Latest Articles on Reverse Phone Lookup and People Search
Posted February 17th, 2012
Robin Gearling reflects on her childhood orphanage days and fondly remembers the friends that stood by her through the difficult times. Life for Robin was far from magical. After suffering through her mother’s life-threatening injuries and being taken away from an unfit father, she found herself in an orphanage with no support system to help her grow.
Robin’s memories of living in the Fairmount Children’s Home consist mostly of fear and sadness. The environment was unfit for younger girls due to the unruly and mean behavior of the older orphans. At the time, the orphanage was understaffed and much of the mischief occurred without anyone knowing it. Robin would spend sleepless nights crying and in fear. She would have nightmares about the lockers where the young girls were trapped by their older bullies. Even after leaving the orphanage, the nightmares continued.
The only support Robin had while suffering through the harrowing days of her youth came from two girls by the names of Patty and Diane. These two girls took care of Robin and offered their love and support to her. They also protected her from the older girls who were bullying the others and would console her during her sleepless, tear-stricken nights.
For 35 years, Robin searched for the friends she remembers so dearly and she finally found and reunited with them for the first time since the orphanage.
The three met with bursts of love and emotions and were proud of how great their lives turned out considering their rough upbringings. “There’s times we could’ve used our pasts to become awful people, but…we’ve become stronger,” said Diane, mother of two.
They shared family pictures and started to remember their days at the orphanage. “We said we weren’t going to live in the past,” Patty said, wiping her eyes. “We said we would celebrate the beauty and not the beast.”
As their time came to a close, the women pledged they would never lose touch again. Their bond is one that is sure to last for a lifetime.
<Read More>Posted February 16th, 2012
The reunion of Stephanie Benediftsson and her father Thomas Weaber was similar to an emotional scene in a movie. The two embraced at Harrisburg International Airport and kissed as if they had been waiting for this moment their whole lives.
Stephanie was separated from her father even before she was born. When Stephanie’s mother was pregnant, she took off to Iceland, leaving the father and her family behind. The family was shocked at her disappearance and never imagined when she left for Iceland that she was leaving for good. “On the day she was supposed to come back, she didn’t show up,” Thomas’ mother, Nancy said. “We had no indication (she wouldn’t return).” Stephanie grew up never knowing if she would ever speak to or meet her birth father.
When Stephanie was 14, she was placed in foster care at which time she had brief contact with her father. Thomas searched endlessly for a number to contact her. “Children and Youth or the (U.S.) embassy got us that phone number,” he said. “I spent a lot of money on phone bills.”
After this brief contact, Stephanie received some letters from her father until she left foster care at 15 and went on her own. The two never spoke again. Stephanie moved around a lot and frequently changed locations. She eventually married and settled in Canada with her husband, a construction worker.
Stephanie was determined to re-connect with her father and three half-brothers. By using MySpace, she was able to locate her half-brother Andrew. Thomas also had two other bys, Ryan and Michael.
Andrew called his father to let him know Stephanie had been located. “When (Andrew) called me and I got a text, I dropped my phone,” Thomas said. “I called Canada from my cell phone,” Once Thomas heard his daughter’s voice on the phone, he dropped his phone again in shock.
Once connected, the two used Skype to keep in contact. The conversations would last hours as the father and daughter shared precious memories and heartfelt thoughts. “We felt a connection even though we never met,” Thomas said. “It was weird. You can just feel it. I wanted to reach through (the screen) and give her a hug.”
The in-person reunion was a thrill for both parties. Thomas was anxiously waiting for his daughter to get off the plane at the airport. Stephanie was sneaky and saw her father pacing back and forth nervously but he did not see her. The two met in a long embrace and enjoyed the next week together.
They visited family, shopped, relaxed and talked the nights away.
Nancy, Thomas’s mother, is enjoying her granddaughter’s company and the lightness her presence brings to the home. “I haven’t heard so much laughter in this house in years,” she said.
Thomas documented all of the research and paperwork from various organizations and the U.S. Embassy when he was looking for his daughter. Stephanie was relieved to see the documentation and how her father longed to re-connect with her because she was told that he wanted nothing to do with her. “She got to see everything,” Thomas said. “She was told lies. She was told I didn’t care.”
Stephanie has plans to start a new career and she and her husband are contemplating a move closer to her father. Thomas has never been happier.
<Read More>Posted February 14th, 2012
This week's reunion is a little different than the people search articles we normally read in the news. In this story, a reunion occurred without any previous search activity. The siblings were reunited with their long lost brother; however, they were not looking for him because they thought he was dead.
In May 1977, Harold Wayne Lovell, 19 years old and dealing with some life struggles, left his home and told his family he was leaving to look for some construction jobs. That’s the last time his family saw him.
Lovell’s brother and sister, Tim Lovell and Theresa Hasselberg, gave up looking for him and were convinced he was the victim of John Wayne Gacy, a local serial killer. Both Gacy and Lovell had worked in the same town so Lovell’s disappearance occurring at the same time had the siblings convinced.
After some unexpected leads surfaced, thirty-four years later, Sheriff Tom Dart of Cook County, Illinois, requested all family members of Gacy’s victims to submit genetic details for the victims. The Sheriff was in the process of identifying the remaining victims, eight young men. “Because of the quality of these leads, what we thought was going to just be a roll of the dice has turned into some very strong possibilities for identifying these victims from DNA,” Dart said.
Lovell’s siblings were awaiting word of a confirmation that he was a victim of the murders. Instead, they were told that not only was their brother not one of the victims, but he was also alive and living in south Florida.
The three shared a heartfelt reunion strewn with shock and emotion. “A lot of crying and hugging,” said sister Hasselberg. The trio spent days catching up on the last 34 years they were separated.
Lovell explained what had happened to him after he left the house 34 years ago never to return. He had $56 dollars to his name and ran away from home after engaging in an argument with his parents. Lovell moved to Florida where he spent most of his life. He ended up with a few run-ins with the law which actually helped him since the police used his mugshot to discover he was alive.
“He’s back,” proclaimed Theresa Hasselberg.
<Read More>Posted February 10th, 2012
Doris Petre of Brunswick, Maine, is scheduled to reunite with her brother after 80 years of separation. At 84 years old, Petre recalled a life of struggle while growing up during the Great Depression. She was born in Tampa, Fl. in a poor neighborhood. She remembers much loss and heartache in her younger years, memories that are not forgotten after nearly 80 years.
Petre’s family moved to Connecticut soon after she was born. As a child suffering through the Great Depression, she was happy to at least have her family who bonded together for support during the tough times. Sadly, Petre’s mother had become ill and went to live with an aunt on her father’s side. Petre recalls the harrowing trip where she left after saying goodbye to her mother while being told to quiet down in the car as an uncle drove away. Petre, at 4 years old, never saw her mother again. She died in 1931.
Petre never knew why her mother died. A cousin told her it could have been a stroke, but no child in the family seemed to know for sure. “We were kept in the dark,” Petre said. “Nobody told us anything,” and in those days, “you didn’t ask questions.”
Petre had a half-brother at the time, Richard, who was 7 years old when her mother died. Richard Waltrous was the youngest of 4 boys born to her mother’s first husband. Petre went to live with the aunt who cared for her mother, and Richard went to live with a grandmother in Connecticut. That was the last time the two saw each other. “It was like he disappeared,” Petre said.
The next years of her life would be anything but happy for little Petre. When she was 6 years old, her father took her from her aunt’s house when she was home alone. The father had remarried and was living in Boston.
Petre hated living with her father and stepmother. Her stepmother would treat her poorly and since her father was working long hours as a truck driver, he was never present to protect her. Overcome with sadness, Petre decided to run away. She slept on the streets until the next day when police found her and took her back home. The family ended up moving back to Connecticut where Petre ran away again. After this second experience, Petre was permitted by the court system to live with her aunt once again. “After that, my life was better,” she said.
As Petre grew, she always wondered what had happened to the brother who used to cheer her up during the sad times. She was unable to get any information of his whereabouts from family members. She thinks they felt guilty for letting him go. Petre would at times think she was narrowing in on his location but her aunt stopped it immediately.
Even after 80 years, Petre never gave up on finding her half brother. Recently, she was pondering her age and wanted to reunite with him before she died. With the help of her half sister, the two found a Richard Waltrous on the internet and wrote him a letter. Her brother’s son, Richard Waltrous Jr., opened the letter and gave it to his father. Petre wasn’t even sure if Waltrous would respond to her even if he read the letter but she took the chance anyway.
A few days had passed and Petre received a phone call. It was Waltrous. After reading Petre’s letter, he wrote her back a long letter explaining what had happened to him after the two separated. Petre knew her life was horrific at times, but she says after reading her brother’s letter, “He had it rougher”. The letter wrote, “Dear Sis” explaining what happened to him after their mother died, “When her grandmother couldn’t handle the four brothers, the state of Connecticut stepped in after his father died, and sent him at age 9 to a work farm in Waterford, Conn., as free labor. “It wasn’t all that great,” he wrote. “I went into the Navy at 18.”
The two shared pictures via mail and are scheduled to meet in person soon. Petre is apprehensive about the reunion but she says that her brother is “very gentle” and religious despite the difficult life he experienced. He and his wife Betty have five children and will be celebrating their 69th wedding anniversary.
Petre, following in Waltrous’ footsteps, also had a large family. She mothered seven children and now has nineteen grandchildren. She discovered after talking to her brother that the two lived very close and Petre unknowingly would pass his home many times on her trips back and forth to Cape Cod.
Petre is stricken with emotion and unable to speak as she talks about the upcoming reunion with her brother after 80 years. “You can’t wait to talk to and see them,” Petre said. “You get tongue-tied.” Petre is excited and happy to have found him before she died. Petre proclaims, “I look at it like I’m supposed to meet him again.”
<Read More>Posted February 7th, 2012
Tiera Rice, a 22-year-old Atlanta native, was recently reunited with the two sisters she never knew. As an infant, Rice was taken from her home by her mother and sold to a couple in exchange for drugs. At 15 years old, Rice painfully discovered the harsh reality of her past and began the search for her two long lost sisters.
Crystal Smith and Teesha Jenkins, the two sisters, vaguely remember Rice as an infant since the time was short-lived. Their mother told the two sisters, 12 and 6 years old at the time, that baby Rice was going to live with an aunt. Smith, the 12-year-old often inquired where her baby sister went, but her aunt and grandmother never divulged any information. “I saw her maybe three times, then I went back another time and she was gone. And I said, ‘Where’s the baby?’ and they just said, ‘We don’t know.’ They just wouldn’t tell me. And nothing was ever said about it. Every time you would mention it they would just get mad,” Smith said.
Though only 6 years old at the time, Jenkins still remembers Rice’s presence in the home. “I remember feeding her and then it was just kinda, it was just hush,” Jenkins said.
Wanda Gee, the girls’ mother, struggled as a drug addict for most of her life. Smith remembers the conversations vividly and recalls her mother’s deadly habits. “You’d say, ‘Mom, where are you going?’’ and she’d say, ‘I’m going to get a fix,’” Smith said.
Gee, now passed away, died in a Georgia prison serving time for murder. When Smith and Jenkins would visit, Gee reminded her daughters about their sister and urged them to never stop searching for her.
Just before she died, in her will Gee wrote, “I wish for my two children, Crystal Garrsion and Teesha Jenkins, to continue to search for my youngest baby daughter to be found. Her name is Tierra Rice. She was adopted out illegally. I hope anyone with information will help my daughters with this request. I want Tiera to know she has two sisters that love her and that her birth mother loved her as well.”
Tiera Rice, though unaware of her adopted past, grew up only 40 miles away from her sisters and was raised under the name “Candace Flores”. At 12 years old, Rice discovered a baby bracelet with the name “Tiera Rice” and her birth date inscribed on it. Rice was perplexed and wondered to whom it belonged. “It had the same birthday as my birthday, and I thought I might have had a twin that I didn’t know about or something,” Rice said.
Rice questioned her parents, but she never received any answers. When Tiera became 15 years old, her adopted mother died of a drug overdose at which time Tiera’s family decided to inform her of her dark past. “They said they were sorry to tell me that my mom had died and my dad wasn’t my dad, my mother wasn’t my mother, and I’m not Candace Flores,” Rice said.
Her adopted father also chimed in and told Rice that she should not look for her real mother since she was not a good person and sold her for drugs. “They told me that they had heard I had been sold and my mom wasn’t a good person, that I didn’t need to be with her anyway ‘cause they are bad people,” Rice said.
Tiera accepted the news and went on with her life until she became 22 years old. She was determined to discover who she really was so she hired Tim McWhirter, an Atlanta private detective. McWhirter informed Rice of her true identity and that she had two sisters. “They have been looking for me for a lifetime and I never knew that I was lost in the first place,” Rice said.
The sisters reunited with many tears and hugs. Smith had always thought Rice was spared by living separate from her dark household, but she was sad to find out that Rice had a dark life of her own. “I thought that she was so much better off. Then when I found out she wasn’t, it broke my heart,” Smith said.
Rice became pregnant and had a son at age 16 and to support him she worked as an exotic dancer. “I wanted to go school like normal people. I wanted to drive a car like normal people, support my son. And all this forced me into the life I’m now. I’m not too proud of the things that I have done just to make it through, but people aren’t perfect,” Rice said.
The three sisters admitted to forgiving their mother and are thankful to have found each other. The sisters are planning on keeping the reunions alive and gathering together for Thanksgiving.
<Read More>Posted February 6th, 2012
Morgan King never imagined she would find her long lost father on the back cover of a book sleeve. King, a Colorado native, grew up knowing she was raised by her stepfather. Her mother told her the name of her father, Tommy Carson, and some details about his life (he lived in New Rochelle and his father was a preacher). King was determined to find her father but after searching for a while, she came up empty-handed.
One day, while reading through The Journal News, she happened upon an article mentioning the church retirement of Clarence Carson in 1997 and also an obituary from 2002 which listed a son, C. Thomas Carson.
King used the name C. Thomas Carson to search the internet and she discovered a book on Amazon.com written by a man with that name. Once the book arrived, King turned it over to research the picture on the back cover. Her fiancé noticed the family resemblance immediately.
While reading through the book, King was even more certain that the author was in fact her long lost father. The book detailed the life of a man who was a drug addict for 20 years before transforming into a pastor and community leader. King was unsure if she should contact the author, still feeling hesitant. Her thought changed when she read this passage, “I am clueless as to whether I have a son or daughter…I often think about this. My prayer is that this book will open some doors to set the record straight once and for all. I will leave that up to God. If it is true and there is a good reason for us to have contact, then it will happen.” After reading this passage King decided to contact her father.
Carson was unaware of the new twist his life was about to take, although he was no stranger to tumultuous times. He grew up in New Rochelle and was raised by his mother and father who was the pastor of Union Baptist Church. Though Carson was believed to be a model child as a pastor’s son, internally he struggled. As a result, he spent twenty years of his life addicted to drugs and alcohol, living on the street. During his years of addiction, his girlfriend became pregnant but eventually left him because of his drug use. “I was too deeply into drugs to respond,” Carson said. “I’m not proud of that.”
Even in the midst of Carson’s darkest years, his family stood by him. The church was also conflicted and saddened by the hardships the family faced. “The family did what they could to try to help Tommy,” Jean Anderson, Union Baptist member said. “The community was aware of the problems, but it was a private struggle for them.”
In 1997, Carson had a near-death experience which catapulted him out of his addiction and into reality. He became closer to God and credits his faith with keeping him clean. After sobering up for years and feeling like he needed to make amends to all the people he hurt, he wrote the book, “A Journey Through the Shadows of Death”.
In his book, Carson details the years of abuse and how he struggled finding himself. “I would become like a wild animal, existing by instinct, not caring about my appearance, territorial and single-minded in my day to day approach. Get money, get drugs, get high; get money, get drugs and get high.”
Once Carson started his new drug-free life, he got a job and moved near his parents. He started building up his career and eventually moved to a town where he formed an Action Team community group. He became a minister and was granted custody of his other daughter, Ashley.
Presently, Carson pastors Family Christian Fellowship in Stony Point and has a prison ministry where he talks to inmates about his life story and its resurrection.
Even though Carson’s life had turned around, he still desired to know his daughter. One of the purposes for writing his book was to make amends with those he hurt and he hoped the book would help him find the answers to her whereabouts. “I had to apologize to tons and tons of people for so many things,” he said. “For lying, for stealing, for not being there as a father.”
Carson’s dream was about to come true as King contacted her father after being so affected by his written words. The two chatted for a while about the book before talking about their relation. King told Carson that she grew up in Colorado and when she told him her mother’s name, Carson replied, “Are you my daughter?”
“Yes sir, I am,” King said.
The two have been talking frequently and are scheduled to meet in person very soon. Carson and his other daughter Ashley will travel to King’s house in North Carolina to meet her and her daughter, Maya.
Though King is ready to talk about the past with her father, her mother is still not ready. “There’s a lot of hurt,” King said.
King is very excited to finally meet her dad and also the half-sister she never knew she had. “We’re very excited,” she said. “We hope we can form a lasting relationship.”
<Read More>Posted February 3rd, 2012
Pamela Brand found an old family Bible sitting at the bottom of a trunk in her home. It had a metallic cover and was packed in oil cloth lined with cotton. The edges were sealed with duct tape, but when Brand opened it she realized that it belonged to an old family friend who had entrusted it to her for safekeeping nearly forty years ago. The Bible was so old that it was very fragile, so Brand exercised extreme care. "I only turned a few pages when I realized just how fragile it is, and wrapped it up again," Brand said.
Brand remembered the owners of the Bible, the LeButt family, had left it with her family when they moved from Australia (Brand’s native country) to America. The two families had developed a close friendship while the man of the household was serving in the navy in Australia near South Perth. Brand had created a special bond with the daughter Juleanne.
Brand wanted to reconnect with Juleanne but she did not know how to begin her search. She remembered that the family had some kind of connection to Sausalito, so she contacted the Sausalito Marin Scope for help. The paper published a letter Brand wrote to them detailing her plea. Though Brand later found out the LeButt family had no connection to Sausalito, her action still paid off for her.
Lou Mongan came across Brand’s letter in the Scope and contacted her to see if she could help. Mongan was a genealogist by hobby and lived in Australia for a time as well. She believes the Bible could hold significant meaning and help Brand reconnect with its owners. “There are people who have Bibles from the 1800s or even earlier that are fascinating,” she said. “I thought that letter is singing my name and I can do something here.”
Mongan started researching and found an obituary for a Louis LeButt who passed a few years back. The obituary listed the name Julie Jenny who lived in Virginia Beach. Mongan believed this woman to be the “Juleanne” of which Brand spoke.
Mongan was not sure if she had the right girl, but she trusted her instincts were correct. She found Jenny’s phone number and contacted her. “I still wasn’t absolutely certain it was the right person,” Mongan said, “but it seemed like it all fit together pretty well.”
Mongan left a voicemail message for Jenny who was fighting a five-year-long cancer battle. Jenny was shocked to hear the message and the name Pamela Brand. “She was so excited,” Mongan said.
Interestingly, Jenny had no connection to Sausalito. Brand remembered the town when she tried to find Jenny twenty years ago. She thought she had found her but it turned out to be a false lead. At the time, she recalled Jenny’s mother showing her a Sausalito newspaper clipping and the town “Sausalito” stuck ever since.
Jenny and Brand are excited to have found each other. Jenny had lived in Santa Barbara and also Los Angeles. She worked at Brand’s modeling agency and also took acting classes from Brand’s husband. Jenny had a successful acting career and worked in soap operas for a stint while also producing a woman’s show on the ABC Family Channel.
Jenny believes this gift came to her because of a recent blessing she bestowed on someone else. She recently returned and old leather-bound booklet filled with rich family heritage to its owner who was battling tuberculosis. Shortly after, she is given the gift of her family Bible accompanied by an old friend. “There are no such things as accidents,” Jenny said.
The two talk on the phone when they can and hope to meet up soon. They look forward to sharing the details of their lives in person. “I do hope that we can meet up! The world these days is a very small place,” Brand wrote.
<Read More>Posted February 2nd, 2012
Sylvia Pickens, South Plains resident, spends her time explaining the history of century old buildings to visitors of the National Ranching Heritage Center. Little did her visitors know that she has been trying to solve her own family mystery –the whereabouts of her long lost sister.
Pickens, upon the death of her father in 1977, approached her other sister Irene Morton and asked if they should try to contact their long lost sister, Bennette. Morton’s reaction was one of surprise. “Who?” she asked.
“Bennette. Daddy’s daughter,” Pickens replied. Morton was unaware of the existence of another sister at the time.
Pickens recalls the difficulty with bringing the matter up to her father when he as alive. She states, “I did take care of my dad for about seven years in my home before he passed away from Parkinson’s. But then again, I had four children and a husband and an invalid father — it didn’t lead to a lot of conversation.”
She refers to her parents as conservative, unlike the present day where kids know a lot more about their parents’ dealings.
The last encounter Pickens had with her sister was in Atlantic City in 1938 when she was 4 and Bennette was 11. Pickens father had remarried and he didn’t share his past life with Pickens, so the two sisters only met the one time. The two have not seen each other since.
Once her father passed, Pickens began searching for her sister, but to no avail. “I had tried and tried to find her, not knowing if she had been adopted after my father and her mother divorced, and never could succeed in doing it,” she said.
Pickens’ nephew decided to try the internet to search for Bennette, and lo and behold, he found her within 20 minutes. She was living in Media, Penn. and is referred to as Bennie Cope.
Pickens called Bennie and the first thing she said was, “Bennie, this is Sylvia. How are you, big Sis?”
Bennie replied, “Golly, nobody has ever called me that before.”
The three sisters decided to meet at the Presbyterian church where their father married his first wife. Bennie looked at Pickens in amazement and said, “Oh my gosh, you’re here.”
Unfortunately, the three arrived late to the service and were unable to talk at that time. “We didn’t even get a chance to really talk to each other because church had just started — they were singing the first hymn,” Morton said. “And we all went in and got in our pew and sat down.”
After church they sat down for a meal and really bonded and chatted about their lives. Though Pickens only met Bennie once in 1938, she feels like they had known each other forever. “We just seemed to click,” she said. “We had the same kind of likes, and that is rather unusual when you haven’t grown up together.”
The two bonded and discussed their father. Bennie recalled being tucked at night with her father’s Pennsylvania Military College blanket, the school where he graduated in 1924. Pickens instantly retorted, “I’ve got a PMC blanket, too.” Morton, the youngest of the three sisters, was also feeling close bonds with Bennie.
Bennie had a daughter, Ann, who was born in 1953 with only one arm, a stub for the second arm and two small legs. When doctors told Bennie to put her in a special home, the mother said, “No, she’s my child, she’s delightful.”
Morton was touched by Bennie’s heroic story. “I am 71, and I’ve been a lot of places and been able to do a lot of things in my life, but it was one experience that touched my life like none other,” she said. “It is a very rare occurrence. They are such beautiful people, very humble, but just absolutely … looking at Bennie and seeing how she has motivated and been there for Ann all these years … it was just so remarkable to me.”
Morton was taken aback by all of Ann’s accomplishments while living disabled. Bennie took care of her daughter who grew up to obtain a degree from Penn State University in public relations. Ann works as the CEO of an office for disabled people and labors to get grants to help the disabled land jobs, find housing and live normal lives. “She’s absolutely amazing, and I don’t think she could have done it without Bennie and her husband’s help,” Morton said. “She works on a computer with one hand. She is extremely independent.”
As the three sisters continued to discuss their lives, they noticed some similarities. Pickens liked journalism and English growing up and works as a volunteer at the Ranching Heritage Center. Bennie was an English major at Washington University and volunteered at the Pennsylvania Colonial Plantation. And the two shared wedding pictures that looked identical
The three sisters have worked their entire lives and continue to stay active. Bennie, 84 years old, works 48 hours a week at her daughter’s gift shop, drives herself and parks three blocks away so she can walk the remaining distance. “She just keeps on going,” Pickens said. “And I can see that similarity in my sister and myself.”
The sisters exchanged gifts and Pickens took three stones from one of their father’s shirts and made three necklaces to wear around their necks. The sisters vow to keep in touch by phone and hope to meet in person again.
Pickens was so happy to be reunited again with her sister. “It was something definitely that I wanted to accomplish — I wanted to meet her,” she said. “The fact that we fit in so well, the fact that we just blended beautifully … we were family.”
“And in more than just name.”
<Read More>Posted February 1st, 2012
It's interesting how fame can unearth long lost relatives. For country star Rodney Atkins faring with fame has become a bit of an overwhelming escapade once the public learned he was adopted as an infant and unaware of the identity of his birth family.
Atkins recently released his fourth album, Take a Back Road, and was made the spokesman for the National Council for Adoption in 2008. Once the general public became aware of his adoption story, masses of fans would invade his stage bringing him bags of hair for DNA testing. It became difficult for Atkins to determine who his relatives really were since he never knew anyone in his birth family.
In a recent interview, Atkins revealed the story of how he finally met his birth mother.
Atkins felt he needed the closure and eventually he went through the right agencies to find her. “I needed to close that door,” he said.
A slew of emotions hit Atkins the moment he saw his mother. “I realized that the reason I needed to do that did not have anything to do with my parents,” he said. “I’m glad I did that really, really, really for her. She’s been carrying that around, wondering what happened, and I could tell it was such a relief.”
Atkins was finally told the story of what had happened to him when he was born. His birth mother got pregnant at 19 after a first date that was described only as traumatic and left at that. Out of fear and shame, she never told her parents and gave him up for adoption instead of getting an abortion. When Atkins found out that she chose to give him up rather than get an abortion, he was grateful to her. “I just wanted to tell her thank you, because she had some other alternatives to end that situation,” said Atkins. “I might not be here. So you don’t want to take it for granted.” The mother kept saying “I’m sorry” and Atkins continued to reply, “Thank You”.
She eventually re-married and had another son. This son spoke with Atkins and revealed that during the spring of every year, his mother’s mood would instantly change. He now knows that the mood change was due to Atkins’ March birthday.
Allen and Margaret, Atkins’ adoptive parents, are in complete support of the reunion. They even decided to meet Atkins’ birth mother and son and shared some precious memories with them. They assembled some picture of Atkins throughout his life to let her see what he looked like growing up and how well he fared.
In his new album, Atkins reveals what his upbringing was like. The title track hit #1 on the country charts for several weeks. He also sings about his 10-year-old son Elijah and how he hopes to pass on his hard-working family ethics to him. In his song, Lifelines, he sings about all of the people who have helped him become the man he is today. “If I spent the rest of my life getting even with the people that had helped me out, I would never settle the score,” said Atkins
Now, he can add his birth mother to that list of people who positively affected his life. He realizes how much courage it must have taken her to face the reality of the situation and live life with this secret. Thankfully, she was able to introduce Atkins to his grandmother right before she passed away. “She had to tell her after all these years, ‘You have another grandson that I never told you about.’ I can’t imagine what she’s been carrying,” he said.
Months after the heartfelt reunion, Atkins received a package on his birthday from his birth mother. After learning that as a child he idolized the Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey, she put together a package containing Garvey’s MVP card, a Dodgers jersey and a baseball all autographed by Garvey himself.
Atkins was surprised and stunned and thanked her over and over for her generous and heartfelt gift.
Atkins said, “She told me, ‘You have to understand, Rodney, to me this is your first birthday.’”
<Read More>Posted January 31st, 2012
Rita White, a 65 years old widow of Solihull UK, has reunited with some family members she has not seen in over 33 years. Her family was desperate to track her down since her sister Noreen has been diagnosed with cancer and becoming more ill as time passes.
Julie Fisher, Noreen’s daughter and niece to Rita, contacted the newspaper, the Birmingham Mail to help her find Rita. After the story published, the Mail was able to connect Julie and Rita together once again.
Rita was overcome with joy and tears when Julie contacted her and told her how the family was looking for her for so many years. “I was really shocked when I found out that my family members were trying to contact me because it has been such a long time. I really thought I would never see them again,” Rita said.
Rita chatted by phone with more members of her family adding to her already full experience. She reminisced about moving away and regretted never re-connecting with her family. “I was thrilled and completely surprised. I lost touch with all of my relatives when I moved home several years ago and I thought I would never see them again,” she said.
Though Rita is excited to reunite with sister Noreen, she is saddened by her condition. “I have been through so much since I last spoke to Noreen and I have so many things that I want to catch up with,” she said. “But my first thoughts are for Noreen and her health.”
Rita is no stranger to sickness as well since she is in her own recovery after a serious operation. Thankfully, she sees the reunion as the perfect pick-me-up.
Rita hopes to reunite with all of her siblings, even though she is saddened that one of her sisters has recently passed. She recalls being separated from them at a young age. “The families were torn apart when I was younger,” she said. “Noreen and myself were taken into care when we were 15 and the rest drifted away. Since the story appeared my phone hasn’t stopped ringing.”
The reunion is in the works and the family stays in communication awaiting the time when they can all meet. Rita continues to relive the emotions she felt when she picked up the phone and had first contact with Julie. “When Julie first called me I could not stop crying. But they were tears of joy because I was so happy,” she said.
When asked about the reunion she stated, “I am going to travel to America to visit Noreen as soon as I am able.”
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