LilMtnCbn
02-02-2005, 04:56 AM
http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13870439&BRD=1281&PAG=461&d
ept_id=517515&rfi=6
57 years later, father meets son
Marissa Yaremich, Register Staff02/02/2005
Email to a friend Printer-friendly
WEST HAVEN — His hand anxiously perched on a windowsill, an eager Harry
Gaetano peered out the window of his Marion Street home Tuesday, trying to
catch a glimpse of the son he’s waited nearly six decades to meet.
"Where? Where? Where? Where? Where?" said Gaetano, 85, getting more and more
excited as his family members announced his German-born son’s arrival.
Nearly jumping out of the passenger seat before the car stopped, Wolfgang
Heinen Creter, 57, battled a conga line of hugs from his newfound relatives
before finally scooping his father into a loving embrace.
"I feel, (I’m) flying on the ground," said the heavily accented Creter, who
tracked his father’s whereabouts on the Internet.
Such was the profound moment Gaetano said he’s been awaiting since 1947, when
he, then a World War II soldier stationed in Germany, fell deeply in love with
Margit Heinen but was shipped out before he saw the birth of their son.
At first, Gaetano and Heinen constantly wrote one another, vowing to reunite
one day, even though Gaetano was then married to an American woman, who had
borne two sons before he left for the war.
But as the days, and eventually years, elapsed, Gaetano mended the troubled
marriage with his first wife, then later divorced and married another woman. He
had 11 children in all, in addition to Creter.
Heinen, in the same vein, married another man, who, at her request, raised
Creter to believe he was his true father, according to Creter and Gaetano’s
relatives.
It was only 13 years ago that Creter’s mother finally revealed he was adopted
and that his biological father was an American, said Creter’s friend, Renate
Endres of Remsenburg, N.Y., who helped coordinate Tuesday’s meeting.
"I would ask her, but she didn’t want to talk about it," Creter told Gaetano
as they sat on the couch bonding and filled in the gaps for one another.
Yet it would take nearly another decade, Creter added, until his mother brought
him into her bedroom one day and gave him a leather purse containing his
father’s identity, correspondence and photographs he’d sent to them over
the years.
Around the same time, one of Gaetano’s daughters, Michelle Gaetano, started
searching online to find Creter, whom their father frequently talked about
meeting.
"We always included him in the family," said Michelle Gaetano, 37.
The chips fell into place last month, Endres said, when she and her husband,
George, visited Creter and his wife at their home in Spain and Creter told them
he knew his father’s identity.
Having vowed years earlier to help Creter find his father when he received such
details, the Endreses excitedly searched the Internet during their trip and
found Michelle Gaetano’s posting on an adoption agency Web site.
"He couldn’t believe his father was looking for him," Renate Endres said,
noting that she dialed several wrong phone numbers, including a disconnected
number Michelle Gaetano posted, before they tracked Harry Gaetano down.
Creter would personally call him two weeks later and briefly talk to each of
his siblings to acquaint himself before the big day, telling them he loves
dogs, is a non-smoker and will eat most everything, including the big macaroni
dinner the Italian family prepared Tuesday.
But nothing prepared the family for the vision before them Tuesday.
Planting a kiss on Creter’s lips, Gaetano’s second ex-wife, Valerie
Gaetano, wept with joy.
"I always prayed this day would come, and it did," she said, turning to hold
Gaetano’s face in her hands. "Your dream came true, Harry. Your dream came
true. It’s a miracle!"
-------------------------
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
ept_id=517515&rfi=6
57 years later, father meets son
Marissa Yaremich, Register Staff02/02/2005
Email to a friend Printer-friendly
WEST HAVEN — His hand anxiously perched on a windowsill, an eager Harry
Gaetano peered out the window of his Marion Street home Tuesday, trying to
catch a glimpse of the son he’s waited nearly six decades to meet.
"Where? Where? Where? Where? Where?" said Gaetano, 85, getting more and more
excited as his family members announced his German-born son’s arrival.
Nearly jumping out of the passenger seat before the car stopped, Wolfgang
Heinen Creter, 57, battled a conga line of hugs from his newfound relatives
before finally scooping his father into a loving embrace.
"I feel, (I’m) flying on the ground," said the heavily accented Creter, who
tracked his father’s whereabouts on the Internet.
Such was the profound moment Gaetano said he’s been awaiting since 1947, when
he, then a World War II soldier stationed in Germany, fell deeply in love with
Margit Heinen but was shipped out before he saw the birth of their son.
At first, Gaetano and Heinen constantly wrote one another, vowing to reunite
one day, even though Gaetano was then married to an American woman, who had
borne two sons before he left for the war.
But as the days, and eventually years, elapsed, Gaetano mended the troubled
marriage with his first wife, then later divorced and married another woman. He
had 11 children in all, in addition to Creter.
Heinen, in the same vein, married another man, who, at her request, raised
Creter to believe he was his true father, according to Creter and Gaetano’s
relatives.
It was only 13 years ago that Creter’s mother finally revealed he was adopted
and that his biological father was an American, said Creter’s friend, Renate
Endres of Remsenburg, N.Y., who helped coordinate Tuesday’s meeting.
"I would ask her, but she didn’t want to talk about it," Creter told Gaetano
as they sat on the couch bonding and filled in the gaps for one another.
Yet it would take nearly another decade, Creter added, until his mother brought
him into her bedroom one day and gave him a leather purse containing his
father’s identity, correspondence and photographs he’d sent to them over
the years.
Around the same time, one of Gaetano’s daughters, Michelle Gaetano, started
searching online to find Creter, whom their father frequently talked about
meeting.
"We always included him in the family," said Michelle Gaetano, 37.
The chips fell into place last month, Endres said, when she and her husband,
George, visited Creter and his wife at their home in Spain and Creter told them
he knew his father’s identity.
Having vowed years earlier to help Creter find his father when he received such
details, the Endreses excitedly searched the Internet during their trip and
found Michelle Gaetano’s posting on an adoption agency Web site.
"He couldn’t believe his father was looking for him," Renate Endres said,
noting that she dialed several wrong phone numbers, including a disconnected
number Michelle Gaetano posted, before they tracked Harry Gaetano down.
Creter would personally call him two weeks later and briefly talk to each of
his siblings to acquaint himself before the big day, telling them he loves
dogs, is a non-smoker and will eat most everything, including the big macaroni
dinner the Italian family prepared Tuesday.
But nothing prepared the family for the vision before them Tuesday.
Planting a kiss on Creter’s lips, Gaetano’s second ex-wife, Valerie
Gaetano, wept with joy.
"I always prayed this day would come, and it did," she said, turning to hold
Gaetano’s face in her hands. "Your dream came true, Harry. Your dream came
true. It’s a miracle!"
-------------------------
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
