From Renate Riehle
After the visit of Steve Thunander in 2004 we three siblings , Christa (with family, Hans-Joerg and I, visited the U.S. in 2006. Our first stop was in Chicago, where we met with Steve and Cecilia Thunander, their sons and girl friends for a city tour and a great dinner. There was so much to talk about since our first meeting two years ago.
The next day we drove to Edgerton, OH, where on Saturday the big Riehle Reunion was planned on the old Riehle farm, which is operated today by Raymond Riehle, a grand-son of the emigrant Johann Adam Riehle.
it was unbelievable. More than 40 people came to reunion. Some came already on Friday evening just to say hello and welcome us. It was a gorgeous experiences to notice that we all had the same ancestry.
front from left: Johann Adam, Mamie, Mary (Koerner), Edward
back from left: Anna Christina, Lilie Martha, Ernest
There was so much to discuss and to meet new people. Thelma Riehle, Raymond’s cousin, who had made the contact with Ruediger had invited also the Walker relatives from Hartford City, IN and so we got the opportunity as well to meet this family with roots from the Haerten area.
The barn which was built by Adam Riehle still exists and we could compare current and old pictures from the barn.
On Sunday we were all together in the church for the service and subsequently we made a trip to a farm museum comparable to one we have not so far from Maehringen. They had old houses and even a school house.
The wonderful day ended with a dinner at Raymond’s and Joan’s house including a tour across the farm
Raymond is like uncle Paul, both have big farms with a harvester silo, both are farmers and believe in God as we do.
The next day we had to say good-bye and Hans-Joerg and I continued our trip through the U.S. whereas Christa with her family joined Steve and his family in Chicago before they also started their trip though the U.S.
We are regularly in contact and write each other or talk on the phone, send parcels and copies of interesting news articles.