Alphabetical List of Presenters
Joyce née Dunk Bise
Joyce is a lifelong resident of Lee County. Her Wendish roots are Najorka and Kubitz. She is a member of St. Paul Lutheran Serbin. Joyce’s
professional career includes Sales & Marketing and Community and Economic Development. She has been the Executive Director for TWHS since March
2014.
Dan Carter aka Bednarski
Dan is the Wendish Research Exchange's Resident Guru of Information Technology. Dan lives in Giddings, Texas with his Wendish bride, the former
Suzanna née Schatte. His is responsible for the video production of most of what you are seeing today. His company is Heritage Inteviews.
David Goeke
Dave has served as a consultant for Dr. Sylvia Grider’s The Wendish Texans as well as the 75th and 100th anniversary convention celebrations of the
Texas District, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LC-MS). He began his interpretive presentations of Rev Jan Kilian in 2004, on the occasion of the
Sesquicentennial Celebration the Texas Wends voyage to Texas, and since that time has made similar appearances on no less than ten occasions. He has
written several family history books and has an extensive collection of many Wendish books and artifacts. Dave may be the first Wendish licensed
deacon in the LC-MS. He currently serves St. John Lutheran Church, Uhland, Texas and lives in San Antonio.
Ken Kesselus
Ken, a sixth generation Bastropian, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1969 and the Episcopal Seminary (Austin) in 1972. After a
career of 31 years as an ordained Episcopal minister, 18 years of which he spent as Rector of Bastrop’s Calvary Church, he “retired” and lives in
Bastrop with his wife Toni. Ken serves as Mayor of Bastrop and spends as much time as possible writing history, his passion. He has written a number
of booklets about Bastrop institutions, a three-volume history of early Bastrop County, and biographies of Edward Burleson, John E. Hines, and Alvin
J. Wirtz. He writes a periodic column in the Bastrop Advertiser, entitled “Bastrop According to Ken.”
Sandra née Miertschin Matthijetz
Sandra is 99.99% Wendish as is Raymond, her husband of 49 years. Although she grew up coloring eggs for Easter they did not decorate them in the
traditional manner; however, her great Aunt Clara Pampell did make many beautiful decorated boiled eggs and as a child she can remember the kids
sitting on the back porch steps shelling them for eating and tossing those beautiful shells out into the yard. Ray and Sandra have traveled to Germany
and the Wendish area many times and the beautiful decorated eggs and the handmade batik cloth "Blaudruck" both became the focus of their trips. In
2006 she attended her first Easter Market and then became truly hooked on collecting and decorating with the help of her dear friend, Kornelia Thor.
Weldon Mersiovsky
Weldon lives in Walburg with his wife Jean. One of the creators of the Wendish Research Exchange, along with Kathe and Dan, Weldon has been creating
his own family history and genealogy for approximately 42 years and has helped countless families find their roots. Weldon descends from a Bohemian
immigrant to Saxony in the 1690s. His German/Wendish grandfather, who immigrated in 1880, married Maria Lorentschk and Weldon’s mother was Erna née
Schmidt of Northrup. He specializes in Wendish families and Wendish history.
Wilbert Noack
Wilbert was born in Serbin, grew up in Winchester and lives in retirement in Northrup with his wife is Carol née Malke. He is ½ Wendish and ½ German.
His Wendish ancestors were Noack, Handrick, Bigon, and Zwahr. He has been practicing the art of dousing for over 40 years. His specialty: determining
how deep to dig to reach the water.
Kathe née Ruse Richards
Kathe is the Wendish Research Exchange's editor of the Wend Family Tree Genealogy Project. She has been involved in genealogy for over 15 years in a
formal way, informally for about 40. She started out collecting stories from her grandmother and baptismal sponsor, Lydia Dube Weise, who passed away
in 1973. Kathe is retired and lives with her husband Wayne in Austin, Texas.
Susan née Giguere Unger
Susan is a public school teacher in Houston where she lives with her mostly Wendish husband Michael. Susan got interested in egg decorating by
attending Wendishfests where she hooked up with Sandra Matthijetz and got her start by learning from Daphne Garrett.
Dr David Zersen
David is President Emeritus of Concordia University Texas. He has served as a member of the LCMS clergy for 50 years. He publishes frequently in areas
dealing with spirituality, higher education, faith and art and Wendish/Sorbian issues. He has doctorates from Bethany Theological Seminary and
Teachers College-Columbia University. Zersen counts it an honor to have been made an Honorary Wend by the TWHS. He and his wife, Julie, have two
children, four grandchildren, and split the year living in Austin and in Milwaukee.
