Velma Fehr has two hobbies, genealogy studies and traveling.

Those two passions came together when she was invited to go on a tour of Ostfriesland, Germany, where she traced her family roots.

"When I was younger, I never dreamed that I would travel," she said.

Velma said she always wanted to visit Germany. Members of the Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America heard about her interest and invited her on the tour.

The jaunt to Germany happened in early June, but to Velma, it's still fresh in her mind. Her favorite experience was walking on the same farmland her grandmother lived on.

Visiting her grandmother's homeland made Velma wish she could have known her. Her grandmother passed away when Velma was an infant. She had moved to America in her early 20s, in the 19th century, because she hoped for a better life.

Before she moved, her grandmother would work all day and have to walk a half-hour to her job. Then she would come home and cook dinner. She did all this in her teenage years.

"She's a really inspiring person," Velma said.

Visiting Germany gave her a chance to learn what life was like at that time. She said many of her relatives suffered from starvation and poverty. Visiting her family's farmlands, she saw that agriculture was a difficult job.

Most of the crops were buckwheat because the soil was not fertile enough to grow crops such as corn or wheat, she said.

Velma met some of her cousins who still lived in the area and went to their house for tea. Her cousins wer very particular about their tea, she said, but despite that, they shared many stories.

"My cousin kept looking at me and said he could tell I was a Baumann (her grandmother's last name)," she said. "I really wish I knew her. I wonder what made him say that, whether it was my mannerisms or looks."

As a parting gift, her sousins gave her a brick from her grandmother's original barn. Two of Velma's children, who went with her to Germany, said they will make a plaque about the significance of the brick.

The trip was her family tree research coming to life, she said. She has put together two family tree books. Those books are mainly text with a few photos.

Family tree work attracted her when she helped her mom put one together.

She said it's itneresting to know who lived before her. If they didn't create the history, then she probably wouldn't be here.

"I'd always known of my German background, but it was just information," she said. "When I saw the villages where my ancestors lived, it became a reality.

Gary Fehr, her son, said he enjoyed watching his mom react to seeing all the places she has written about.

He said the trip impacted him and his sister, Rhonda, but probably not the same way it impacted his mom. Gary said his mom has done a lot of research and work on learning their family tree, and she deserved to see Germany.

He agreed with his his mom that his favorite part of the trip was standing on the same land as his great-grandmother.

"It felt like we were closing the circle, going back to the land of my ancestors," he said.

The visit to Germany increased his awareness about how tough life would have been for his great-grandmother. They visited windmills in the Ostfriesland area that probably provided food and work for his relatives.

Those windmills didn't pump water, Velma said, but ground grain. Many of the windmills don't work now, but some were changed to museums.

"It felt nice to know that my grandmother and other ancestors probably stood in the same windmill that I visited," she said. "It was a visit to my heritage."