Author: Ann Laemmlen Lewis

Our next visit was in Baden where we will stay the next 2 nights with Christina Ghosh. John knew Silvia Ghosh and her 3 little girls (Barbara, Christina and Deborah) when he was a missionary in Zurich.  We’ve kept in touch all these years.

Silvia served missions in the Church History Department for about 10 years, translating the old shorthand used by the Prophet’s scribes (there are only 2 women who can read it). She still works from here every day, now working on minutes and records taken by Frederick G. Williams from early Church history. He mixed his handwriting with his own code words (a sort of personal shorthand). It took Silvia months to learn to decipher it.

We took a scenic walk into the old part of Baden on our way to the restaurant they’d suggested (good Swiss food), and saw part of the old town, which was interesting. Baden is a pretty big city.  John was a missionary in this area years ago. We enjoyed what we saw as it got dark. Then we had a great meal.

Here is the beautiful old City Church:

This is looking down into the Altstadt (old city) part of Baden, which has such interesting old roofs and rooflines.

We Loved being with these friends.  We visited Silvia often while she lived in Salt Lake, and Barbara and Christina have also visited us in Utah.

And we had a delicious Swiss meal!

This is a photo of Barbara and Christina at their niece, Aline’s wedding a few years ago.  Aline lived with our family for many months when she was a young teenager.  We were sad to miss seeing her this evening.

I love how these friendships remain through the years.  Knowing this family has been a blessing to us for a long long time, beginning 50 years ago when Silvia, as a new church member, fed a handful of young Swiss missionaries, including John.

Last night as I was going to bed, I got the most amazing message on FB Messenger from someone I don’t know:

Dear Ann – Through RootsTech I found today our common relative Elizabeth Degen Bushman. I was so moved to find a LDS pioneer from Switzerland. My parents are both converts, so finding Elizabeth’s records filled me with so much joy! My family lives next to Hölstein, where Elizabeth was born. So it feels so close.   I also notice how many common friends we have on Facebook. Katharina Odavic is a longtime friend as well as Peter Huber. We both attended the same ward (Pratteln) for a long time. I just wanted to send my love and appreciation to you for everything you recorded regarding Elizabeth Degen. Best regards, Sariah Wiesner Knabe

With Sariah thinking I was in America, I sent this response:
How timely to hear from you tonight. We stayed with the Hubers last night and will stay with them again tomorrow night. Monday we’ll be going to Holstein to see what we can see.
We completed an 18 month mission YESTERDAY in the Frankfurt Area Office and this week we are traveling to visit friends in Switzerland, including Katharina Odavic and Franz!
Maybe we could meet Monday??

So this morning, with Carla’s help, we had plans in place to go with the Hubers to Sariah’s home, just over the hill, 5 minutes away.  A miracle, really.  All day I’ve had a feeling that Elisabeth Degen Bushman is aware of our little family, and today Vivy in particular.

This is Sariah Knabe:

From my journal entry today:

So today was a pretty perfect day.  We went with the Hubers to Saraih’s home for Brunch.  They arranged it yesterday after I told Carla about Sariah’s message to me. It turns out that Saraih’s parents were in the Basel Ward, baptized shortly before John served there.  They were also invited and greeted us when we got there (they live in the next village over and are in the same ward).

Her parents are Franz and Yolanda Wiessner. They were so kind and really wonderful folks. Franz’s mother is a DEGEN. He was so excited to meet me too.  He came with copies of his family tree, copies of photos of his mother’s family and a copy of their last family gathering booklet.

It turns out that we are related in 2 different ways, in 2 of our family lines, but it goes back many generations. We suspect there is a closer relationship than what is showing, once we figure out how.

We had so much to talk about. There are about 10 LDS families now living in Höllstein (where Elisabeth Degen’s family lived–she emigrated with her father to America in 1816 when she was 14 years old), including the Bishop of their ward.  Höllstein is almost walking distance (up and over a hill) from Sariah’s newly built family home on the edge of the town of Lampenberg.  Sariah’s home is across the road from that little town’s cemetery.  There are also Degens in this little town and in this little cemetery, which we visited.

Franz’s mother’s Degen family:

The Heinrich Wiessner and Anna Maria Degen Family

This photo shows a miracle.  Two days ago I knew nothing about these cousins.  Today I am here with them in my ancestral homelands.  It’s beautifully astounding to me.

While I talked Family History with Sariah, John reminisced about his days in Basel when Franz and Jolanda were there as newlyweds.

Out came their missionary scrapbooks, with missionaries John served with here in Basel.

 

We had a really wonderful time with these new friends. Their home is beautiful, on the edge of town next to rolling fields of farmland that will never be developed. Over the hill is Höllstein, where Elisabeth Degen grew up.

After wonderful visiting, we set out on a fieldtrip to visit the places our ancestors lived.  Peter Huber worked for an agricultural company many years ago and he visited the farmers here.  He knew which farms still belong to Degen families.   Everything about today was miraculous.

These are some of the Degen farms and the countryside in Höllstein:

We could find all the Degens in town on a phone app that shows land line phones in town and where they are located (after searching for Degen). Most of the old farms still have old phones.

The red-roofed home is where the Bishop now lives.

This is another member home:

The main street in Höllstein:

This is the Degen home on the main street that we discovered when we visited last year:

Then we went to the church and cemetery we’d visited last year and wandered there.  There are more complete photos of this church and cemetery here.

Gysin is another family name.

Cherries and wheat were common themes on the headstones.

Then we walked through town to the big factory where they make watches. Peter Huber told us all about the watch industry in Höllstein, and how the people here invented the machines that make the small parts and pieces that go into watches. They did this work in their homes during the winters when there was no farming. Then factories grew from the simple technology (water powered at first). Now there are many watch factories in this little valley. Peter also used to be involved with that industry and he knew all about it. He wore a “President’s Watch,” the model made for all of the Presidents of the USA for many years.

Then we drove to the other small towns in that area and saw the churches and felt the places. The valley is long and narrow, the towns not far apart. One of the towns called Bennwil was where the church records were kept (births and christenings were recorded there for people living in the surrounding towns).

The Bennwil Church

We drove through Niederdof, Oberdorf and to Waldenburg. There are watch factories in all of these towns. Peter said they also made woven silk ribbon  used in ceremonial and traditional dress and in the churches.

This is a farming area, with homes in the little towns along the main roads, a church in each town, then the farms are on the hills behind and around the towns. Many look like dairies with cows. You can smell them. Everything is green and beautiful, lush with plenty of water year-round. The roads were small, narrow farm town roads. Old and new buildings were a mix. Some dating back to the 1600s.

This is the church in Oberdorf.

This old building from 1658 has murals showing the occupations of the people here.

Ribbon weaving:

This is Waldenburg:

It was wonderful to see these places and to feel these places in this small valley. I loved every minute and it was wonderful to be with the Hubers and Sariah who grew up right here in this area and knew the history and knew their way around.  I felt SO HAPPY today, and Grateful for my ancestors who watch over us and our little family now.  Yesterday was a day of Miracles for Adam and Heidi’s family in St. Louis (see previous post).  Today was a miracle for us, to be here in these places with friends.

We woke up to this message from our daughter-in-law, Heidi in the night:

Vivian (2 years old) was hit by a car a couple hours ago. She is good, all things considered. We are in the ER with her and really, things are looking good. Scans and everything are slowly coming back but looking normal so far. Her cognition has been normal the whole time. Never lost consciousness. She’s got quite the road rash across her body. Pray for her but know she is ok!

Gratefully Adam and Heidi were both seconds away, but oh, what long seconds those were.  Both heard the breaks slam and squeal, then the heart-stopping thud.  They looked up to see Vivy’s little body lying still in the road, 20 feet from the car.

Here is Adam holding Vivy after checking for broken bones or internal problems, while they waited for the ambulance and emergency vehicles to come (7 came).

From Heidi:

My heart is feeling a gratitude that is indescribable. “Grateful” doesn’t begin to describe how we feel.  It could have been so much worse. So so so much worse. She’ll be her same little sweet self soon. Her body is going to be sore and scarred for a while but I’m so grateful that there’s no permanent damage to her body or brain.

My response:

Thanking all our angels in heaven for protecting her. Today we are in the Swiss homeplace of my 3rd great grandma who always watches over our family. I feel her near. Her name is Elisabeth Degen. We love you and are so grateful Vivy is safe. ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

Next we drove from Interlaken to Hausen by Brugg (1.5 hours) to visit Hans and Valerie Roth. John taught Hans, who was baptized in his young 30s. He met and married Valerie and they had 10 kids and now there are lots of grandchildren.  What a wonderful family!  When we got there, the table was spread with a meal of all sorts of finger foods that were beautiful and fancy. Valerie prepared them all.  Hans and Valerie were visiting at their daughter, at her home, with her 4 children..

We spent a couple of hours there visiting and catching up with their family news. Hans is about 84 now. Valerie is 72. Hans has cancer in his left eye and will have a biopsy next month, then will have the eye removed after that. He’s struggling a bit with his memory, but he seemed good and we had good conversations. He is a quiet gentle man who loves God and looks forward to the resurrection. It was so nice to be with them all.

Then we drove back to the Hubers (1.5 hours) and arrived here at about 8:00. Their table was set with another delicious meal–mashed potatoes, beef and carrots in a nice sauce, broccoli, then ice cream.  Peter was home from his travels to Budapest and his twin brother, George who we met in Heilbronn last October had dropped by to visit. We sat and ate and visited until 10:00.

Beautiful Interlaken!  We were excited to attend church here this morning.  Below is the view from our hotel room, looking out over the train station.

When John lived here, church was held in a home.  Now there is a beautiful building.

We left for church at 9:30 not far away, and John immediately started finding the people he knew, starting with Paul Nielson who was at the organ playing prelude. He was our main purpose for coming here. Paul was the Bishop when John served in Zollikofen at the end of his mission.

Many of the people we visited with here today are children of the members (many were children)For John knew 50 years ago.  He was thrilled to meet the next generation.

For 3 hours after church we sat at a Youth Hostel and had lunch and listed to Paul Nielsen’s story.  His life has taken some interesting twists and turns.  We loved being with him today.

This evening we went to the big park in Interlaken where John did his very first street contacting many years ago.  There was an interesting thing going on in the park–an area you could walk through where unsold Christmas trees were brought and set up with lights and paths through them. You could write wishes for the new year on ornament tags and hang them on the trees. It’s a conservation thing sponsored by a power company.