Dear Friends and Family, December 2016 We send our warmest wishes to you for a Merry Christmas! As is our recent custom, we are waiting until the last minute to write this. The challenge is trying to fit it into our schedules. Samantha is on her second “fruit-inspired” knit blanket, and Mallory is busy wood burning and embossing gifts for her friends, Candy is finishing Christmas shopping and wrapping in between doing transcription work for one of Dwayne’s research projects, and Dwayne is busy on the final edits to the 7th edition of his textbook. Each of us has highlights from this year, and we have left the telling of them to each, in their own words. Samantha: In March, I was awarded as a University Honors Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh. This award is presented to the top 2% of

students in the junior class. Although my parents were traveling at the time of the ceremony, two of my friends attended with me as my pseudo-parents.

In May, I traveled with nine other Pitt students and two professors to Florence, Italy for a month-long education-based study abroad trip. While our home base was Florence, our group also traveled to Bologna, Modena, and Reggio Emilia where we learned about the Reggio Emilia teaching philosophy. These students and I also made weekend excursions to Cinque Terre and the Amalfi Coast, and my dad joined me in Florence for a few days while he was in Germany and we traveled to Rome one weekend.

In June, I flew to Germany to join Dad in Muenster, where we then visited with friends (and relatives) both new and old. We also took a small weekend trip to see a wedding of our cousin in Gernrode, Germany, which was such a unique experience! Dad and I then headed to visit other Gremler relatives in Penne and in Schwanebeck (with a one-night adventure in Wittenberg in between) before traveling to Maastricht, where we lived in 2006. I had a wonderful time exploring the city I had not seen in 10 years, and I attended parts of the SERVSIG Conference with Dad while there. Our final European stop before heading home was Amsterdam. Dad and I took a canal boat ride, went to the Van Gogh museum, walked through the outdoor market, and went to the Anne Frank Museum. After flying home on June 21 (after 7 weeks of living in Europe and traveling), I got some much needed rest.

In August, I began my final year in the Pittsburgh Marching Band and my senior year at the University of Pittsburgh (although I will be returning to Pitt for one year of Graduate School next year). While in the band, I saw Pitt beat Penn State in a crazy game, and watched as a fan from afar as we also beat #2 Clemson! My final game as a marcher after 8 years will be on December 28th in NYC in the Pinstripe Bowl against Northwestern.

Mallory: In March I went on a mission trip (during spring break) to Panama City, Florida, as part of H20’s (my church in Bowling Green)

outreach. In May I finished my freshman year (as an Education major focusing on Early Childhood) at BGSU with a 4.0 GPA (and made the

Dean’s list). In August I began a new job at the YMCA Gymnastics Center in Perrysburg. I teach 2-5 year-olds how to tumble (and, more

basic things like how to form a line, wait for your turn, and follow directions). I also moved into an apartment in the southern part of Bowling Green with three other roommates; I enjoy not having to be in a dorm room and not having to live at home!

In September I cut off 16 inches of my hair and donated it to Wigs For Kids. I also became an H2O life group leader for the Education Lifegroup. I also continued working at my other job on campus…as a student assistant for the Department of Marketing. (And, occasionally, I use my meal plan funds to buy my Dad lunch in the Student Union.)

In December I finished off the first semester of my sophomore year with my third straight 4.0 semester! Candy: In January, we returned to Liege (we were there in the fall for the beginning of Dwayne’s sabbatical) and moved into a different

apartment on Ferronstree, close to the river and Sunday market. I returned to St. Louis College, and helped organize a “Skype-Pal” program with a British girls’ school. I had lunch each day with the faculty (a photo of the group is included in the pictures).

In March we flew home and I joined Dwayne on a trip to Phoenix and visited my friends Janice Tucker, Shari and Jeff Kelley, the Poors, and my old boss from Yellow Front days, artist Jenny Foster. Jeff drove us all to their infamous cabin and I won my first-ever game of Scrabble on their front porch.

In April I began preparations to open my Etsy store—Dollhouse Mouse Designs—in which I sell diminutive pieced quilts and other items for the modern dollhouse enthusiast. In May, my Belgian friend, Miek Van Boeckel, was in Ohio with her husband. We visited the Air and Space Museum in Dayton and the Armstrong Museum in Wapakoneta.

In June, both Samantha and Dwayne flew home, and Sam treated us to some culinary delights she learned in Italy. In July, Janet Quick and I visited the Schedel Garden in Elmore, and longtime friend Lisa VanDeventer and her daughter Amy

stopped by on their way to Athletes in Action in Xenia where Amy prepared for travel to Africa with a women’s basketball team. In August, we celebrated Dwayne’s birthday in a cabin on Acton Lake at Hueston Woods State Park and I opened my Etsy store.

My mother’s health took a turn for the worse and I flew to Spokane as she entered Hospice care. I visited with my sister and two brothers while there. I am happy to report that Mom rallied and she is confident that, at age 94, God has more work for her to do.

In September Dwayne and I celebrated our 31st anniversary, drove to Pitt for a football game, and introduced Ohio corn-on-the-cob to a BGSU student visiting from the Netherlands. In October, we took another quick trip to Phoenix, and another game at Pitt.

In November, we hosted Thanksgiving for a Chinese colleague and her family, and two visiting Chinese professors. And we drove to Pitt for Sam’s last two home football games. We will drive her to New York after Christmas for the Pinstripe Bowl. Go Pitt!

Dwayne; January: I continued my year-long sabbatical by returning to Europe. (If you are bored and you want to see all of the places I

visited on while on sabbatical, go to http://dgremler.blogspot.com.) I taught an MBA class at the University of Muenster, then we returned for my Visiting Professor appointment in Liege, Belgium. I also made research presentations in Wuppertal, Germany, and Amsterdam. Candy and I spent 4 days exploring Amsterdam, something we didn’t do much of when in Maastricht in 2006.

February: I conducted my “Publishing Scholarly Research” seminar at the University of Liege and a short version at the University of Maastricht, taught a class on service blueprinting, and finished up my appointment there.

In March I rushed to file my taxes, struggled to get a visa from the German Consulate in Chicago (an incredible story…ask me when you have an hour to kill), and taught an executive course on Service Recovery at Arizona State University.

April: I traveled “down under” To Brisbane, Australia, where I conducted the Publishing seminar at Queensland University of Technology. After 10 days on the east coast of Australia, I flew to Perth to spend 10 days on the west coast. While there I Jill Sweeney and her husband introduced me to Australian Rules Football…once I understood it, I really liked it! I traveled back to Germany (no visa issues were raised) and upon arrival (with no chance to sleep) was part of the Marketing Department disk-jockey team that was playing music for a student fund raiser.

May: I conducted the Publishing seminar at the University of Augsburg and taught a class on Servicescape Design at the Catholic University of Eichstatt-Ingolstadt as part of my duties as the Audi Visiting Professor. My German daughter, Anja, and her family drove over from Stuttgart to visit me and I played tour guide as I introduced them to Ingolstadt. I also presented research in Paris.

June: There was so much demand for the MBA course I taught at the University of Muenster that my colleague and friend, Thorsten Hennig-Thurau, invited back in June to do it again. Samantha joined me after her studies in Italy were complete, and we visited relatives in Muenster, Gernrode, Penne, and Schwanebeck. We were sad to learn that the house my grandfather, Ernst Gremler, was born in (in Borne, Germany) burned down in 2014. We spent a week in Maastricht, The Netherlands, and visited old friends in between conference events before heading up to Amsterdam for some site-seeing.

July: I focused on updating my chapters of the next (7th) edition of our Services Marketing textbook. That pretty much covers it. August-December: The semester flew by…between teaching 3 classes, getting 4 research articles accepted for publication,

traveling to Pittsburgh six times to see Samantha’s final season of marching band, going to Phoenix for a conference, paying off the mortgage on our house, and trying to wrap up work on the textbook, I was just trying to keep “all the balls in the air.” Perhaps life will slow down a bit next year. But, probably not…

So, there you have it. Our past 12 months in 1.5 pages. Please let us know how YOU are doing and what you have been up to. We hope your 2017 is filled with health, happiness, laughter, and joy. Love, Dwayne, Candy, Samantha, and Mallory (and cats Wendy and Norman)

Candy with Janet Quick

Candy’s Colleagues at St. Louis College in Liege, Belgium

Candy with sister Clarice and mother Mary

Brothers John and Bob with Candy

Miek Van Boeckel and Candy

Candy with her boss from her Yellow Frontdays in Phoenix, artist Jenny Foster.

Lisa Van Deventerand Candy

Ice Cream in Oxford, Ohio

Before “Senior Day” at Pitt’s final 2016 football game.  (They won 76‐61.)

Jens Hogreve and I as disk jockeys in Ingolstadt, Germany

At the Colosseum in Rome

AustralianFootball

Karen and Sebastian Gremler’s Wedding

After a PhD Defense in Maastricht…It’s a long story! After (finally) receiving my 

German visa!Poor Norman!

With our German daughter, Anja, and her family in Ingolstadt Beer with Christof (left) and Jeroen (right)

Mallory’s latest artwork…wood burning!

Final dinner in Liege