Lourens family reunion set for Saturday in Prairie City park

The descendants of Albert and Aartje Lourens, a former Jasper County farm family, will celebrate the 100th anniversary of their coming to America on Saturday. The family of eight left the Netherlands in February 1912, arriving in Prairie City after a heavy March snowstorm.

The only surviving child of the family of four daughters and six sons — 94-year-old Bertha Van Zee from Michigan — plans to attend the annual family reunion. The many cousins and their families traveling from California, Michigan, Iowa, Missouri and Texas will meet at the Prairie City Community Park.