Wichita Falls, Texas

I remembered very little about the city in which I spent two years of my life as a young boy after my family came from Germany. Actually we lived in the country, and I doubt we spent much time in the city itself.  The first Ridinger showed up there in the 1920's. He had left Ukraine and headed for Nebraska, where his brother had settled earlier. He decided to move to the WF area and start a dairy farm. His first son was born in Rohrbach, and 13 more sons and daughters were born in the U.S. Many started their own dairy farms. In 1949 he sponsored my dad's cousin, her husband and daughter, who in turn sponsored my family to immigrate in 1960. Most of the dairy farms are gone now and some of the Ridingers have moved away, but with that many children and immigrants, the likelihood of running into a relative is very good.

My dad's cousin is 89 years young, a bit frail but still getting around, but with the mind of a 30 year old. She talked almost non-stop for the parts of two days that I was there. She talked about the orchards. Oh, did she talk about those orchards. Some unimaginable things happened in those orchards....

"I may not be here when the book is finished, but you must finish it," she told me a number of times. Like my father, her spirit after such a hard life was a true inspiration. 

Home for two families (9 people) upon our arrival in 1960

Dad's cousin March 2010