People Find News
Two World War II Soldiers Reunite After 68 Years
Another brilliant story of the reunion of old friends recently graced the news. The ability of people search technology to reconnect continues to stun and amaze. To see the expressions on the faces of those who were lost, but now are found, is beyond priceless.
Two soldiers were reunited after fighting side by side in 1944 in World War II. To add even more amazement to an already incredible story, each soldier assumed the other was killed in battle during the war.
The two brave soldiers, Lionel Jefford and Bert Haddrell, UK residents, fought during the 1944 Normandy Campaign. They were friends since their early days of military training in Colchester in 1943. D-Day commenced and they were off to fight immediately as infantrymen. They were both 18 years old and assigned to the 4th Batallion. In battle, Jefford, though thrown around, escaped without suffering any injuries. He said: "I was carrying a PIAT and some ammunition and got blown about a bit. I was knocked upside down by a blast and I never found that PIAT afterwards."
Unfortunately, Haddrell was injured badly during a German rocket barrage and invalided out of the army as a result. Jefford after seeing the severity of the battle thought his dear friend was killed in combat. "All the other soldiers around me were killed," he said.
Haddrell, presumed dead by Jefford, was discharged. Jefford continued to serve his country in the Netherlands and Germany. At this time, both assumed each was killed in combat.
An incredible reunion as a reward for bravery...
Ian Haddrell, son of Bert Haddrell, decided to chronicle his father's brave experience and write a book about it. Writing this book caused Ian to research and dig deeper into his father's past which also involved searching for Lionel Jefford to see if he was still alive. He said: "I decided to try and track Lionel down and managed to find him still alive, living in Keighley."
Ian had struggled in his search the day he stumbled upon a breakthrough when he found Jefford's daughter on Facebook.
As if seen in a movie...
Haddrell, Sr., who was nicknamed "Ginge" in his army days, with phone number in hand of his long lost presumed dead friend, decided to make a monumental phone call. The recipient picked up the phone and instantly Haddrell senior excitedly spoke and said, "You'll never guess who this is." Immediately Jefford replied, "Hi Ginge".
The two 86 year-old veterans talked on the phone and reminisced for a while. Ian brought his father and his wife to meet Jefford in Keighley where he lived.
A story of bravery and loss ends in triumph and true friendship...
After being separated and thinking the worst, two brave soldiers have been reunited at last. Haddrell, Sr., after meeting with Jefford again after nearly 68 years said, "It's wonderful how fate works."
Women with Criminal Background Stole $46,000 from Nonprofit
When we think of people search, we often reflect on long-lost family members or a touching story of old friends reuniting after many years apart. However, background checks constitute a completely different side of people search which involves an inquiry into not only a person's location, but also his/her background and past. This information comes in handy when hiring people to work closely with you or your family, especially in the case of nannies or child workers.
The importance of running and actually reviewing background checks was evident to a certain Williamson County, Texas nonprofit after learning they were robbed of $46,000. Lisa Dorhauer was hired by Lutheran Social Services of the South as an administrative assistant. The nonprofit provides help to children, seniors and disaster victims. Dorhauer was arrested and faces felony theft charges after she was found embezzling money during a two year period by submitting fake expense reports.
Would you run a criminal background check and never look at it?
Sadly, the nonprofit ran a background check on the perpetrator but they never viewed it before hiring Dorhauer. If they did, they would have seen the two previous thefts on her criminal record.
A spokesman for the nonprofit, Scott Carrol stated that the department cleared Dorhauer for work and attached her criminal records to her file, but the report remained untouched. "The burden is on us to determine whether she's a threat to our agency," he said. "That's where we made our mistake."
Carrol issued a statement regarding the ethics of Lutheran Social Services. "I think this is an isolated incident of one person who stole from the agency," spokesman Scott Carroll said. "The agency still does a lot of good work. We provide services to a lot of people who need it."
Since the incident, Lutheran Social Services of the South has taken initiative to review the criminal records of its 1,000 employees in two states. As a result of the recent robbery, any new hires and background checks are immediately submitted for review and approval by the COO (Chief Operating Officer).
According to Dorhauer's criminal record, she pleaded guilty to theft charges in 1994 and paid $1,800 in restitution. In 1999, she stole $3,000 from the Round Rock Kiwanis Little League, a charge of misdemeanor theft, to which she pleaded no contest.
Sadly, this is not the first time nonprofits have witnessed crimes of vanishing money tracing back to employees with past criminal records.
In 1990, Family Connections was in the business of helping children. They failed to run a criminal background check on Louanne Aponte, who was hired to work in the finance department. Had the nonprofit checked her record, they would have found her convictions for stealing $60,000 from previous employers. She also spent four months in prison and was still actively on parole when she was hired. Much to the dismay of Family Connections, Aponte stole a large sum of money to the tune of nearly one million dollars. As a payment for her crimes, she was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
The atrocity of crimes committed involving charitable organizations is horrific. The sad statistic is that people who run charitable organizations often do not possess the devious mind of a criminal and they tend to see people in a positive light by default. The characteristic is admirable but not when it comes to hiring for their organizations. Executive Director Matt Kouri of Greenlights for Nonprofit Success, an organization providing support to charities, suggests that some nonprofits do not investigate potential employees due to their "culture of trust" environment. "That trust can often result in poor decision-making and a lack of accountability and conflict," he said. "At Greenlights, we believe in a 'trust but verify' approach to safeguarding our organizations, their resources and their clientele."
Unfortunately, in today's society, guilty until proven innocent is the only way to weed out the forces of evil from the powers of good. And criminal background checks are the best method of finding out the hidden details of a person's past.
Separated Brother and Sister Reunited After 36 Long Years
For a Milton man and his long lost sister, a once impossible dream became an incredible reality. After being separated for 36 years, Robert Smith was reunited with his sister whom he had not seen since 1975. Smith was given up for adoption by his mother who was afflicted with cancer. His sister, Alisa Vlahakis, remembered saying good night to her brother the night before he was given up for adoption. She was 4 years old at the time and she lived 36 years painfully awaiting the day she would see her brother again.
Alisa began to search for her brother during the 1980s, but could not discover even the smallest detail about where he was located. What Alisa didn't know was that her brother was adopted twice. The family who adopted him in 1975 was very abusive, so he left that family to be adopted by another. This new family changed Robert's last name to "Smith", which is why his sister had such a hard time finding him.
While Alisa searched for her brother for years to no avail, it wasn't until last March, after a chance mention from his adopted mother, that Bob decided to start searching for his sister. "My adopted mother came down from Syracuse (New York) and mentioned my sister to my wife," Bob said.
Bob had never thought to search for his sister but thankfully he knew her maiden name and it had not changed. A simple Internet search by Bob's wife led him to a massage therapy practice outside of Boston, Massachusetts.
Bob contacted the owner of the massage therapy practice who was actually his sister. "Within the next day she responded back," Bob said. "We both were in shock." After years of praying, the two were finally reunited at a funeral for Bob's wife's grandmother. Though the circumstances were sad, Bob thought it would be a good opportunity to meet up with his sister.
Alisa made the one hour drive to the funeral home and the two hugged once again after being separated for so long. Both shocked and happy, tears of joy filled their faces as the reality began to set in. It was the ending of a 36-year-long story of courage and resolve.
Bob and Alisa shared good and bad memories through photos and personal recollections and they both began to bond. The two stay connected constantly and are planning on meeting up once again.
According to Bob and Alisa, prayer and the Internet are credited with helping them find each other. Technology is often credited with bringing new problems into the world, but when you read stories like these, you can't help but appreciate the exciting advancements in people search and what it is doing to fulfill people's dreams of being reunited with loved ones.
Woodbury Board of Education Revises Criminal Background Checks Policy for School Volunteers
The ability to search public records holds much weight when we are dealing with the safety of our children. Schools are realizing the potential danger when allowing volunteers to enter schools and interact with children. The correct safety measures are essential.
The Board of Education in Woodbury, New Jersey realized the need to screen potential volunteers for criminal activity. One year ago, board members questioned the screening process and asked what kind of background checks were done for the athletic aides who were volunteering in the schools. This questioning turned into a year of discussions and became a controversial issue leading up to recent events.
Based on the feedback from parents and board members, the goal was to devise a policy that would protect the safety of the children but not deter potential volunteers from helping out in school activities.
The board finally agreed unanimously and approved revisions. Under the new policy, a volunteer is defined as someone who "supports school activities during the school day or after school hours under the direction of school employees". If a volunteer has direct contact with students for more than twenty hours per month, the volunteer must undergo a criminal background check and get fingerprinted.
Board President Frank Gwalthney stated that this new revision would avoid unnecessary background checks and fingerprinting for volunteers who are not directly interacting with students such as those who work at concession stands for sports games.
Also included in the new policy is the right for volunteers to be reimbursed for background checks once they pass. What happens if a volunteer fails a background check? "If they don't pass", Gwalthney says, "That's on them."
The biggest hurdle the board faced was how to continue to encourage community and volunteering while protecting the students. Board member Steve Abbot cites community as one of their biggest focuses. "Community is a big part of what we do", Abbot states.
Thankfully, the board did not neglect the safety of the students. The revisions gave them the chance to protect the children while continuing to get more people involved in volunteering.
We must never underestimate the reach of a criminal. They can strike anywhere and at any time. Criminal background checks can provide organizations like the Woodbury Board of Education a feeling of peace and protection for the entire community.
Thrift Store Discovery Turns into People Search Mystery
People search usually involves finding family members, friends or former coworkers. A different sort of people search landed in the recent daily news. This quest did not involve a relative, friend or even a personal acquaintance. It involved thrift store photographs and a photographer who desired to solve a present day mystery. This mystery was one to be unraveled by a man resolved to reclaim the past and bring memories to a family who may or may not have lost them.
What would you have done with hundreds of thrift store photographs?
For a Florida photographer, this thrift store find turned into a people search obsession. Photographs from the 1950s spurred a Pinellas County, Florida man to engage in an extensive search to find the people in photographic slides he discovered in a local thrift store. He was determined to reunite the photographs with the families in them.
Lyman is an artist and a photographer. When he entered a thrift store weeks ago, he immediately fixated on a vintage projector. Included with the projector were hundreds of photography slides dating back to the 1950s. The slides immediately caught Lyman's attention. He said, "This is real people living what looked like to be good lives and it's just very fascinating to me."
While perusing through the slides he saw many family occasions such as Halloween, Christmas and prom. He was interested to know who was in the photographs and also to return them to their rightful owner.
He began his search by posting the photographs on his personal blog and Craigslist. In only two weeks time, he already identified the location and possibly one of the people in the photograph. The slides were taken in Rochester, NY and the people of the town have been very helpful in aiding Lyman in finding the rightful owners.
Michael is getting closer to solving the mystery and he is hopeful it will happen soon. "I'm pretty confident that I can identify most of the people in the pictures with the help that I'm receiving from the people in Rochester," Lyman said.
Lyman desires greatly to reconnect the families with their images. He believes the slides can be a gift to the people in the picture and perhaps their children and grandchildren who have never seen them. His goal is to eventually hand deliver the images to the family even if it means traveling hundreds of miles away to New York.
Lyman is determined to solve this puzzle and he credits the internet with helping him get this far. "Without the internet, I would not have been able to find out as much as I have," he said.
A Family Reunited
While most people spend copious amounts of time attempting to rationalize the behavior of what they deem to be "embarrassing" relatives, some wish they could be so lucky. After 37 years of separation, one woman has finally gained the right to her own family.
Kidnapped at the age of four, Rhonda Smith was too young to understand or realize that the woman that had taken her from her family was no friend, but rather foe, and would keep her hostage for the majority of her young adult life until passing over a decade later. No matter how hard Rhonda tried to communicate with her captor, Shirley, she was unable to ever gather any information on the whereabouts of her biological family or ever attain closure for the many unanswered questions she had surrounding her capture.
After Shirley's passing, Rhonda did her best to build a new life of her own choosing, becoming a mother herself and finding for the first time the bitter mote of a stable life. One such stepping stone was the attainment of a passport, for which Rhonda had a friend legally adopt her as to gain legal documentation of her birth and name. During routine background checks, more legal documentation arose, leading Rhonda, at long last, to her biological family.
Her parents, now much older, finally had faces again. Rhonda was too young to remember much about her family, and she welcomed them back into her life enthusiastically. Although Rhonda may never fully understand the motives that Shirley had for taking her away from a family that loved her dearly, after 37 years she has finally been reunited with the people that love her most.
Home is the place that, when you go there, they have to take you in - and it would appear that Rhonda has finally found her home thanks to the diligent work of those helping her to locate records on her past and family.
People Find Reunites Families
My next-door neighbor is a frail elderly lady. She lives alone, and I've never seen anyone visit her. She occasionally ventures out and whenever I see her slowly coming up the street, carrying a couple of grocery bags, I help her bring them upstairs. She is very grateful and pleasant but there is an air of sadness about her, even when she smiles. In the summer, when her arms are bared, one can see a faded tattoo that can't be mistaken for anything else: a serial number from a concentration camp.
Recently, with the holiday season upon us, I asked her if she has any family or friends, and if anyone is coming to visit her. "Everyone who's ever meant anything to me is dead. My children were killed during World War II when they were still very young, and so was my husband. I had a twin sister who was with me in the concentration camp in Poland. We survived until the end of the war and were liberated by the American troops. We came to America together, but were separated at Ellis Island. Every once in a while, I wonder where she is, if she had a family, if she is still alive, but all my efforts to find her throughout the years were fruitless. The holidays are especially lonely for me; memories are all I have."
I knew then that I was going to try to help her. She doesn't have a computer and has no idea how far technology has come, how much more efficient her search can be now. I have used PeopleFind in the past, and have had success finding all kinds of people. I invited her in and got online. I had some misgivings, because she only knew her sister's maiden name and her only known location was New York City. What if she married and took her husband's name? Moved somewhere else? I decided to wait and see.
Good old People Find! Immediately, my search criteria produced the desired results. It seemed, my neighbor's sister did keep her maiden name, although it was likely that she had married and had children and grandchildren - there was a long list of relatives, all sharing what appeared to be her husband's last name. And she still lived in New York. It was definitely the right person - same date of birth and everything! I was practically dancing for joy. And my neighbor ... when I looked at her, tears of joy were glistening in the corners of her eyes. "Thank you," she said quietly. "Maybe I won't have to die alone after all. I better go make a phone call."
Finding people - Anywhere in the World - Just Got Easier
When I was a little girl, my mother had a best friend who had a little boy my age. The mothers were inseparable, and, by default, so were the kids. Our families were constantly together, visiting each other's houses during holidays and weekends and going on cultural outings. We children practically grew up together well into our teens. Then we emigrated to the U. S. As it was before the great Soviet collapse, friends and families shed many tears, saying good-bye forever. That was 28 years ago.
I guess as people get older, they begin to reminisce a lot about the past, missing the people once dear to their hearts. Lately, my mother began to wonder whatever happened to our friends. Are they well? Still in Russia? Or maybe in the States? Anything is possible. Seeing how nostalgic she was, I decided to help her by doing some research. I had heard of People Find, and how many people found long-lost families and friends using its services. The People Lookup feature was really helpful.
First, I tried looking for my mother's friend and found nothing. Then I decided to see if I could locate her son, my childhood friend. Bingo! I found him right away in Michigan, and based on all the information - name, date of birth - it was the right person. With a name like his, he was the only person out there. Wow! He was married, with children, and his address and phone number were all right there in one report.
I called him the same night, and although at first it was a bit awkward, before long we were chatting away about the good old times and catching up on the last 28 years. Unfortunately, I found out that he emigrated alone and his parents were still in the old country. However, he gave me their contact information for my mother, and they happily reconnected after all these years. My mom tells me they are emailing all the time, and occasionally calling each other. They've been planning to visit their son and grandchildren in the States this spring, so we are all going to Michigan for one huge reunion. We are all very grateful to People Find.
Don't Worry, Be Happy: Date Safely with People Find
Single ladies, if you are like me or most other singles out there, you are bound to try online dating sites. Let's face it, finding the man of your dreams is more difficult than ever, and like it or not, technology is going to come in handy. Guess what? Although some dating services claim to screen your potential dates, most don't! Not really.
Take a friend of mine who recently met a guy online. The proverbial sparks flew and they were going to go out on Saturday. A little voice of intuition prompted her to do some research of her own on People Find. You guessed it - the guy turned out to be a psycho and a pervert, with numerous felonies under his belt. She is still very happily single and safe, and the guy who could have hurt her will not get a chance to do so.
Yet, tomorrow it could very well be you, or I, or someone we know. I don't know about you, but before I ever go out on another date, I am definitely using People Find! I can check out potential dates by name, or find these people using reverse phone lookup, get their background report and research criminal records. So, the next time someone tries to sell me their bag of questionable goods, I'll be prepared. What about you?
To Search, or Not to Search with PeopleFind
Locating an old acquaintance with whom you lost touch can be frustrating. There are several online sources you can explore. You may want to start with a general Google or Yahoo search, wrapping the subject's name in quotes, and see if that returns plausible leads. Chances are, if your friend isn't a prolific blogger and doesn't have a social networking account like MySpace or FaceBook, no information will show up. Or there may be another person with the same first and last name who may come up as a result, and you'll be led astray only to realize that it's not the right "Jason Mulrooney".
Perhaps you were once in the same line of business and networked within the same circles. Begin by checking membership listings of professional organizations within your industry. Take a crack at their Web sites and hope to locate your colleague, that is, if he was ever, or is still, a member. Conversely, you may know what college he attended, and try your luck with the alumni directory. Chances are that he hasn't been actively involved in years, and all they have on him is an old address you shared as young undergrad roommates.
All these methods may return fragmented, dated information, or you may come up empty-handed altogether. Unfortunately, the old adage "you get what you pay for" proves true every time. Free search tools may be good for ferreting out some information, but they are pretty limited, with results that are often hit-or-miss.
With PeopleFind, you can find a number of versatile ways to reveal all the contact information and everything Jason has been up to since you knew him way back when. Search using a name and location, an old phone number or request a full, detailed report based on official public records. The report will contain everything ever known about your buddy, including such information as date of birth, age, past and present addresses, phone numbers, email address, average income and property values, criminal background check, marital status, names of relatives and neighbors, business information ... the list goes on. It's all in one place, extremely fast and simple to obtain, and nowhere else will you find a more complete set of facts. Whoa, it sure looks like Jason's been a busy guy!
Reverse Phone Lookup: You never know who might be at the other end
The phone rang deafeningly in the quiet of the night and startled her out of deep sleep, causing her heart to pulsate in her throat. By the time she'd reached for the receiver, it'd stopped ringing. Trying to shake off remaining grogginess, she looked at the glowing screen of the Caller ID. Who was calling at this hour? By now, the number looked familiar. Not that she knew who was calling out of state, but someone has called from this number twice in the past three days, and hang up without leaving a message. Although it was past midnight, she couldn't go back to sleep. After tossing and turning for a few minutes, she got up. She was going to find out who'd been calling her at all hours and not talking.
She'd heard of Reverse Phone Lookup, a service that could help one find people, when all you had to go on is a phone number. This means one could also find out who is behind an unfamiliar number. She was going to find out how it works. What was that Web site again? Peoplefind.com, that's right - pretty self-explanatory, easy to remember. Ah, here it is, and it really is as simple as entering the phone number and searching.
When the results came back, her heart began to perform a now-familiar thumping routine. She only had to look at the name once to know who has found her after all these years, and was probably too shy to talk. She had given up a baby for adoption 18 years ago now; had had no choice at the time and under the circumstances. Other than her first name and the last name of the nice couple who adopted her as soon as she was born, she knew nothing of the life her daughter has had or who she's become. She could only hope the answers to all these questions were positive, but it was better not to ask them after all these years. Well, it looked like whether or not she wanted to, she was finally going to find out, and have to answer some hard questions herself. And she wanted to, had longed for this chance for quite some time, and now it was here. She dialed the number.
Revolutionize Online Dating
It's the new millennium, the age of technological progress, and many old-fashioned methods of doing things are now obsolete. Fortunately or unfortunately, and sometimes both, this is a fact we've all had to accept. The one segment of our lives that has completely transformed itself is relationships and dating. Gone are the friendly neighborhood matchmakers of yesteryear, the little old ladies who knew everything about everybody and conspired with the mothers of brides-to-be to make a reputable and lucrative match. Many would mutter: "Good riddance!" and in many ways would be right, and yet...
Nowadays, meeting someone interested, available and eligible through normal social circles is a very rare occurrence. Everyone and his brother are online. True, this opens possibilities of unlimited exposure, so quantity has definitely improved, but can we talk quality here? Now, that is a concern all singles can relate to. We know, we know, gotta kiss a gazillion frogs to find a prince. Seriously though, the gravity of the situation is compounded by the fact that online dating offers sociopaths complete anonymity and countless opportunities to prey on trusting, unsuspecting victims. When it comes to spinning tall tales and covering the often-alarming tracks, those with impure motives and something to hide have carte blanche.
Try out new resources available online
Thankfully, the internet also offers us new opportunities to protect and inform ourselves. Enter PeopleFind.com, the savior of today's singles, with the promise to make online dating a secure, safe activity.
No longer do women have to wonder if their charming date is a convicted rapist or married with children. Prior to so much as contemplating a get-together, please do yourself a favor and find out whom you'd really be meeting. It's so easy and fast that not taking this step is inexcusably reckless.
Just type any first and last name on PeopleFind.com, along with current state of residence or even city, and prepare to be amazed. You'll be able to find out:
- Where your new acquaintance lives
- Places of prior residence
- His/her social status
- Real age
- Names and locations of relatives
While you're at it, you can use further resources to check for a criminal history! Give yourself an opportunity to experience a sense of deep relief, once you confirm that the people you met online and plan to date are who they say they are. That is the necessary foundation for the success of any budding romance. And if you catch someone in a lie, you'll be doubly happy that you've uncovered adverse information before the truth can do some damage. Even if your potential date merely lied about his age, this should raise a reasonable question: what else has he lied about?
Email Lookup: A Heartwarming Holiday Story
Elena and Alexandra had initially met three years ago on Craigslist. Alexandra's 'Strictly Platonic' ad described her as a late-thirties married female originally from Europe, looking to make female friends. Elena had recently moved to Seattle and didn't know many people. She was hoping to make a friend, too, and responded to Alex's ad because they seemed to have a lot in common: Elena, too, was born in Europe, was married, and roughly of the same age.
The two women connected and soon became fast friends, in spite of their vastly different temperaments, appearances, and situations. The two –petite, full-figured, curly redhead Elena and tall, slim, classic blonde Alex – made quite a pair. Elena's exuberant, outspoken personality amused and drew out the somewhat reserved Alex, who, in turn, lent her stabilizing support to the often scattered Elena who attracted drama like a magnet. The two did all the fun girl stuff together, having heart-to-heart talks about everything, exploring local bars, restaurants and the shopping scene, and occasionally arranging cozy get-togethers at home with their husbands.
Not surprisingly, their differences weren't just skin-deep; they were also reflected in the state of their marriages: Alex's stable, tried-and-proven, if somewhat lackluster, childless marriage was a direct opposite of Elena's turbulent, unhappy union sprouting new fatal cracks every day, with children caught in the middle. Alex did her best to be there for Elena, but the ongoing changes in Elena's private life had put a strain on their friendship, and finally separated them altogether. They just grew apart, with Elena constantly distressed, in a whirlwind of activity, and Alex hoping for steady interaction.
Three years passed as if in a dream. For Elena, it was more like a nightmare. During that time, she'd endured the ravages of divorce, lost her home and job, and alone through it all, she often thought about Alex. She'd wanted to reach out many times, but felt that having no one to complain to helped her keep a stout backbone. It was almost as if she was afraid that if a close friend was there to hold her, she would dissolve into a messy pile of snot and tears and never manage to gather herself back up into the pillar of strength she'd become. She did decide to contact Alex once, but realized that she lost her contact information during the move, and her phone number was unlisted. What if Alex moved to the country, like she'd hoped back when she knew her?
The wheel of fortune inevitably turns, if somewhat slowly, and so it has for Elena, who had finally established a stable home and found an awesome new job. She felt like she has awakened from the two-year nightmare and was once again beginning to enjoy her freedom and the new life she'd built for her family. She was ready to meet people and embark on new adventures. Yet, these things take time, and she found herself wondering how she was going to accomplish a fun-filled holiday season without friends. Again, she thought of Alex. She'd really missed her, and this time she was absolutely determined to find her. But how, short of going back to the old neighborhood and knocking on what used to be (and hopefully still is) her door? If only she could remember her email address, but she could only recall the part that came before the @, not the domain.
She started surfing the net, looking for solutions to locating lost connections, when she stumbled on PeopleFind.com. What she found was just awesome! The options were varied and many, but she focused on Email Lookup, and the report that came back two seconds later returned all the lost contact information for Alex she hasn't been able to locate in three years. Remembering the partial email address made looking it up easy: she spotted the right one immediately. She was glad to find out good old Alex was still living where she'd left her. She was tempted to call her right away, but decided it would be easier to write an email, bringing her up-to-date with all her recent life-changing events, hoping she accepts her apology for letting their friendship slip away. Elena also provided her new cell phone number, asking Alex to give her a call.
Elena sent the email really hoping Alex would forgive her and want to see her again. The phone rang only ten minutes later, and Alex's excited, happy laughter told her everything she needed to know: she still had a good friend. "Oh yeah," Alex was saying, "You should come to the party we're having next week. I can't wait to catch up!"
Finding my father, finding myself
I never knew my father. I was the last of six children raised in a Mexican family by an older mother and siblings 10-15 years my senior, who shared a common father. They never passed up the opportunity to throw in my face that my father was of German descent. Talk about alienation! I was the only family member who didn't speak Spanish: they didn't teach me so I wouldn't understand them when they spoke to each other. I've always felt different somehow, a stranger in my own family. My brothers bullied and tormented me, my sisters tyrannically mothered me, and my mother ... my mother was incapable of seeing beyond her own injuries, controlling and alienating by way of anger and blame, always keeping me at arm's length. I craved love and acceptance so much, I regularly cried myself to sleep.
Growing up, I heard a few snippets of conversation here and there that allowed me to put together a rough portrait of what my father may have been like. A hard-working laborer, he met and fell in love with my mother soon after her divorce. The relationship was short-lived; as was her usual way, she pushed him away. I couldn't blame him for not keeping in touch with me: in those days, when one left the mother, one left the children. I understand, he made several attempts to see me throughout the years, but she drove him away.
When my mother passed away from Alzheimer's a couple of years ago, the thought of locating my father, getting in touch with my missing half, began to surface more and more often. I fought it, partially out of guilt, some perverted sense of disloyalty to my deceased mother, partially out of fear of the unknown, of disappointment. I've had enough rejection to last me several lifetimes. And yet, I knew the day will come when I couldn't resist the urge to know my father any longer. My sister told me she was pretty sure he still lived in the same neighborhood, not too far from where I've lived my whole life.
As luck would have it, around the same time, I met and began to date a woman who knew of PeopleFind.com. She insisted on helping me find my father, coaxed me out of complacency, urged me to overcome my fears. Through her, I found out how easy it would be to find my father, how easy it would have been all along. With PeopleFind.com, even the more complicated searches for missing persons were now pretty much a snap, opening a completely new frontier for people finding each other all over the country. I must say, I am not very computer-literate, but when I finally gave in and used PeopleFind.com, I found my long-lost father within a couple of keystrokes. The only information I needed to provide was his name. In that moment, I found out more about him than I did in forty years. He married, had two other children, worked at the same factory, lived in the same house ten minutes away from me. All these years, for all I knew, he could have been halfway across the world! I now had his address and phone number. I wished I could see his picture, search his face for any resemblance to mine, but I knew that for that I would have to make the next move and meet him in person.
When that day finally came, it was like the veil was finally lifted, and I found the missing part of me. He was so happy to hear from me, he cried. As we got to know each other better, we became closer and closer. It was as if each of us was finally filling the life-long void, painting in the blank spots, revealing the full picture of who we really were, and saw a reflection of ourselves in each other. Thank you, PeopleFind.com, for helping me find my father, and in the process finally find myself.