Richard and Nina Bliese met at one of the coffeehouse gatherings run by Bliese at Emmanuel Lutheran in Dayton, Ohio. They have been married for 26 years. “We’re together as a team,” Bliese said.
Nina is an art educator and a great proponent of public art. In Chicago she served as chair of the board of the Textile Arts Centre, and was on Chicago’s Art Panel which makes recommendations for visual-arts grants.
Nina is a member of Luther Seminary’s Fine Arts Committee. One of her first projects at Luther was fundraising for the sculpture “Living Hope of the Resurrection,” which now graces the Garden of the Resurrection outside of Northwestern Hall. Nina also serves on the board of ARC Retreat Center north of the Twin Cities.
The Blieses have two children. Son Aaron, 25, is a writer and senior at Western Illinois University where he studies literature. Daughter Stephanie, 21, is a theatre major at Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Ill. She recently completed a semester at Oxford University in England.
In the past two years the Blieses have enjoyed discovering the Twin Cities. “They are so accessible. You can easily get to anything from theatre to art galleries,” Bliese said. “It’s been fun.”