LilMtnCbn
07-05-2004, 05:38 AM
http://morningsun.net/stories/070504/loc_20040705017.shtml
Long-lost sister, family reunited after 20 years
By JESSICA TIMS
Morning Sun Staff Writer
When Greta Johnson was only 7 years old, she was expecting a new little brother
or sister. But when her parents came home from the hospital empty-handed, she
and her six siblings, all of whom were under the age of 10, were told the baby
girl they called Mary Ann had died.
"It was just one of those things you just didn't talk about," Johnson said.
"They said that the nuns were taking care of it. There was no funeral, there
was no visitation, no burial plot.
"For 38 years it has always been a family of eight ... we have always said
there were eight kids, never just seven kids."
Growing up in Hays, Susie Kline knew she had been adopted when she was 1 month
old. At age 18, she asked the state for a copy of her birth certificate; it was
time to find her birth parents. She started a search for her mother's maiden
name, Mary Ann Frakes; her father's name, William Lee Johnson, was too common.
It took 20 years of searching on and off before she finally came across
something.
"For some reason this year, the end of February (or) the beginning of March, I
began to plug their names in (to the computer) and came up with (William Lee
Johnson's) obituary in The Morning Sun paper," Kline said. "But it said
'Pittsburg' and I was thinking Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, because to me, I grew
up in Hays, Kansas. I couldn't figure it out, but there were so many
coincidences."
Kline searched for the names listed as survivors in the obituary and put in a
call to the only Aaron Johnson she could find in San Diego.
"I just called and left a message on his voice mail and said, 'Did you grow up
on Campbell Street in the mid-60s? If you did I would like to talk to you,'"
Kline said. "And a couple of days later he did call back. He was like, 'Yeah,
we did grow up on Campbell Street.' He started naming all these cross streets
and I was like, 'Well, I wasn't there.' And he said, 'I don't remember a Susie
Kline, but I do remember some Klines.' And I just said, 'Well, I wasn't there.'
And I said 'Well, I am your sister. I'm the eighth kid.'"
After talking and discussing the information found on Kline's birth
certificate, which said there were seven other children born to Mary Ann
Johnson, Aaron Johnson and Kline agree they are brother and sister.
The Johnsons don't know how Kline managed to find the correct Aaron Johnson on
her first try, because he is constantly receiving calls for one of the several
other Aaron Johnsons in San Diego.
After hearing from the sister whom he thought had died at birth 38 years ago,
Aaron Johnson called his other siblings, including Greta Johnson of Pittsburg.
"I didn't understand the call. At first I thought he was talking about a girl
he was seeing," Greta Johnson said. "And then he finally said, 'You are not
understanding what I am saying.' I was shocked. It was the way he said it, he
said 'I was talking to Mary Ann Johnson on the phone.' My thought was ... maybe
he was talking with a client named Mary Ann Johnson. I was shocked, but I knew
it was true."
It was especially sweet for Faith, the seventh sibling, who was celebrating her
40th birthday the day Kline called Aaron Johnson.
"So what did Aaron say when he called her?" Kline asked Greta Johnson. "I got
you a baby sister for your birthday."
The Johnson clan moved fast in getting to know the sister they didn't know they
had. Kline said she had talked to all but one brother - whom she played phone
tag with - within 48 hours of learning about her biological family. Each
conversation lasted for over an hour.
Kline, who lives with her husband and three sons in a Chicago suburb, first met
the second child, Kurt Johnson, who lives in Indiana in April. In March she met
all of the siblings, except two of the brothers, in Kansas City.
"I think for every one of us it has completed what never was there before,"
Greta Johnson said. "It was just like every single one of us just knew that it
was ... because the questions of 'Is this real?' 'Is this true?' didn't come
into play until several days after. It was just like everybody, as soon as they
knew it, they knew it was true."
On Saturday, the family will have a reunion with five of the siblings and
several aunts - including their mother's twin sister - and cousins.
"It's always odd for me to see Aunt Pat because it's like looking at my
mother," Greta Johnson said. "I just can't even imagine what it's going to be
like for Susie to see somebody who looks just like her mother."
The Johnsons do not know why their parents put the youngest up for adoption.
Their mother died in 1972 and their father died in 2002 (exactly 30 years and
30 minutes apart). Greta Johnson said that as far as the kids know, no one
other than their parents knew about the true fate of the youngest child.
"There's a chance that two other people that knew, just the way that they were
always in our lives, they were the ones that we depended on, they could have
possibly known, but they are both gone," Greta Johnson said. "We have no clue
if they really knew."
Looking at Johnson and Kline, there is no doubt the two are related. The family
resemblance is notable.
"When I met Kurt, his wife kept saying, 'You look just like Greta,'" Kline
said.
"Today you look more like Jamie (the sixth sibling)," Johnson replied. "I think
it's the hair."
Baby photos shared at the first group meeting of the family in Kansas City,
which took place the week of what would have been their parents' 50th wedding
anniversary, showed that Kline and Tom Johnson (the fifth sibling) were nearly
identical when they were younger.
But the Johnson kids share more than just looks and behaviors. Faith, Jamie and
Susie all enjoy crafting and quilting. Susie shares a love for golf with her
biological brothers and likes writing like older brother Kurt.
The Johnson kids even have the same heart. Susie and her husband have adopted
three bi-racial boys, and her sister Jamie has adopted a bi-racial daughter.
"It's kind of scary ... I would have always thought nature versus nurture, it
was nurture, how you grew up," Kline said. "But it's nature."
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
Long-lost sister, family reunited after 20 years
By JESSICA TIMS
Morning Sun Staff Writer
When Greta Johnson was only 7 years old, she was expecting a new little brother
or sister. But when her parents came home from the hospital empty-handed, she
and her six siblings, all of whom were under the age of 10, were told the baby
girl they called Mary Ann had died.
"It was just one of those things you just didn't talk about," Johnson said.
"They said that the nuns were taking care of it. There was no funeral, there
was no visitation, no burial plot.
"For 38 years it has always been a family of eight ... we have always said
there were eight kids, never just seven kids."
Growing up in Hays, Susie Kline knew she had been adopted when she was 1 month
old. At age 18, she asked the state for a copy of her birth certificate; it was
time to find her birth parents. She started a search for her mother's maiden
name, Mary Ann Frakes; her father's name, William Lee Johnson, was too common.
It took 20 years of searching on and off before she finally came across
something.
"For some reason this year, the end of February (or) the beginning of March, I
began to plug their names in (to the computer) and came up with (William Lee
Johnson's) obituary in The Morning Sun paper," Kline said. "But it said
'Pittsburg' and I was thinking Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, because to me, I grew
up in Hays, Kansas. I couldn't figure it out, but there were so many
coincidences."
Kline searched for the names listed as survivors in the obituary and put in a
call to the only Aaron Johnson she could find in San Diego.
"I just called and left a message on his voice mail and said, 'Did you grow up
on Campbell Street in the mid-60s? If you did I would like to talk to you,'"
Kline said. "And a couple of days later he did call back. He was like, 'Yeah,
we did grow up on Campbell Street.' He started naming all these cross streets
and I was like, 'Well, I wasn't there.' And he said, 'I don't remember a Susie
Kline, but I do remember some Klines.' And I just said, 'Well, I wasn't there.'
And I said 'Well, I am your sister. I'm the eighth kid.'"
After talking and discussing the information found on Kline's birth
certificate, which said there were seven other children born to Mary Ann
Johnson, Aaron Johnson and Kline agree they are brother and sister.
The Johnsons don't know how Kline managed to find the correct Aaron Johnson on
her first try, because he is constantly receiving calls for one of the several
other Aaron Johnsons in San Diego.
After hearing from the sister whom he thought had died at birth 38 years ago,
Aaron Johnson called his other siblings, including Greta Johnson of Pittsburg.
"I didn't understand the call. At first I thought he was talking about a girl
he was seeing," Greta Johnson said. "And then he finally said, 'You are not
understanding what I am saying.' I was shocked. It was the way he said it, he
said 'I was talking to Mary Ann Johnson on the phone.' My thought was ... maybe
he was talking with a client named Mary Ann Johnson. I was shocked, but I knew
it was true."
It was especially sweet for Faith, the seventh sibling, who was celebrating her
40th birthday the day Kline called Aaron Johnson.
"So what did Aaron say when he called her?" Kline asked Greta Johnson. "I got
you a baby sister for your birthday."
The Johnson clan moved fast in getting to know the sister they didn't know they
had. Kline said she had talked to all but one brother - whom she played phone
tag with - within 48 hours of learning about her biological family. Each
conversation lasted for over an hour.
Kline, who lives with her husband and three sons in a Chicago suburb, first met
the second child, Kurt Johnson, who lives in Indiana in April. In March she met
all of the siblings, except two of the brothers, in Kansas City.
"I think for every one of us it has completed what never was there before,"
Greta Johnson said. "It was just like every single one of us just knew that it
was ... because the questions of 'Is this real?' 'Is this true?' didn't come
into play until several days after. It was just like everybody, as soon as they
knew it, they knew it was true."
On Saturday, the family will have a reunion with five of the siblings and
several aunts - including their mother's twin sister - and cousins.
"It's always odd for me to see Aunt Pat because it's like looking at my
mother," Greta Johnson said. "I just can't even imagine what it's going to be
like for Susie to see somebody who looks just like her mother."
The Johnsons do not know why their parents put the youngest up for adoption.
Their mother died in 1972 and their father died in 2002 (exactly 30 years and
30 minutes apart). Greta Johnson said that as far as the kids know, no one
other than their parents knew about the true fate of the youngest child.
"There's a chance that two other people that knew, just the way that they were
always in our lives, they were the ones that we depended on, they could have
possibly known, but they are both gone," Greta Johnson said. "We have no clue
if they really knew."
Looking at Johnson and Kline, there is no doubt the two are related. The family
resemblance is notable.
"When I met Kurt, his wife kept saying, 'You look just like Greta,'" Kline
said.
"Today you look more like Jamie (the sixth sibling)," Johnson replied. "I think
it's the hair."
Baby photos shared at the first group meeting of the family in Kansas City,
which took place the week of what would have been their parents' 50th wedding
anniversary, showed that Kline and Tom Johnson (the fifth sibling) were nearly
identical when they were younger.
But the Johnson kids share more than just looks and behaviors. Faith, Jamie and
Susie all enjoy crafting and quilting. Susie shares a love for golf with her
biological brothers and likes writing like older brother Kurt.
The Johnson kids even have the same heart. Susie and her husband have adopted
three bi-racial boys, and her sister Jamie has adopted a bi-racial daughter.
"It's kind of scary ... I would have always thought nature versus nurture, it
was nurture, how you grew up," Kline said. "But it's nature."
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
