Dieter Mueller, our l953 foreign exchange student

To the Editor,

In response to the July 3, 2019, article about the German foreign exchange students of 1953, my family hosted Dieter Mueller-Grunow. He and Inga Asmussen were the first AFS (American Field Service) students to be hosted in Fairfield.

My parents, Ron and Elaine Blough, were excited to greet them at the Leggett Hotel when they departed from a Continental Trailways bus. While Dieter lived with us, my brother, Bob, was a junior in H.S., my sister, Norma, was a freshman and I, Betty, was in the fifth grade. During that time, a strong bond was created.

Dieter made several trips to Fairfield as he completed his education and he credited my mom for this commitment. He studied partly at Heidleberg University and graduated with a PHD in international law. He married Renata and they have two sons, Robert and Rolf. Renata speaks five languages and worked as a courtroom interpreter. In Dieter's law career, he was able to visit the U.S. and Fairfield frequently.

Mom, Dad and I spent 2 ½ months traveling in Europe in the summer of l960 for business and pleasure. Dieter traveled with us part of the time and his passport was kept in order to check for any government violation as we waited at check points going into East Germany and East Berlin. He was held in a separate room, but was confident that he hadn't had so much as a parking ticket. And our tour continued.

In 1985, the Mueller's oldest son, Robert spent a year studying at Fairfield H.S. and lived with Sheri and Bob Blough. Rolf, their second son, came to the Twin Cities to live with us. That summer I had taken our three daughters, Kristin, Kelle and Kate to visit the Mueller family. While we were there, Rolf asked to live with us (arriving in three weeks!) to attend Mound Westonka H.S. and graduate with Kelle.

There were many other visits between our families over the years. And in 2007 Dieter, Robert and his daughter, Thalia came to Fairfield to attend the wedding of Sheri Blough and Dave Neff. This story will continue!

-Betty Blough Downey

- Dr. Dieter Muller-Grunow, Germany