(above) Members of the extended Harkins Family at their 49th annual reunion in Brookside Park in Scotch Plains in September 2018. The family, originally from Linden and now spread throughout Union and Middlesex counties, will gather again on Sept. 1 to celebrate its 50th reunion.
Linden’s Harkins Family to celebrate 50th Annual Reunion, September 1st
The Harkins family, which hails from Linden and now numbers in the hundreds, is celebrating its 50th Annual Family Reunion on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019.
Members of the extended family live throughout Union and Middlesex counties, including Linden, Clark, Edison, and Piscataway, as well as out-of-state. They will gather at Brookside Park in Scotch Plains for a day of fun, food, drinks, reminiscing, and games – including their traditional volleyball matches.
Family members are the descendants of Bernard and Katherine Harkins, longtime residents of Linden, and their seven children. Today, the matriarch is Dolores Sisk, 85, a longtime Colonia resident who now lives in Edison. She is the daughter of Bernard and Katherine, who died in 1964 and 1977, respectively.
Bernard Harkins was a member of the Linden Board of Education and is still remembered on a plaque in the lobby of St. Elizabeth Church in Linden, where his children went to school and family members were longtime parishioners.
The family – which now includes great-great-grandchildren of Bernard and Katherine – began gathering yearly on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend in 1970 to keep everyone in touch as the family grew larger. For the first 25 years, the picnic was held at the home of Barney and Elaine Harkins in South Plainfield, and since at various parks and family homes.
