31 Jul Adopted Woman Meets Half-Sisters

(photo credit to Chris Smith of The Press Democratic)

Kathy always knew she was adopted. Her parents, who she adores, knew nothing about her birth father and very little about her birth mother. Unlike our modern adoptions where often the birth mother chooses an open relationship and contact remains through the years, history shows us that adoptions in the 1950’s were primarily closed and often with very tight records of who/what/when/where regarding birth parents.

Relying mostly on Ancestry.com, in 2001, Kathy set out to find anything about her birth mother. She uncovered her birth mother’s name, Dolores, and discovered, sadly, she had died long ago. “I let it go,” she said. But as Kathy’s daughters became mothers they wanted more insight into their mother’s birth family history. In 2014 Kathy took a DNA test and submitted it to Ancestry.com. While there were some hits, nothing came of it. However, just in June, 2017, Ancestry.com helped Kathy connect with a cousin, Trey Shields.

Kathy quickly emailed Trey asking if he knew of Dolores. He DID!! And he even sent a picture of Dolores’ parents, Kathy’s maternal grandmother. Trey informed Kathy that her birth mother died of cancer in 1970. However, she left behind a husband and two daughters. Kathy contacted one of her birth half-sisters, Lori of Arizona. Lori, 52 and her sister Sue, 54 headed to meet Kathy, now 62, for the first time.

Getting acquainted and looking through photo albums, Kathy was moved to see this beautiful 22 year old woman, smiling on the beach with a handsome sailor. Dated on the back of the photo: Oct 10, 1954 ~ Crying, laughing, the photo was taken 9 months before Kathy was born.

Reference:

Smith, Chris. (July 29, 2017). “Adopted Sebastopol shopkeeper, 62, meets sisters for first time.” Retrieved from here.