8/21/2007 - AFS Family: Second Generation
by Linda G. Shepard Salzer
Mark Shepard, who grew up in Marshall, and his wife and children, of Clintonville, WI, will host an AFS student from Germany for a year beginning in August. Venzenz Bernard Hardinghaus, Vini for short,16, lives in Odenthal, Germany, just northeast of Cologne.
The Shepards have a history of connections with AFS, travel, Germany, and cross-cultural appreciation. Mark met his wife, Dawn, through a short domestic AFS exchange when Dawn stayed with Lloyd, Nyla, Mark, Linda, Karen, and Scott Shepard in 1981. Mark came home from college and sat on the porch visiting with Dawn until the wee hours. They continued to correspond, Mark visited Dawn’s family in WI, and Dawn visited Mark after he moved to Denver, CO. Mark and Dawn married and have 3 children: Kristopher, 16, Karl, 13, and Kelly, 7.
While in High School, Mark traveled to Europe through the People-to-People program and had several short home-stays, including one in Germany. Hein Kleiheus (with whose family Mark had stayed) later visited the Shepards in Marshall. Mark also traveled to Europe with friend Jim Gordon to visit AFS student Eric Metselaar who had stayed with the Gordon family in Marshall.
Linda spent a year (1980-81) in Asuncion, Paraguay, South America as an AFS exchange student with the Vazquez family. She returned to Paraguay for a visit a number of years later. Linda’s younger host sister, Peque, visited Linda in Tulsa on her way home from studying architecture in Germany. A few years ago, Linda reestablished e-mail contact with her youngest host brother, Rolando, and his wife and daughters. Linda married Stuart Salzer and they live in Cambridge, MA. Stuart lived and worked in the Bahamas and has traveled to Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, Brazil, Israel, Australia, Singapore, the UK, and the Philippines.
The Shepards of Marshall hosted AFS student Denise Roberts of Australia Karen’s senior year (1982-83). Karen later visited Denise in Australia after spending a college semester in New Zealand. Denise traveled to Europe and Japan among other places after returning to Australia and lost touch with the Shepard family. The Shepards have attempted, so far unsuccessfully, to find her and reestablish contact. Karen and her husband, Tim, and sons Jacob and Jewell live near Wheeler, WI where they run an organic CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm. They’re expecting another child in July. They have hosted a variety of farm apprentices including short term ones from the Netherlands and Sweden.
Scott traveled to Europe several times with friends. He has taken business trips to Germany and Mexico. Scott also traveled to Vietnam to meet some of his then fiancee’s relatives and learn about her birthplace firsthand. Scott and Choi married and have one daughter, Jasmine, and another due in October. They share their home near Dallas, TX with Choi’s mother.
The Shepard family also owned and ran a German heritage museum, The Lohoefener House, in Concordia, MO for 10 years. Nyla Shepard spent her childhood summers with an aunt and uncle in Concordia. Nyla’s paternal grandmother, Margaret Hinck, immigrated to the US from near Hannover, Germany, in the mid-1800s. Nyla’s maternal great grandparents also came to the US from Germany.
AFS originally stood for American Field Service, an organization of volunteer civilian ambulance drivers during war. They believed that cultural exchange and understanding among young people would increase the chances of future peace. AFS celebrates 60 years of cultural exchange this year. For more information about AFS go to: http://www.afs.org or http://www.afs.org/usa.
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