Jo Ellen Powell with 'Windows on America' group from Tübingen

Farewells for Consul General Jo Ellen Powell in Stuttgart and Tübingen
July 1, 2009. The German-American Institutes in Stuttgart and Tübingen said farewell to Consul General Jo Ellen Powell during their annual Fourth of July receptions on July 1. In Stuttgart, State Interior Minister Rech thanked Consul General Powell in the name of Minister President Oettinger for her tireless engagement on behalf of German-American relations in the state of Baden-Württemberg. U.S. Admiral James G. Stavridis, the new NATO Commander in Chief and Commander of the U.S.-European Command in Stuttgart, joined some 500 guests at the reception who bid farewell to the Consul General in a very moving ceremony, saying “not Good-bye but Auf Wiedersehen.” In Tübingen, Lord Mayor Boris Palmer, an alumnus of the State Department's International Leadership Program and deputy board president of the German-American Institute, emphasized the strong commitment of Jo Ellen Powell to Tübingen. The school band of Hauptschule Innenstadt thanked Jo Ellen Powell for their 2008 trip to the United States with the 'Windows on America' program by playing their latest songs. Another hit of the summer reception at the idyllic Kloster Bebenhausen was the concert by Juandalynn Abernathy, who performed classic German and American songs as well as some American gospels.