Descendents of John & Catherine (Kleinz) Jung

Inaugural Ceremony for Barney Award

Held on June 21, 2003   

BACK

Special Note:  This year we added something new to the Jung Reunion Event, which will now be an ongoing tradition.  The Barney Award was created as a means to carry forward that Great Enthusiasm Uncle Barney had for these get togethers.  We ended up having a pretty nice ceremony surrounding this event right after the picnic lunch and before the other items noted above.  

The Ceremony
There were very few people who had advance knowledge that this event was going to occur.  There were even fewer people who knew who the award recipients would be.  As folks were getting close to finishing their lunch, the Barney Award was brought out, unpacked, and placed on a small table.  It was covered with a pillow case like shroud so no one knew what was going on.  Alan Soder made an announcement to the group that we were going to begin a new feature for the reunion, and called up Alan Goeke to explain how the idea came about and developed.   The following may not be exact quotes, but to the best of recollection.  These quotes are being added, because they help explain to those who were not there, what this is all about, and how it works.  

Alan Goeke  

When Uncle Barney passed away it was quite a loss knowing how much enthusiasm he brought to family events and how much he loved seeing everyone get together.  I was trying to think of a way that we could honor him with more than just sending flowers.  He made us realize how important these events were and was such a champion to see that they did.  The idea of a Barney Award seemed to be such a fitting way to not only honor Uncle Barney, but to carry forward his enthusiasm for years to come.  The Barney Award would be given to those who put extra effort to see the Jung Reunion tradition continue.  I floated the idea to the reunion committee and that other Alan (great name), and it just took off from there.   And now here we are ready to have our first Barney Award presentation.  Now I’ll pass it back to Alan  

Alan Soder

This really is a significant and heartfelt idea and I was certainly glad to be a part of it.  When I heard from Alan, I started putting some ideas together and leaning toward having the award be a “traveling trophy”, which would mean that every reunion event, the trophy would find its way back to the event for the next presentation.  Each event, the winners of the trophy would have their names inscribed on the trophy, and would receive some minor individual items to keep as well.  If there were multiple winners in a year, then they would have an excuse to visit each other and keep the trophy moving from house to house.  Alan and I communicated via email a lot in getting everything finalized.  We hope you will enjoy the results.  With that, we are ready to make this years presentation of the award.  

There are very few people here who know who the recipients are.  In fact my colleague Alan (great name) over there does not even know.  It kind of came down to “If I tell you – I will have to kill you”.   So lets not keep it a top secret any longer, and here is the envelope which I will pass to Alan to open and as he calls your name, please come up to the speaker area here.

Remainder of Ceremony

Alan called up the 6 winners: Left to right in photo - Patricia Goeke, Eileen West, Alice Novak, Virginia Bachmann, Bob Novak, and Charlotte Holt.  After they were all lined up, a brief description of why the 1999 reunion committee was receiving the award was given, and then the Barney Award was unveiled.  While Virginia held the award, a photo of the group was taken.  We then had Geralyn Soder give a short talk on why they were receiving the award and she showed her additional appreciation by presenting each of them with a large ladle spoon, to depict their hard work in the 1999 picnic when the heat and humidity were through the roof.  Alan Soder then presented them each with a magnet with Barney’s picture on it and saying “I declare you have earned a spot on the Jung Family Traveling Trophy”.  See the sample one below.  Then Alan Goeke asked the recipients to each say something to the crowd, and we heard some very moving and special comments from all of them. 

 Lastly, Alan Soder told the recipients about the responsibilities that go with this honor.  They would now become the core Academy who will decide who the future recipients are.  In fact, going forward, as new recipients are chosen they also become part of this group who will decide on the future awards.  Anyone can nominate someone for the Barney Award and send that to any member of the Academy.  There is a nomination form on the web, but if you don’t have access to that, simply include your name and address (email if you have it).  List the person(s) you are nominating, and an explanation of why you feel the award should be made.