Geneva to Courtemaiche, Switzerland

 For those who don’t know, our pops grew up in Catania, Sicily, but spent about 5 years in the early/mid 1950’s living in a small town in northwest Switzerland named Courtemaiche. We drove about 4 hours from Geneva, through vineyards and farmland all with fiery colors of fall, and arrived in this sleepy little town to the sounds of the church bells ringing, which I promptly pointed out to our dad that the town was heralding his return.  
 According to our dad, the town has changed quite a lot since he was last there for a visit (which included me) in September 1984. We walked around the sleepy town for a few minutes when he finally saw a sign with the name of his old boss, Gérard Reber…we rang the doorbell and, incredibly, his bosses wife answered. For the next hour, they reminisced about my fathers younger days and Gérard, who passed away 2 years ago.  

   
    
Suddenly, the woman made a phone call and 10 minutes later, Gérards brother, Guy arrived, which caused huge smiles and laughs from their own reminiscing.  It was an amazing sight to watch and be a part of. Rarely have I seen so much happiness on our dads face. Even he said it was beyond his wildest dreams because he didn’t expect to see anyone he knew after all of this time. To add to the joyous occasion, Guy has invited us to his home for dinner tonight. Pure joy!!! The best part was when the wife pulled out her photo albums and had pictures of our visit in 1984!