My Birthmother's Story

My birth mother Irene and her husband Larry arrived in Gloucester, MA (where I lived at the time) to visit for a long weekend sometime in the early 2000's. I don't remember a lot of the details - perhaps they were on their way through during one of their many adventures. But I remember sitting in my dining room at the table for a meal. It was clear that Irene had something on her mind - it turned out she wanted to tell me the story of my birth father.

Irene was born in 1932 in Portland, Oregon where I now live. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not, although I feel very at home here. Irene's mother died when she was eight. She and her next older brother, who was a teenager, were adopted by her mother’s sister. On her deathbed, her mother had asked her sister, a spinster, to take care of the children for her. Irene's father was blind from an accident and unable to take care of the last two children remaining at home. The aunt found she was unable to care for a teenage boy, and he was “unadopted” and then re-adopted by his oldest brother.

Irene's relationship with her aunt was strained at best, so as soon as Irene graduated from high school she went to live with her older sister in Charleston, West Virginia. Her sister had recently been honorably discharged from her duties as a chauffeur in the Women’s Army Corp. 

It was in Charleston that Irene met a man named Lowell and they became engaged to be married when Irene was 23. The adoption records state that Irene was engaged to be married and that the man had decided to break off the engagement shortly before the ceremony. But Irene told me a slightly different story. Lowell's mother took Irene out to lunch one day and told her that Lowell was dating another woman who was pregnant. Of course, she was devastated and decided to move to Media, Pennsylvania to again live with her older sister, who several years previously had married a doctor who resided there. Irene's sister had met her future husband when he was visiting family in Charleston. Irene remained in Charleston since she had a job as a secretary that she really enjoyed.

Larry was a good family friend and had previously met Irene and was, apparently, quite enamored by her. He drove to Charleston to move Irene to Media. Shortly after moving, she discovered that she was pregnant with me. She wrote Lowell a letter telling him of the pregnancy, but never heard from him. Her brother-in-law, the doctor, knew of a good home for unwed mothers in Burlington, Vermont, which is where she arranged to give birth to me. Irene and Larry married in 1958. He had been very supportive of Irene throughout her pregnancy and my birth.

You might remember, if you follow this blog, that previously I had started searching for Lowell. I had only his first name and year of his birth, and assumed that he was from Pennsylvania, not knowing about West Virginia at the time. I was intrigued that somewhere I had a half-sibling who would be just about my age. But that search didn't go far, and I gave up. I did look for him after Irene told me his last name, and I found a death certificate for someone who might have been him, but obviously I couldn't ask him.

Irene in West Virginia