STONE HARBOR – About 110 descendants of Ross and Mary Klingensmith got together for the 75th year of family time at their “summer home away from home.”
According to Glenn Schneider, grandson of Ross and Mary Klingensmith and son of Bob and Rosemary Klingensmith Schneider, he is one of 32 first cousins who make the trip with most of their 54 children and grandchildren.
The family is spread across 15 houses on the island, wearing special T-shirts that are color coded by generation at all their activities.
“We average between 70 and 110 people coming to Stone Harbor each year, and yes, we do know each other’s names (usually) and we do like to hug, kiss, and visit with each other, which makes for a spectacle on the beach, especially on departure Fridays,” wrote Schneider in an email.
“We don’t really think of it as a reunion because we typically get together at Christmas and the Fourth of July, too, as well as other family events, like weddings and funerals, of course,” he said.
“Most of us still hail from the Pittsburgh area, but some of us have spread out to other parts, including eastern Pennsylvania, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, California, Alaska, and beyond,” he added.
Three cousins own a summer house in town, while the rest of the group rents different houses on the island. They congregate each day at the 89th Street beach, considered the “home beach” by the family.
“My Aunt Kay and Uncle Bill Hartz came to Stone Harbor on their honeymoon in 1947 and immediately fell in love with the island,” he recalled. “The next year, they brought my grandparents (Ross and Mary Klingensmith) and my Aunt Mercy (a teen at the time) to the beach with them. Each year after that, my parents and more of their siblings’ families started coming to the beach, too.”
His grandparents had nine children.
“Here we are, 75 years later, celebrating this true gift of family time in our summer home away from home,” Schneider said.
When his grandparents were alive, they rented a house on 89th Street. Each year, the family puts together a census of which family members are where so they can find each other on the island during the vacation.
“If there is ever a doubt of where someone is staying, 89th Street beach is home base,” Schneider added. “We all think that Stone Harbor is pretty special. It’s where we got to know each other, played together in the surf, and where we could go out with our cousins and explore 96th Street on our own. We grew up together here for at least one week each summer, and now our kids get to have that experience, too.”
For Schneider, it was an “amazing” week.
“Undoubtedly, our grandparents and parents started something truly special here,” he said, “a legacy of love that’s grown stronger over the past 75 years. Sharing this experience with our own kids is simply awesome.”
“Each year we come together in Stone Harbor, I feel young and somewhat carefree,” added his cousin Carol Ashby. “Given the crowd of family around me, I feel connected to something much bigger than myself.”
Schneider said the family “is proud” to be one of the few non-native families documented in the Stone Harbor Museum after some newspapers covered their 50th anniversary vacation.
Among his memories and experiences, Schneider recalled that his brother brought a friend to the beach with him one year, and later, that same friend married one of his cousins.
“I was hit by a car in Stone Harbor when I was six,” he added. “The lessons I learned then were to always look both ways, never aimlessly chase after your older cousin, and never play tag on the street.”
This year, the family had several special activities planned, including a visit from the Stone Harbor mayor, a family picture wearing their special T-shirts, hosting a happy hour and a family dance party, conducting a scavenger hunt throughout the week, and hosting several family sporting events, such as golf, kickball games, pickleball, volleyball, and basketball.
“And lest we not forget,” Schneider added, “the family toast to our uncles at Fred’s. Their regular afternoon visits to Fred’s were legendary.”
Schneider also noted, “Coming out of Covid, it’s so fun to celebrate family togetherness on a grand scale, especially while on vacation. The biggest fun is seeing each other and visiting on the beach.”
Have any thoughts and/or information on this topic? Email kknight@cmcherald.com.
