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Marilyn Riehle, a Roman Catholic lay missioner at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Jefferson, has been working with Christmas-tree workers for 11 years. She first came here because the local priest needed someone who spoke Spanish. "My ministry was very small then. There were maybe 25 or 30 young men. I've seen the whole situation change. The men started to marry and bring their wives and families. Now we have various degrees of migrancy. We have people who live here full time, people who live here 10 months of the year and live in Mexico the rest of the year, and some who go to Florida and then come back," Riehle said.
For many years Riehle in Jefferson and Charles Earp in Sparta were the among the Americans most familiar to Hispanics in the Christmas-tree-growing counties who needed help.
Riehle is well-acquainted with the logistical problem of finding and helping Christmas-tree workers. "The preponderance of the Hispanics here are still single men, and a lot of them are invisible. They don't come to church. They live out in the boonies. They may come into town once a week," Riehle said.