My love of family history

I invite others who share the love of family to share their stories and experiences with searching and finding their ancestors with me. This experience began almost 35 years ago, and continues to excite me with each new recovery of the long lost family member. It began in 1971, when my younger sister and I traveled to Switzerland to see if we could locate our grandfather's gravesite in the village of Blumenstein. It is located near Thun in a very picturesque part of the country. Since we did not speak German or the Swiss dialect we didn't know where to begin. We spotted a Postal Station, and tried to act out in a charade fashion looking for the gravesite at the Church. When the Station master heard us say "Winkler", he excitedly closed the station, took us by the hands and said, "You Winkler? Me Winkler", and led us to the village teahouse, where the owner spoke English. From this beginning we were taken to the village archivist, found our family in the village books, were introduced to some cousins, having dinner in their beautiful, humble chalet, which was just like our great grandfather's. A "cousin" from Geneva was summoned, as she spoke English, and was our interpreter at the dinner. The family members, ignored me, but spoke excitedly to my sister, who resembles the Winkler line. What a thrill it all was.