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tttauttjj air conditioning systems 19lwebngaiurit7 4711748 craftsmanship j 7lne 3ialilion tribune community 416 6405339 j stoufrville aluminum siding windows specializing in replacement doors and windows serving whitchurchstouffville uxbridge and area a metroland community newspaper wednesday november 4 1987 businessman helps reunite family after 57 year separation by bruce stapley it was one of those experi ences you wouldnt trade for any thing but you wouldnt rush back to try again this is how stouffvilles ged stonehouse summed up a recent adventure which saw him fly to east germany to help reunite a parkview village resident wal ter kempin with his sisters after a 57 year seperation an earlier attempt to remeet his sister was aborted last spring when he failed to make the proper connections and after spending a day going from one border crossing to another standing hours in lineups and receiving much verbal abuse from customs officials mr stone- house now understands how someone can come so close yet still fail to rendezvous with a per son in that communist country completed pressing matters upon arrival in berlin west germany mr stonehouse im mediately completed business matters his prime reason for being in that part of the world he then picked mr kempin up at the airport and went off in search of his sisters holy moses mr stonehouse recalled mr kempin repeating as they watched cars pass them on the autobahn at speeds of over 100 miles per hour after arriving at the border and the checkpoint the guard asked for documents mr stone house said but i spoke no ger man he spoke no english and walter was so excited he didnt understand couldnt enter ultimately they determined the east german officials were tell ing them they couldnt enter with out a visa and they didnt issue them there the guard pointed them in the direction of another border crossing 110 kilometres away off they went through several small towns to the border cros sing of hirschberg there it was mr stonehouse recalled high barbed wire fences watch towers check points and five rows of cars after a 40 minute wait they r r v graystones manor m 7 v3 heswws with halloween only s few days away students at dixon hill public school got a jump on their preparations to don scary disguises and go out trick or treating by having their faces painted during lunch hour on oct 27 and 28 here maxine bond left and melanie both of grade 4 get into the swing of things with hearts and stirs to mark the beginning of what must have been very scary costumes on saturday night denise mcdonald were once again on their way to the check point this lady took one look at our papers and started telling me off very forcefully mr stonehouse said when she realized i couldnt understand she became even angrier found someone going from building to building they finally found someone sym pathetic to their plight however the red tape was going to make it touch and go for mr stonehouse to catch his flight home from frankfurt within 24 hours with paper work now intact they once again presented them selves to the excitable border guard after additional waving of arms and another fast and furious verbal offensive the sergant ma jor as mr stonehouse affec tionately dubbed her sent them to the next checkpoint the car was searched and they were finally sent on their way they now had to backtrack the 100 kilometres they had been forced to go in pursuit of the prop er border crossing except this time they were on the other side of the iron curtain old girlfriend driving through the drab east german countryside walter found his memory had not failed him each town triggered a recol lection from his distant past in cluding a girlfriend he once dated arriving in sonneberg his home town mr kempin directed them to his family home the yards a mess was his first reac tion they were met at the gate by mr kempins great niece who gave the old man a big hug and ran off to get the others his sis ters came running the tearful reunion was complete walters reaction was really quite predict able said mr stonehouse he gave one sister a big hug then looked at her and said holy j ratepayers debate cio personality focus c12 lm4ihmi t i t ti t rrr moses are you my sister mr stonehouse was welcomed as a guest the experience he said was similar to staying in a late forties ontario farmhouse ex cept for the 26 inch color tv extremely cold the toilet was an outhouse the bath was the kitchen sink and the house was extremely cold mr kempin spent one day with his family who accompanied him by bus back across the border east germans who are past the age of 65 are allowed to leave the country several times a year after several days together it was all over mr kempin was on a train back to frankfurt for his flight home but this time he would return with his mission accomplished thanks to the adventuresome spir it of a stouff ville neighbor who be lieves in storybook endings as for mr stonehouse the travel office operator with a flair for the unusual he was just as happy to return to his native land i came home to a fantastic country where we must really stop and think how lucky we are he-added-