German technician fits right in

A gaggle of folks took a journey back to a more leisurely time in Iola Tuesday evening when Don Hillbrant threw a dinner party at his elegant but cozy home on East Broadway.
Good food and music were staples, and conversation that began in the main living area and continued at half a dozen tables when dinner was served made the evening complete.
A guest all enjoyed quizzing was Roland Writsch, who is overseeing upgrade of manufacturing machinery at Humboldt’s Monarch Cement Company with equipment from his employer, a German company.
Lloyd Houk played relaxing music, with a few jivey pieces tossed in, on Hillbrant’s baby grand piano.
Later, as brisket and ham disappeared from dinner plates, Betty Cunningham did several German tunes — even sang some — on an accordion her father took in for repair work he did years ago in his Neosho Falls shop. Applause exploded after each number.
Hillbrant, never one to pass on a chance to tell a story, regaled his audience about how the World War II standard, “Lili Marlene,” came to be popular on both sides of the fighting front. As punctuation, Houk sang a haunting rendition.

I HAD opportunity to sit next to Writsch at dinner.
His next stop is Canada, and then who knows where. He is a globetrotter, having worked in many countries, including China, India and Vietnam.
He lives in a small town, “40 or 50 kilometers from Ramstein,” and owns some timbered ground, but doesn’t hunt and if he did, arranging to do so would include having to wade through several levels of bureaucracy. Gun ownership in Germany is an exercise in patience, difficult to achieve, Writsch said.
Fuel prices there are about 1.5 euros per liter, which translates to $11 a gallon at today’s exchange rate. Taxes also are a burden, compared to what we rail about.
“About half of what I earn goes to the government,” Writsch said, but in exchange the country has universal health care and higher education is much less costly than in the U.S. Students are tracked, with those demonstrating the ability going on to college after nine years of public education; others prepare for employment requiring less formal education.
Writsch was taken back by being Hillbrant’s guest of honor.
Shouldn’t have been: He observed several times “how friendly people are in Iola and Humboldt.”