Well, it has been a very long time since I posted here. I ended up joining a group on Facebook and posting a portion of my story with the link to this blog and was asked to continue the story! So here goes.
First, I was trying to find my half brother's birth father. He had been kept by our birth mother but she refused to let him know who his birth father was. He said he had grown up feeling "not a part of" since my youngest brother was the son of my birth mother and her husband where as this brother was not the bio son of her husband.
As I said in part 25 I was working with the same search angel as I did to find my birth father and she was able to locate who we thought was his birth father. He had already passed however. We tried to reach out to other family members and did connect somewhat with a couple of them. My brother however, sort of dropped the ball and just decided to not keep looking or contacting anyone. I did not force the issue, but we are almost 100% sure that we found his birth father, who was another GI. He is only two years younger than me.
Fast forward to looking for my ex-husband's birth family. He had been very interested when we had our son, but had been so disappointed and upset that we were unable to find anything in 1991-92 that he had given up. I convinced him to do a DNA test (for our son) and also had my son do one. Once we got the results back I again asked for the help of a DNA Detective. We were able to locate his birth family but it was very twisted and convoluted because it turned out his birth father was also adopted! We had a bit of non-identifying information that we were sent from the Edna Gladney Home in Ft Worth where he had been adopted from. That info was that his birth mother had three children already and it told their ages. One girl and two boys. It also gave some vague info about her and even about his bio father (which we of course found was wrong when we located him).
my ex meeting his half brother Once we were sure who his birth mother was, we did find that she had passed, but one of his half brothers was still living. His oldest brother and his sister had since passed as well. I worked as kind of a go between with my ex husband and his brother/niece. They talked and were finally able to meet. I got some pictures and it was AMAZING how much the two brothers looked alike!! Besides beginning a relationship with his brother, my ex told me that he had begun a very close and surprising relationship with his niece. I think they talked every other day for several months. Then suddenly, my ex was gone. He had a heart attack and passed away February of 2021. Everyone was so very sad that they did not have much time to get to know him, but grateful that they finally got to meet and connect. I still keep in contact with the niece and we have talked on the phone several times. Although we are not related, I knew her uncle very well and I know he would appreciate the fact that I kept in contact, I think she appreciates it as well. Since that time, her father has also passed away. So very sad.
His birth father was FINALLY pinpointed. I have had a person working on my son's family tree who is married to someone who is a distant cousin. She has truly built my son's tree to hundreds and hundreds of relatives!! But with my ex gone, we have not spoken to anyone from that side.
In saying this, I know some of you are wondering why I would help my ex. Well because of our son of course, so that he has that other piece of the puzzle of him. However, my son at this time is not interested in even looking at anything dealing with his family tree on either side. He was able to meet his Uncle and cousin at his dads funeral because they came to pay their respects. Perhaps he will be interested at some point, maybe when he has children? He is married now and they are busy building their young lives.
