"I did two whitewater float trips, just me and my father, when I was a teenager," says Sarah Niebuhr, who lives in Jackson, Wyo., and is a special-education teacher and education diagnosticist.

"I think that was very special, a huge influence on my life," she adds. "He was active in enjoying the out doors and finding a peace there. That is one of the reasons why we live here now."

In addition to recreational trips, Niebuhr has traveled extensively for his career. He has spent sabbaticals in Heidelberg, Germany; Cambridge, England; and Kyoto, Japan.

"[The sabbaticals] had to do with research and with writing; in Japan, with teaching," Niebuhr recalls. "I was teaching in an American studies program."

Niebuhr's family accompanied him to Cambridge in 1965 and 1966. The family visited London, various castles and other historic sights on the weekends. Niebuhr's knowledge of history enhanced their travels, according to his son.

Richard Niebuhr is also the great-nephew of distinguished theological Reinhold Niebuhr, author of Interpretation of Christian Ethics.

"My father influenced me in the way a parent can in terms of reading," says Gustav Niebuhr. "He really encouraged both fiction and nonfiction.... I gained a tremendous amount intellectually from him, for which I am very grateful."