![\"01_C__Users_SternJill_Pictures_Heilbronn](\"http:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/alumni\/files\/2017\/04\/01_C__Users_SternJill_Pictures_Heilbronn-Reunion-Booklet-from-Ulrich-Schneider-.jpg\")
<\/a> ![\"02_C__Users_SternJill_Pictures_Heilbronn](\"http:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/alumni\/files\/2017\/04\/02_C__Users_SternJill_Pictures_Heilbronn-Reunion-Booklet-from-Ulrich-Schneider-.jpg\")
<\/a> ![\"03_C__Users_SternJill_Pictures_Heilbronn](\"http:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/alumni\/files\/2017\/04\/03_C__Users_SternJill_Pictures_Heilbronn-Reunion-Booklet-from-Ulrich-Schneider-.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nTo read his original story in its entirety, click\u00a0here.<\/a> \u00a0Below is an abridged version:<\/p>\n On September 16, 2016, a group of eleven former exchange students from Williston Academy and Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium met to share memories and reflections on the exchange experience and the profound impact it had on everyone\u2019s lives, personally and professionally. The next evening, Saturday, September 17, 2016, they gathered; ten men and one woman, four Americans and seven Germans, in a villa tucked in the midst of vineyards overlooking During the months preceding the reunion, these former exchange students began swapping stories and old photos, the highlights of which were lively email (and letter) exchanges with the first two German and American exchangers, Franz Schmitt von Muehlenfels \u201957 and Corby Finney \u201857. \u00a0\u00a0Although neither Franz nor Corby could attend the reunion, they were very much “present” with their remarkable recollections of Phil Stevens and Karl Weiss and their vivid memories of school life not long after the war. Franz shared a photo someone had taken of him running the high hurdles on a wooden track that winter\u2014next to the headmaster\u2019s Homestead! In one letter, Franz recalls Coach Laurent bellowing \u201cFranz, watch your language!\u201d on his megaphone after Franz shouted an obscenity when he overstepped the foul line for his broad jump. You might say that language learning for an exchange student at a boys\u2019 school takes on a new meaning and gaining a more varied vocabulary than found in schoolbooks… In yet another letter, Franz vividly recalled the \u201cI like IKE!\u201d buttons from that very different election 60 years ago.<\/p>\n In a way, these stories “seeded” the stories that were later told with great gusto all that weekend in Heilbronn last September, beginning with the opening welcome dinner on Thursday, September 16, so generously hosted by Ulrich Schneider\u201960 and his partner, Petra Rothfuss. As the exchangers around the table introduced themselves and their partners, any concerns they might have harbored about spending an awkward weekend with complete strangers, quickly were dispelled as they recognized kindred spirits in their shared memories.<\/p>\n The exchange was founded by, Williston’s Headmaster, Phillips Stevens, and\u00a0the Director of the Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium, Karl Weiss, following a visit by Weiss to Easthampton in the winter of 1956. When Weiss received a warm welcome\u2014and, according to Phil Stevens, the only standing ovation that Willistonians had ever given a guest speaker, the idea took root. (Franz Schmitt \u201957, who was eyewitness to that speech, recalled that Weiss\u2019 talk about God and Nature was a lively counterpart to the sober Congregationalist backdrop, something he says the boys particularly appreciated.) Stevens had spent two summers in Germany in 1937 and ’38, while a teacher at the South Kent School, earning his Master’s in German at Middlebury. Later, as Williston’s\u00a0headmaster,\u00a0he and Weiss, both dedicated educators, almost certainly shared a common interest in re-establishing post-war US and German\u00a0relations by means of a simple, school-to-school, family-to-family, 1:1 exchange. The origin of this exchange is all the more remarkable, given the fact that Phil Stevens\u2019 younger brother, David, a US infantryman, was killed in Germany near the end of the war and Karl Weiss had been a prisoner of war. Thus, the founding of this exchange, quite literally on the rubble of war, barely a decade after war\u2019s end, was truly an act of practical idealism carried out by two consummate educators who shared deep mutual respect for each other\u2019s culture, and who sought to ensure that the next generation of students knew a more peaceful world.<\/p>\n This exchange functioned with quiet regularity from its start in 1956 until its final year, 1975, around the time when Williston Academy, now the Williston-Northampton School, closed its German language program. In its final years, after Williston-Northampton became co-ed, the once all-male exchange included several young women from both schools.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Whether it’s just reminiscing or bringing your classmates up to date on what you’ve been up to, we love hearing your stories! As our thoughts (and work!) are all things Reunion these days, we are delighted to share a post that arrived in our offices from Bill\u00a0Anthony ’66. Enjoy this charming\u00a0recounting of a very special … Continue reading A Reunion in Heilbronn<\/span>
\nHeilbronn, Germany, stood up and proudly sang, \u201cArise Sons of Williston!\u201d\u00a0It was a capstone moment near the end of a magical reunion of \u201cEhemalige\u201d (former) exchange students\u2014now more advanced in years\u2014participants in a school-to-school exchange program that started in 1956 and ceased some twenty years later. In total, the program exchange included 32 participants: 17 from the Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium and 15 from Williston Academy and the Williston-Northampton School\u201429 men and 3 women. Nearly 40% of the former \u201cexchangers\u201d still living, were present for the reunion, making that evening even more special. They are:\u00a0William Anthony, Charlie Benoit, Arch Bryant, and Ron Gwiazda \u2013 all from Williston; and from Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium: Manfred Balz, Ulrike Brandenberger, Peter Fischer, Peter Hertner, Konrad Roth, Ulrich Schneider, and Lutz Wegner.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n