Karen Shields and her husband Richard hosted 11 foreign students over the years and had 60-80 international students stay with them until their host family placements.

Karen was a 20-year volunteer for Youth For Understanding (YFU), and as a field manager, she oversaw other program volunteers in this part of Iowa and worked with hundreds of international students.

Yet the student Karen has had the longest, closest relationship with was not someone who went through her program, not in northeast Iowa.

Karen came to know Heidi Assmann of Germany because of serendipity—Karen’s granddaughter’s first birthday party coincided with Heidi’s need for a prom date.

It was 1982. Karen and Richard (known widely as Doc) lived in Nashua, where Doc was a chiropractor. They had long opened their home to

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