The two Americans still missing after a cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Italy first met while attending a catholic boarding school in New England, N.D.
Gerald and Barbara Heil of White Bear Lake, Minn., were among the 4,300 passengers on the Costa Concordia cruise ship that struck a reef near Tuscany on Jan. 13. Gerald, 70, and Barbara, 69, were among the 16 people still missing after more than two weeks of rescue operations. Seventeen others died in the accident.
“I believe in miracles, but it would have to be a miracle to find them alive after this much time has passed,” said Luella Emmil, a Dickinson resident who graduated with the Heils from St. Mary’s Catholic High School in 1959.
Family members, including Barbara Heil’s brother, Frank Kohl of Bismarck, were waiting for news from rescue teams until Jan. 31 when the underwater search was called off by Italian authorities due to safety concerns.
The family had started a blog called Heil Family Update to report on the search mission. The latest post on Jan. 31 was titled “The Search is Over”
“As we struggle to come to grips with this tragedy, we find comfort knowing Mom and Dad are now in a better place free from any worries,” the family noted. “They have always been obedient to God’s plan and now we must do the same.”
Former classmates and friends of the family held a prayer service at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in New England after the search was called off. One of the organizers, Carol Robinson, also graduated with Barbara and Gerald.
“Most people just can’t imagine it,” Robinson said. “Everybody is mostly concerned for the family. It’s just such a difficult thing to absorb.”
Robinson said it took a long time for people in the New England area to find out that the Heils, who moved to Minnesota in the 1960s, were the same people that had once lived in their community.
“The news reports just said Barbara and Jerry Heil, so a lot of people didn’t realize who it was at first,” Robinson said. “It took a while to realize it was Gerald Heil and Barbara Kohl.”
Barbara grew up on the Kohl family farm near New England. Her mother and father passed away a few years ago, but her brother Joe still operates the farm.
Gerald Heil moved to New England when he was a teenager and began attending St. Mary’s Catholic High School as a freshman, according to former classmates.
“I went to school all 12 years with Barbara,” Emmil said. “We were very good friends. We were together all the time.”
Emmil said she stayed in touch with the Heils over the years and saw them at class reunions.
“For years, I’ve been getting Christmas cards from them,” Emmil said. “I got one this year, but they didn’t mention that they were going on a cruise.”
The Heils had four children and 15 grandchildren, most of whom live in Minnesota.
Barbara’s brother, Frank, was not available for an interview. But his wife, Margot, said Barbara and Gerald used to visit Bismarck for weddings and other family events.
“We would always try to get together whenever we could, but most of the time we would go to Minnesota to see them,” Margot said. “The last time they were here was about two or three years ago when one of my daughters had a wedding.”
Robinson said she also visited the Kohls in Minnesota several years ago when she lived in Wisconsin.
“They were just such warm and friendly people,” she said. “It was just their personality to be kind.”
-Matt Bunk is publisher of the Great Plains Examiner.