“When my parents were in their late 30s, my father’s parents died, and the family farm was put up for sale and there was no way for my dad to continue farming in Switzerland. There were ads in an agricultural magazine about farms for sale in Wisconsin and my parents made the very difficult decision of leaving their homeland to come to a new country. My father, Michel, was always a farmer at heart and it was the only way he could continue following his dream. So, he flew over on a visa in October of 1966 and stayed with a family that had come from Switzerland years before. They told him winters here were really harsh and he would be better off waiting until spring to bring the family.
That fall, he found a farm, made a down payment, and returned to Europe for the winter in preparation for the big move in spring. Part of that was applying for our US residency. It was much simpler in those days so we got approved quickly.
My parents knew they were leaving their family and friends and moving to a different country where a different language was spoken and did not know when or if they would ever return. Our extended family figured they would never see us again. Leaving our homeland was extremely difficult.