In 1956, Chester, a 24 year old Catholic man, marries 23 year old Mary Ruth, recent widow and mother of one. She converts to Catholicism to appease her Polish-born in-laws, who wouldn't hear of their 1st generation American born son marrying a non-Catholic. She and her 5 year old daughter, join the church and the family.
After 10 years together, in 1966, Chester and Mary realize that they will not be able to conceive a biological child, and decide to adopt. They visit the Children's Aid Society and add their names to the long waiting list for white newborns, and don't expect to be receiving a call for at least a year or two.
Suprisingly, six weeks later, they receive a call that there is a healthy, white, newborn girl awaiting them. When they inquire as to how this happened so quickly, they are told they are the first Catholic family on the waiting list, and therefore, have first option on the baby. They pick up their newborn girl on November 5, 1966, where she joins her sister, Barb, age 15, in the household. She is baptized at SS Phillips & James Church, in New Castle, Pennsylvania, shortly thereafter. Her godparents are her paternal uncle, Charles and her paternal aunt, Genevieve.
Monday, April 23, 2012
The Journey Begins: I Am Born
On a college campus, in Western Pennsylvania, I was conceived.
A 19 year old Catholic girl, from a large family is away from home for the first time, and falls head over heels for a slightly older guy on campus that tells her what she wants to hear. They spend a snowy winter weekend together in his apartment, which results in me.
Months later, surprised to learn of my existence, she finds that he has been drafted and she is left to face her pregnancy alone. She doesn't tell her family until the month prior to my birth. She intends to become a teacher, and her potential career will end before it begins if she becomes a single mother. She opts for adoption, with the condition that I am adopted by a Catholic family.
I am born in Grove City, Pennsylvania, on October 30, 1966, and my birth mother chooses not to see me. My maternal grandparents are there and support my mother. They had offered to take me and raise me as their own child, but my mother refuses the offer. I am left in the hands of The Children's Aid Society in Mercer County.
A 19 year old Catholic girl, from a large family is away from home for the first time, and falls head over heels for a slightly older guy on campus that tells her what she wants to hear. They spend a snowy winter weekend together in his apartment, which results in me.
Months later, surprised to learn of my existence, she finds that he has been drafted and she is left to face her pregnancy alone. She doesn't tell her family until the month prior to my birth. She intends to become a teacher, and her potential career will end before it begins if she becomes a single mother. She opts for adoption, with the condition that I am adopted by a Catholic family.
I am born in Grove City, Pennsylvania, on October 30, 1966, and my birth mother chooses not to see me. My maternal grandparents are there and support my mother. They had offered to take me and raise me as their own child, but my mother refuses the offer. I am left in the hands of The Children's Aid Society in Mercer County.
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