's building. Lee FARIS is a former president of the Iowa Cattleman's Association.

There were several old pla tmaps on display showing the origins of the FARIS Family Farms. One of the most interesting pieces of family trivia was provided by Louise STAMPER. While Louise was preparing to move this past year, she found a ledger belonging to Carl FARIS (1889-1927), grandfather of the FARIS children. This ledger began in 1911 and ended in 1927. During those years Carl kept notes of meetings of the local telephone co-op. Carl served as secretary and treasurer 1914-1923. Carl owned two shares in this telephone co-op. The ledger documented dividends paid to the members of the co-op for the years of 1912-1927.

Carl kept track of the hours that he worked for his employer, Seevers and Rusk Contractors and Builders of Mount Ayr. The wage that Carl was owed for his work was documented as 20, 25 and 30 cents per hour.

The ledger also contained a recipe for sugar-cured meat -- enough for 12 pieces of meat.

Carl documented the identifying numbers of the watches belonging to Wilbur, Lynden, wife Mae and himself. Carls watch was a 17 Jewels Elgin.

In the scope of running a farm, Carl documented when he moved the cows to the DRAKE pasture, when each of the cows was bred and the loan number for a loan from Three Liberty Loans.

He documented how many squash he sold and for how much, along with the fact that he had sold 915 eggsfor hatching. On July 13, 1918 the price of a bushel of oats was 35-cents/bu., wheat was seven-cents/bu. and timothy was 25-cents/bu.

Carl also listed out 43 various sizes of bolts that he needed for his hay-rack.

The ledger also contained a listing of the values of his belongings, possibly as collateral for a loan. His automobile was valued at $825.00, his buggy at $20.50 and his carriage at $100.00.

The entire weekend was filled with sharing memories of life in Ringgold county and making new ones.

The next reunion will be held the last weekend of July in 2013 in and around Fort Collins and Loveland, CO.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2011