The Tulsa-Celle Sister City Partnership Committee was formed to promote and implement a Sister-City Relationship between the City of Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA and the City of Celle, Lower Saxony, Germany. A signing of official Twin-City Partnership Agreements were signed in Celle during a group of activities which occurred on June 21-25, 2000.

A rather large group of Tulsa citizens traveled to Germany for the signing ceremonies. The people attending were comprised of an official delegation plus a number of others, who were all members of the Tulsa-Celle Partnership Committee.

The members of the official Tulsa Delegation were:

Mr. Sam Roop, Chairman, Tulsa City Council and Gail Roop

Mr. Todd Huston, Member, Tulsa City Council

Dr. John H. Letcher, President, Tulsa-Celle Sister City Partnership Committee and Martin Letcher

Prof. Rodger Randle, Chairman, Sister Cities International and former Mayor of the City of Tulsa, and

Ms. Doris Gallagher, Tulsa Global Alliance(TGA) and Tulsa-Celle Sister City Partnership Committee (TCSCPC)

In addition to the above, the following people also attended the activities:

Mr. Don Wright, TCSCPC and the German American Society of Tulsa (GAST) and his wife Carol

Mr. Fred Rother, TCSCPC and GAST

Mr T.A. Sembe, Metropolitan Tulsa Chamber of Tulsa and his wife Ellen

Mr. Kermit Hoffmeier and his wife Betsy Swimmer Hoffmeier, TCSCPC

Dr. and Mrs. David Connor of Oral Roberts University

Mr. Rick Gibbens and his wife Debi, MCI/Worldcom of Tulsa

All of the activities started with the arrival to the Celle railway station on Friday, June 16. of Dr. David Connor and Ray Rodriquez. Dr Connor was in Germany with a group of twenty Oral Roberts University students who were there to video the Celle ceremonies and the world's fair, EXPO 2000, in Hannover.

On Monday, June 19, Kermit and Betsy Swimmer Hoffmeier arrived in Hannover. They then came to Celle by rental car. The Hoffmeiers were hosted in a private home in Celle. Also, Mr. T. A. Sembe arrived with his wife, Ellen. The Sembes were hosted by Mr. Gerd Ziegner of the City of Celle.

On Tuesday, June 20, Ms. Doris Gallagher arrived in Celle. She was hosted by Mr. Reinhard Förster.

On Wednesday, June 21, Mr.Todd Huston and Mr. and Mrs. Roop arrived in Germany. They were all met at the Hannover Airport by Reinhard Förster, who escorted them to Celle. Also, Roger Randle, John and Martin Letcher, Fred Rother and Don and Carol Wright arrived in Celle.

Fred Rother was hosted by Mr. Heinrich Dralle, Don and Carol Wright who arrived in Celle by car were hosted by Mr. Gunnar Jungclaus and his wife Suzanna.

The official delegates were hosted by the City of Celle at the Hotel Steigenberger.

Starting at 11:00 A.M., Betsy Swimmer Hoffmeier and Doris Gallagher met with Susanne McDowell on arts andcultural activities at the Old Town Hall.

At 8:00 P.M. on June 21, there was a welcome reception given by the City of Celle for the delegations from all seven of Celle's Sister Cities in the New Town Hall.

On Thursday, June 22, Sam Roop, Gail Roop, Todd Huston, John Letcher, Martin Letcher, Rodger Randle, Doris Gallagher, Don Wright, Carol Wright, Fred Rother T.A. Sembe, Ellen Sembe, Kermit Hoffmeier, Betsy Swimmer Hoffmeier, were met at 9:00 A.M. by Mr. Reinhard Förster who started one of many tasks of hosting all of the visitors from Tulsa. A Sightseeing tour of downtown Celle (walking) took place starting from the blue bridge in front of the castle.

At 10:15 A.M. the Tulsa visitors were treated to a Bustour around the City of Celle and its surroundings.

At 11:30 A.M. there was a visit to the EXPO-project Health Care, dealing primarily with natural (homeopathic) medicine. A Celle docent gave a wonderful talk on alternative medical techniques. She was startled that Tulsa citizens knew of the work of Kneippe and Hannemann.

At 1:00 P.M., the Tulsa visitors were hosted by Oberstadtdirektor Martin Biermann, Stadtsdirektor Christian Burchard and Mr. Reinhard Förster of the City of Celle for lunch at Ratskeller, in the basement of the old Town Hall.

At 3:00 P.M. the offical Signing Ceremony took place in the Old Town Hall. All of the Celle City Officials and all of the Tulsa visitors were in attendance. In addition Mr. Michael McClellan, Consulate general of the USA, Dr. Herbert Severin, Dr. Otto Stumpf, Dr. Astrid Peters, Karsten Moritz, Susanne Reinike-Jungclaus, Klaus Meier, Margitta Schuermann, Michael Schwarzkopf, Wolf Wallat, Martin Krause, Frauke Galda, Joachim Falkenhagen, Martin Biermann Christian Burchard, Gert-Wilhelm Gonell, Sigrid Maier-Knapp-Herbst, Ulrich Werwath Reinhard Förster, Gunnar Jungclaus, and Denise Steil also participated in the ceremonies.

The signing ceremonies were attended by a group of ORU students who video taped the proceedings.

During the signing ceremonies there were speeches given by Mayor Dr. Herbert Severin, the head of the Tulsa delegation, Mr. Sam Roop, Prof. Roger Randle and Dr. John H. Letcher. After this, gifts were exchanged. Finally, a toast to the partnership that cemented the agreement.

During the ceremonies, when German to English translation was required, Ms. Doris Gallagher handled the job with great skill.

Immediately after the signing ceremony, everyone moved outside the building for the unveiling of the beautiful seal of the City of Tulsa, which now takes its place along side those of Celle's other Sister Cities. A quartet of Celle singers offered entertainment during the unveiling ceremonies.

At 7:30 P.M. that evening there was a banquet held by the City of Celle in the Schloss (castle) Mayor Dr. Herbert Severin. This was followed in turn by greetings from each of the delegations of Celle's Twin-Cities: Meudon, France, Hämeenlinna, Finland Tavistock, Great Britain, Holbaek, Danmark, Sumy,Ukraine, Marienwerder/Kwidzyn Poland, Tjumen, Russia, Tulsa Oklahoma USA and Celle-Ligure, Italy.

On Friday, June 23, an all day excursion to Expo 2000, the World's Fair, in Hannover, was conducted. A special program and official greetings were given to all of the Sister City representatives from the towns in the State of Lower Saxony. Representatives were treated to a special lunch of Danish style open- faced sandwiches.

On Saturday, June 24, all day excursion to Expo 2000 at Sea in Wilhelmshaven was conducted. Upon return to Celle, the participants were treated to a farewell bar-b-que.

On Monday, June 26, Doris Gallagher and Bernd Nitsche talking about sports affairs and have a look around hockey-, soccer fields, indoor swimming pool etc.

All of the Tulsa visitors made their ways back to Tulsa after an extremely enjoyable trip to our new Sister(Twin)-City. All of the participants from Tulsa met many citizens of Germany who were friendly, proud of their cities, and were all interested in Tulsa and our future together as Sister Cities.

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