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Gisela Vos was born in West Germany before the start of WWII. Her mother died when she was young, and although her father remarried, there wasn't a lot of affection expressed in her home.
In 1943, as the war advanced, her family sent her to East Prussia for safety, only to rescue her a year later from the Russians who were advancing to West Germany.
Bombing was continuous, with one bomb hitting the apartment building where they lived. They had to evacuate.
Gisela married at 18, and through Church World Services, the newlyweds came to St. Louis. Neither spoke English. Her husband's job had them constantly traveling from one small town to another, from one state to the next, with their young children in tow. Along the way, Gisela says, “I collected family.” And she still does.
Although that marriage ended, years later Gisela and her new husband would permanently move to Florida. They attended Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Hernando, FL and became close friends with Heike Morelli and her husband, another German couple who worshiped there. Gisela and her new friend Heike became sisters.
The couples did everything together, including moving to The Villages area. The first time Gisela and her husband went to a Hope Lutheran Church service, she mentioned to the pastor where they were from, and that they'd previously worshipped at Good Shepherd. “I know him!” said the pastor about his colleague. That was it for Gisela – another family connection.
Gisela's husband died several years ago, but she and her sister, Heike, remain close, seeing each other several times a week. Her virtual family has grown as you might imagine, including many church members who consider her an aunt, a sister, and a mother. Through it all - growing up without her own mother, moving to a foreign country as a newlywed, and constantly moving as a young wife and mother - Gisela’s life is about collecting family as she goes, and she's found a welcoming family at Hope Lutheran Church.
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