In 1982 my wife Mechthild and I were travelling in New Zealand.
On an 8-day coach tour on the South Island we first met Marion and
Harvey Roehl.

During the bus rides Harvey was always writing something.  My wife
got in closer contact with Marion and she asked her, "What is Harvey
writing all the time?"  Marion told us, "It will be 'Top Secret' until
the end of the tour!"

Shortly before the tour ended Harvey took over the microphone from
the bus driver and told us what he had been writing all the time: about
each person of the tour he had written a humorous little story with a
lot of characteristics of that person.  It was an excellent end to that
journey.

During meals or walks we did together, Harvey and Marion told about
their hobbies and passions.  A special recommendation was, after
returning home to Germany we should visit a museum in Ruedesheim
(Siegfried Wendel's museum).  That was our start into the world of
mechanical music and all.

Over the years we had continued contact.  They visited us and we
visited them a few times in their hospitable house in Vestal.  We had
a lot in common and were thrilled about their private museum and the
clue was when viewing a silent movie on a rather small screen and
Harvey was sitting at an old cinema piano and he played the music to
it, very skilled.

Mechthild and Hauke Marxsen