A Facebook Timeline History of 2014 From Sheila & Richard Rausch

Middletown DE December 2014 Volume 35 Published annually since 1979

Entire family celebrated the 2013 Holiday SeasonBrooke and Blake flew in from SanDiego for a week, which they will do

again this year. Eight of us (Sheila, Richard, Becca, Debi, Troy,Tori, Blake and Brooke) visited New York City to see the show atRadio City. We also saw the lights in Philadelphia. On Christmasmorning Santa left his shorts and a Temple T shirt, which Grandpadonned . Becca, Tori, Brooke, Blake and Debi join in the festivities.New Years in Newport News and Williamsburg

Sheila and Richard spent New Year’sEve and New Year’s day in NewportNews with Sheila’s sisters (Kay, Laurenand Pat). This has become an annualevent for the past couple of years. Wehad a great time at the WilliamsburgFirst Night (including midnightfireworks). We also met Parker Vancewho was just a couple of weeks old.Parker, mother Amanda, grandfatherMike and great grandmother Kayrepresent 4 generations of theMatthews family.

Groundhog Day at Longwood GardensSince Punxutawny Phil saw hisshadow on Feb. 2 Sheila andRichard decided to enjoy anearly spring by visiting theOrchid Festival at nearbyLongwood Gardens. TheGroundhog was right as we had

cold and snowy weather all theway through March. This waswhat the outside of our houselooked like after a early Marchstorm. The communityClubhouse suffered waterdamage, due to a burst pipe, inJanuary and was closed for 3months while repairs were made.

Spring Brought Many Great EventsAfter the long, cold winter we looked forward to a variety ofspring events which included, Proms, a Wedding, Graduationsand awards for basketball and horse jumping by variousgrandchildren across the United States. The next columnshighlight some of these events.

2014 Holiday Letter Sheila and Richard Rausch Page 1

Proms in April and MayTori Bergwall, then 16 anda high school sophomoreaccompanied friend Terryto the Junior Prom on April12. Here she issurrounded bygrandmother Sheila andmother Becca. TroyBergwall, then 18 tookRika Hoffman to his SeniorProm on May 9.

Melanie Bergwall and Steve Palladinetti are WedOn May 10 at the Horticultural Center in Philadelphia’s famousFairmont Park, Melanie and Steve had a spectacular wedding.

Troy and Trevor Bergwall GraduateTrevor received a BS from the Fox School of Business at TempleUniversity on May 15. His brother Troy graduated, with Honors, fromRustin High School on June 11 . More about their future plans later.

Brooke Harris Wins Equestrian MedalOn June 18 Brooke competed at the Del Mar Classic Jumper Event. On

the second day of thecompetition, she came in4th place in both of herrounds. She did a perfectcourse in both without anypenalties. Congrats. Brookeis entered into her secondevent and will be competingon Dec. 13-14. Good luck.

From left - Richard, Sheila, Trevor, Travis,Becca, Troy, Tori, Eric before the

ceremony

Left -Licouras Centerduring graduation.

Above Trevor. RightTroy

Happy Holidays From Sheila and Richard December 2014 Page 2Grandson Blake Harris on Winning Team

Blake, 14, has beenplaying basketball formany years. His hardwork and prowess paidoff when he helped histeam, Coastal Elite, winthe winter leaguechampionship onMarch 12. He is second from the left. Blake is nowon the Mission Hills High School team and hopes to continue hisstellar career. He is ready for his first game in this picture.

Granddaughter Tori Continues Dancing

Tori has been going to dance classes sinceshe was about 4 years old. She has taken avariety of classes including ballet, tap, jazzand hip hop. This year the spring recital wason June 7 and several proud family membersattended. Tori is pictured with friend AlyssaMoore wearing the costume for one of thetwo dances performed during the recital.

Summer Vacation in San Diego and Palm SpringsOn Monday July 21 Sheila, Becca, Tori and Richard flew to SanDiego to spend a week in Palm Springs. We met Mike, Blake and

Brooke Harris at Mike’s office and had fish tacos for lunch atRubios before leaving for Palm Springs. We stayed in a beautiful 2bedroom condo at Marriott Desert Villas for a week. We had agreat time even though the temperatures exceeded 110 degrees

on some days. We spent several hours at the top of San Jacintomountain. We rode the aerial Tramway (a little scary to those whodon't like heights). We took a nature walk and had a nice lunch witha scenic view in the Pines Restaurant. Other activities included theLiving Desert Zoo, winning the Villa’s Iron Chef contest (chickenenchiladas), lots of time around the pool, a ping pong tournamentand several good meals. We drove back to San Diego for a finalnight on July 28 with a stop for lunch and sightseeing in OldTemecula. We had a farewell dinner at Islands Restaurant beforeflying home on July 29. We were lucky enough to have preboardstatus on both flights which made flying much easier.

Blake, Becca, Sheila, Tori, Brookeenjoying time in one of the pools.

Becca, Blake, Tori,Brooke, Sheilaexiting Aerial Tram at the top of Mt.

Blake, Brooke , Toriatop fallen tree on

nature walk

Becca, Tori, Brooke,Blake at entrance to

Living Desert Museum

Blake, Sheila outside ofPines Restaurant at top

of Mt. Jacinto

Travis Proposes to Erin on Family VacationOn August 9 all six members of the Bergwall family along with

Erin flew to Mexico to spend a fewdays at the all inclusive NOWSapphire Riviera Maya Resort. Travisarranged for a beach side romanticdinner for the “third anniversary ofdating Erin”.It wasat thatdinner

that he surprised Erin by askingfor her hand in marriage. Hepresented her with a beautifulengagement ring. The rest of thefamily celebrated afterwards. Awedding is planned for nextAugust. The rest of the trip was filled with sun and fun.

Sheila and Richard Meet Old FriendsOn Labor Day weekend Sheila andRichard drove to NY City to spend theday with Richard’s oldest friend EdGoldberg and Ann McGrath. Theyhave known each other for 70 years.A Broadway Show (“It’s Only a Play”)and dinner were part of the day.The following weekend They met with

the Gallagher's (Noel and Jack)and the Kleinman’s (Marsha &Ted) at the Gallagher's home inOceanCityNJ.Tedwasthebest

man at Sheila and Richard’s wedding,51 years ago. We took a boat ride on Peck’s Bay, toured CapeMay and Ocean City and relived the past 50 years while watchingthe sun set over Peck’s Bay from the condo deck.

Troy Enrolls In Honor’s Program at Drexel Univ.Troy Bergwall started his college career atDrexel University in Philadelphia in lateSeptember. He moved into the MillenniumDorm. He is in a five year coop honorsprogram majoring in Chemical Engineering.He will earn both BS and MS degrees whenhe graduates. Trevor, Tori and Becca helpedTroy move into his 7th floor dorm room.Grandpa Rausch was there for moralsupport, to tour the campus and have lunch.

Trevor Becomes an Intern in Basketball OperationsTrevor Bergwal majored in Business and Sports Management during

his college career. He has always loved basketball and in Novemberbegan working as an intern with the Delaware 87ers which is a teamin the NBA Development League. He is living in an apartment inBear DE until next April when the season ends. The Sevens playtheir home games at UD’s Bob Carpenter Center, in Newark DE..