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Recently, we asked viewers to share their heartwarming family reunion stories. Below are the selected submissions. Thanks to all those who sent in their stories!
From Judy, St. Louis, MO
I grew up with my cousins living almost next to us, and Butchie was my favorite. He would watch out for me, and though he teased me, I loved him. When I was fifteen, my father died, and my mother cut off all communication with his family. Thirty years later, I began the search for Butchie. With two of my other cousins, Rosie and Kathy, I went on a cousin-hunt. We tracked his whereabouts over thirty years to the Ozarks, but the trail went cold with only six months to go. I was devastated. We drove back to St. Louis while I cried in disappointment. Discouraged but unwilling to give up, I thought, "What does a retired man do every day? He reads the paper, cover to cover." I put a semi-anonymous two-week ad in the Ozark local paper. It said, "Looking for Butchie...Aunt Kay and Uncle Bus...cousin to Gerry and Judy...call collect." A week went by, and I heard nothing. During the second week, I came home and on my answering machine was a voice from the past! He said, "I think I'm the Butchie you're looking for." I called him back, and of course he was! We laughed, because no one had called him Butchie for over thirty years. I love him and his wife, and have met his children and grandchildren. What a joy to have my dearest cousin back in my life.
From Clara and Edie, Jeff/St.Louis/Arnold, MO
For 55 years, Clare was separated from her baby sister. She remembered her mother Ruby going to the hospital to have the baby, and that her grandmother cried as she received the news of Ruby's death. Clare was only five years old.
She had many memories of the discussions between her Aunt Ellen and grandmother about how Grandma's health was not well enough to take care of the baby, but would only allow her to take care of Clare and her young brother Chad. When she was 19, Clare and her friend Edie started looking for clues, writing letters, contacting organizations, posting flyers and doing local television/radio segments to try and locate Clare's sister. After 500 flyers and over 700 letters, Edie received a clue that seemed to connect Clare with her sister. A final letter was written, and many weeks went by before a phone call came in the beginning of December. It was Clare's long lost sister, Peggy! Clare was so overjoyed and thrilled to finally get a call that her long lost baby sister had been found. By then Clare was 60, and was afraid that her health would fail her before accomplishing her task.
When Peg arrived in January, newspaper reporters, photographers and friends were all waiting to greet Peg as she got off the plane. Edie was thrilled to see her friend Clare finally lay eyes on Peg. It was a joyous reunion, all thanks to a special local church that helped make the reunion possible.
From Reina Reyes, Los Angeles, CA
My grandma Justina's son, Ismael, the baby of 7 siblings, came to America from El Salvador when he was just 20 years old, and he settled in Washington D.C. It was difficult for him to make phone calls to his mother and too expensive for him to visit El Salvador. As time went by, he lost all touch with her and she with him. Within the past year, Justina became very ill and was afraid she would die without ever seeing Ismael again. My husband and I located Ismael in Washington D.C. and pleaded for him to go to El Salvador, but money was still tight and worse, because so much time had gone by, he felt incredibly guilty and was nervous to face her. So we saved and saved and my husband and I obtained a visa for my grandma to come and stay with us in the U.S. so Ismael could at least come to California to see her. We were worried about traveling her here in her condition, but knew how much this meant to her. The reunion was happy and tearful.
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