Visit to the Riehle relatives in Edgerton, OH

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.

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.