A cross-cultural friendship born in DeGraff more than five decades ago recently was rekindled.
Rick Niece, right, met up with former Riverside High School foreign exchange student Valgier “Val” Astradsson in the latter’s native Reykjavik, Iceland, and they posed with the Bellefontaine Examiner which included the feature story of Dr. Niece’s most recent book about his late mother. PRINT AND WEB-EDITION PHOTO: The 1962 Riverside High School yearbook was dedicated to the Icelandic exchange student. (PHOTOS | RICK NIECE)
Rick D. Niece, of Hot Springs Village, Ark., is a 1964 graduate of Riverside High School, where he became acquainted in 1961 with Valgier “Val” Astradsson, a foreign exchange student from Reykjavik, Iceland, who graduated with the 1964 RHS class.
Mr. Niece and his wife, Sheree, recently were on a 16-day transatlantic cruise that included a four-day stay in Iceland. The former DeGraff resident Googled the exchange student’s name, and found him still to be a resident of Reykjavik.
The travelers contacted him and met up with him upon arrival in the island nation’s capital city.
“The day with Val was magical,” Mr. Niece wrote. “We saw sights in Reykjavik and the southern coast of Iceland no other cruise ship passengers experienced on their shore excursions.”
Read complete story in Saturday’s Examiner.
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