Adopted War Babe ...continued - Part 3

So, I waited for my husband to come home.  I was really nervous.  Once he was home I told him what was going on and after dinner we sat down with the phone in my hand.  I dialed the number I was given.  After a couple of rings and woman answered. "Hello?".  She had a German accent I could tell immediately.
"Hi, my name is Pam Berry," I stammered. "I wonder if I can ask you a few questions?"  She was silent. "Does February 27, 1954 mean anything to you?" I asked.  She was quiet for a moment and then said, in very broken English, "How did you get this number?".  She seemed not only surprised but a bit upset. "I was trying to find out who my birth parents were because I was adopted," I said.  I am working with some people from the Alma society and they helped me to locate information that could be my birth family.  I was born in Goeppingen, Germany in a catholic hospital to a German woman named Elisabeth Schulz.  “Does any of that sound familiar to you?
     Well, she was quiet. “Look,” I said, “Let’s hang up and let this sink in. Maybe I will call back in n a couple of days. Would that be ok with you?”
“Ok, that would be fine,” she said. “You know, they never let me see the baby. I asked a nurse, and she said that she had blond hair and blue eyes.”
“That’s me!” I said.
     A few weeks later, I called again.  I don’t recall the exact conversation, but I was even more nervous and excited as I had been before.   It was 1991, and because we had found her by her husband’s obituary, I knew that her husband had just passed the year before. She answered right away, as we had set a day and time that I would call back.  Here is what I remember from what was said:
          She told me about being a house frau and even told me the name of the family.(I wrote it down but have lost the name, boo me!)  She told me that my birth father had been an American solider whom she had dated about six months and that he was tall, dark and handsome. She said she didn’t remember his name (yeah right!) You see, she continued, the Army threw dances every weekend so that the GIs and the German girls could dance and have fun together. She paused during our conversation and then in a few sentences that I DO remember she continued. (Again, in that thick German accent)  “I remember standing behind the door!” She said quietly. “We were behind the door at the dance, I told him that I was pregnant. He took out his wallet and tried to hand me money to have it taken care of. I said no.  I never saw him again.”
“Thank you!”  I said.

Adoption "War Babe" story continued...part 2

I quickly tried to find someone who could translate my German reply letter to English.  No one seemed to know.  I am not sure I remember correctly, but I believe I talked again to the woman who was helping me with finding my bio mom and she suggested the German consulate.  At any rate, I was able to get the letter translated and found out that she had gotten married and "disappeared" into Fort Meade, Maryland.
Going back to the adoption help people at ALMA, they suggested that I write back to the hall of records there in Germany and ask if I could have a copy of the marriage license for her.  I again wrote my letter and sent it off.  I really didn't think that I would get a copy of the marriage license so I guess I put it out of my mind for the time being.  Much to my surprise, a few weeks later, there it was!  A legitimate copy of my birth mom's marriage license!  I was very surprised and pleased to say the least!  Here is the actual copy I received, with a stamp of authenticity none the less!

I called the adoption help number again, and gave her the information.  My birth mom had married an American serviceman named Russell.  They were married in the summer of 1961. (7 years after I was born). The license also had their birth dates listed which was helpful. Once again, to my surprise, I received a return call only a day or two later and she said she had located where my birth mother lived and her phone number!  How did she do this so quickly?  Unfortunately, she had used the first place that searchers always look, and a place that is the easiest to gain information from, an obituary.
The obituary was NOT my birth mom's however, it was her husband, Russell.  He had just passed away the year before in 1990. Although sad, this did indicate that my birth mom (who was 25 when she had me) was still alive. This really would have been the only way to find her as she always went by her husband's name.  She never had a driver’s license, or anything in her name.  This was the way of Europeans of that time when she grew up, and the reason we were unable to find her listed in just her name.
The woman I was working with now gave me the address, in  Illinois and a phone number. She proceeded to school me in what I should say when I called her.  I was shaking and so nervous the rest of the day, but I wanted to wait for my husband to come home from work to call.  I was afraid that if I called before he got home I just might melt down into a puddle of nerves!

The Beginning...Being Adopted - I am a War Babe

I am adopted.  I was adopted at 10 days old.  I was born in a Catholic hospital in Goeppingen, Germany, to a German woman. My birth mom was a girl from one of the surrounding farms who was working at the Army base as a house frau.  She cleaned, cooked, and took care of the children there.  I was adopted by a military couple through a private, lawyer adoption who was the friend of some friends.  My birth mother told my adoptive parents (who were stationed in Augsburg, Germany as my father was in the Army.) that my birth father was an American GI whom she dated for about six months before she got pregnant. He was being shipped out and he promised to send for her. Well, she never heard from him again. She even showed my parents a picture of her and the GI before she carried me out of the hospital and handed me over to them. It was required by the Catholic hospital that the baby be carried out of the hospital before it was handed over (I'm told), it must have been difficult for my birth mother.

I never realized fully that I was adopted until I was in high school. I am TOLD that my parents read a book to me every night before bed about how wonderful it was to be adopted and told me that was me. I am also told (by a cousin) that at about 2 1/2 I took the book and threw it across the room and said I never wanted to hear the book again.  So, I guess I didn't.

When in high school, we were asked for homework to find out what nationality we were.  When I asked, my Mom said, "Well, my grandparents were from Norway, your dad's were from Ireland, and yours were from Germany."  WHAT!!??  How does that happen?  Mom showed me a clipping from a paper when I was three that said that my mom had taken the oath of citizenship for me, a blue eyed, blonde haired Germany girl, since I had been adopted.  Well blow me down with a feather, I didn't have a clue.

Birth Mom, Liz Schulz                                      Me, Pam Stephens (RoseMarie Schulz, my birth name)

Continuing on, I wondered for quite some time about being adopted.  I asked my older cousin about it and she said that my birth parents were actually royal and had castles in Germany.  Not knowing much about history, I kept thinking, "Maybe my father was Hitler!!"  Silly, I know, but I thought it anyway. 

Flash ahead many years with hardly a thought about being adopted.  I married my second husband when I was 37 years old.  We had a little boy, Jake, a year later.  Since my husband was ALSO adopted, I realized that my son also had no heritage since his father did not know anything at all about his adoption either.  Hence, began my search for answers.  

It began by me asking my parents ( I was now 38 years old) and they said, "Oh, we thought you would never ask!".  To my utmost surprise, I was handed a huge binder with all sorts of 38 year old documents.  Many were in German, but most had been translated into English.  There was my birth name, and the papers that slowly changed my name from RoseMarie Schulz, to Pamela Lee Carroll.

There was also quite a bit of information about my birth mother, from her name to her birthdate, and even her location number, which is much like our social security number.

Here is one of my adoption papers, in German. 

Thus began my search for her.  

I worked a while with a group  called ALMA: Adoptees' Liberty Movement Association, located in New York, NY. https://www.nationalcenteronadoptionandpermanency.net/ncap-resources/alma-the-adoptees-liberty-movement-association-alma  Anyway, the woman that I worked with first told me to contact the German records keeper at the hall of records near where I was born. She said that Europeans keep VERY good track of their citizens and that they would more than likely know where she was.  She gave me the address and I proceeded to write a letter.  I told them that I was a relative and was looking for her. I gave them all the information that I had been given.  Then I waited on pins and needles to get a reply.  (This was in 1991, before there was much use of the Internet.) 

In a few weeks I did receive a letter!  But, it of course, was in GERMAN!  I had actually lived in Berlin, Germany when I was 8-11 years old, as my father was stationed there.  I took German in elementary school but at that time did not realize that I was at least half German. I could read a few words but could not tell much from the letter, except for the words "Fort Meade, Maryland".   Here is a copy of the letter I received.  You can see all of my words that people had translated for me!!  

Blogging on Blogger to show the types of things you can do.  This picture is from our time at Texas Motor Speedway. ↔

Digital Immigrants

We are all still digital immigrants; meaning, those of us born before the year 1990.  Those folks, 1-27 years old, are mostly all digital natives. It is easy to understand that concept when those of us immigrants try to get a native to explain something digital to us!  THEY have no concept of why we cant understand the simplest of things!

November 1, 2017
Today is my first Bunco party at my home!  We bought my parent's home a year and a half ago.  Our previous home we LOVED, but it was small and really didn't lend itself to any type of party for a number of people.  My parents home is located on a golf course and it has two living areas and four bedrooms.  We use two of the bedrooms as "man cave" space.  One with the pool table and NASCAR collection and the other has my husbands tv and recliner.  It also holds all of his music stuff.  Guitars, keyboards, speakers, etc.
So I think I need to get busy instead of typing here and clean in preparation!!