Angela D's daughter, Jean, and her husband
Angela and her daughter connected January 30, 2002, and their first face to face meeting was February 17th, the day after Jean's 26th birthday. Cool!
Nancy G.'s husband John, her b-daughter Lisa, and Nancy
There must have been leprechauns at work because (with the luck of the Irish) Nancy G and Lisa found each other and first talked on the phone on St Patrick's Day 2002. Nancy and hubby flew to CA to meet Lisa on 6/29/02 and we'll always treasure Nancy's great story about sewing her arrival outfit and getting the back on inside out! Nerves? Maybe- but things went beautifully. Thanks for sharing, Nancy!
Ellen in WV and her daughter, Amy
Ellen and Amy had their first face-to-face meeting on Feb 7th, 2002. The relationship has been buzzing along nicely while Ellen gets used to having two new grandkids, and they plan their next meeting soon! Enjoy, and thank you Ellen, for all your kind words and encouragement for others!
Marta Martin's children meeting their older brother, Anthony, for the first time.
Marta found her son Anthony in November of 2002, and in February 2003, the kids she raised got to meet him for the first time. Front row: Hannah and Toren, seated rear: Rachael and Anthony. It's got to be amazing to see all one's kids together for the first time!
Another kind of reunion... some Adoption Forum and PAFind members hook up in Pittsburgh
Desiree (Hannah's friend), Carol, Marta, Marta's daughter Hannah, and Marianne on a lovely July day. (For more on Marianne, keep reading below!)
Liz and Deanna meet, March 8, 2003
Liz, the tiger of all birthmoms, followed every lead she had, and finally they led her to Deanna! Here they are together, and there's no denying they're two peas in a pod. Thanks Liz, for sharing this and your sunny spirits with us all!
An end to search: The reunion that couldn't happen
Johnny's birthfather Philip
Johnny is a terminally-ill adoptee I met on a plane who'd found his mother's birthfamily (she was deceased, but he has a relationship with his sister). Suffering from both kidney cancer (which his father had before dying from leukemia) and prostate cancer, Johnny wanted to know his ethnic background for his doctors (who know that some cancers occur more frequently in certain ethnic backgrounds). That turned out to be true for Johnny, who's deceased father, Philip, (above) was Ashkenazi Jewish. Unfortunately, that family was not so kind, but when he finally got to first lay eyes on his father at age 62, it answered a deep need. Thank you Johnny, it was a privilege to meet you by fate and work with you for closure. I like to think your father would have been proud; your looks are similar, I hope your hearts are the same.
Debbie D with son Marc
Debbie with all her kids (l to r, Mike, Erin, Debbie and Marc)
28 years and 9 months after she gave birth to Marc, birthmom Debbie D got a letter from a social worker that her long-lost son wanted to meet her! They did meet, and as you can see, it became a family affair on subsequent meetings where her other children got to meet Marc too. Deb says she can now "cry on cue" and with missing a vital part of this beautiful clan for so long, who wouldn't? Thanks, Debbie, for your personal accounts of your maternity stay, your reunion, and these terrific pictures.
Daughter Janet with Mother Janet... a soulful reunion March 1, 2003
Young Janet writes, "Almost 35 years later, we are touched to learn that "someone" who cared in those early years, gave me my mother's first name." Thank you, Janet, for sharing this wonderful picture, and for your warm posts about your search and reunion that help keep us all fueled.
Happy 54th Birthday! Jeff S and his birthmother, Virginia
Jeff and Virginia meeting for the first time on his birthday, April, 19, 2003.
Jeff and (3 of his 7!) sibs, left to right, Bobby, Jeff, Jerry, and Barbara.
Thanks to the tireless sleuthing of his best friend Paddy, Jeff found his birthfamily. What was planned as a quiet get-together turned into a hefty impromptu cookout with over 40 family members. One of the day's odder raised questions? The 5 boys all have the same "cross with rays" tattoo... so are tattoos genetic? Thanks Paddy, for the great work you did for Jeff, for your sly humor, good spirits and all you do to help others.
Gerry's search pays off for hubby John and his b-mom Dottie
Gerry and John made the most of the info they had for John's adoption through the search of public data - marriage records. On April 19, 2003, it paid off when they located his birthmother. Here's John with Dottie, his b-mom, at their first meeting in Florida in May 2003. Gerry, not only did your work with John give your hubby back a part of who he is, and allow his birthmother the peace of knowing he is well, but you have made the days of many of us on PAFind with your warm encouragement, prayers, and empathetic notes. Thank you.
Ellen's double search - for her birthmother and brother
Ellen put her nose to the wheel and searched hard along with her agency and Classmates.com before contacting her birthmother, Sharon on June 19, 2002 (by email and in Poland!) and meeting her July 10, 2002. Here's Ellen and her birthmom Sharon hiking together. They get on very well, and Ellen helped Sharon solve another family mystery...What ever happened to baby brother?
That's young Ellen on the left and to her right, from another picture, is her birthbrother, Rob, also adopted, but to another family. Some hazy clues were remembered, he may have been adopted by a Montgomery County dentist, err, no, ok, how about someone with a Montco dentist's name? Thinking outside the box, Ellen matched names between a list of males born that day with a list of Montco dentists, and that brought Rob in touch with Ellen and Sharon on May 13, 2003! Having sent him pictures but not yet having seen any, Ellen worried the match may not be right, but as you can see from the above 2 pics of them side by side, Rob made good on his promise to mail her a picture of himself that was "as good as a DNA test".
And finally, all together, June 2003
Happy hiking, you three!
Alice and her daughter: Marianne enjoying a relaxing day in a Homestead Park with her birthmother.
At the early age of 12, Marianne had known much about her adoption, but in June 2002 she began her search. Having a rare last birthname enabled her to create a family tree of the Nishnick Family, though she learned unfortunately that her birthfather had passed away. After her mourning, compelled to find her birthmother, Marianne registered everywhere, called detectives, went to the court house, and spent hours at the library. Her work paid off when she entered her birthmother's life on August 15, 2002.
The beginning
During her first meeting with her birth aunts, Marianne received this precious picture: her birthfather, her birthmother and herself after being brought into this world.
If anyone on the list has reunion photos they want to share, I'll be glad to post them here since the list doesn't take (possibly virus-bearing) attachments. Just send to my usual address! More to come!
