LilMtnCbn
02-03-2005, 04:53 AM
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/yrtwn/south/031syt1.htm
Here all along
Frankfort man's two-decade quest to find birth family was fraught with
near-misses
Thursday, February 3, 2005
By Kate McCann
Staff writer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
The year that Frankfort resident Bob Pignatiello began flirting with finding
his biological family, half his right arm was severed during an accident at a
meat-packing plant.
It was 1982, and Pignatiello, then 21, had bought a set of drums a month
earlier and was teaching himself to play. Through a chance encounter with the
drummer from the Miles Davis Group and a drumstick screwed to his prosthetic
arm, he eventually was able to join rock n' roll bands and became a children's
drum teacher.
That same determination surfaced in his decades-long search for his birth
family.
On Jan. 11, it ended with an emotional phone call from his brother and the
discovery that he had seven siblings, all but one living in the Southland.
They were never far away. Pignatiello and his wife, Sue, once lived blocks away
from his sister Kelly in Oak Forest. Several siblings compared notes at their
reunion and realized they had all been at the same Bon Jovi concert in the
early 1990s.
What's more, Pignatiello and his oldest sister, Kim Smith, actually worked
together at the Olive Garden restaurant in Burbank about 15 years ago. He has
vague memories of Smith, but she doesn't remember him at all.
"He was a hostess trainer, and I was a server," Smith said. "And my mom used to
go to that Olive Garden all the time. It's just so weird."
Pignatiello's search ended with a letter and a telephone call. Several weeks
ago, Sue Pignatiello found a woman named Patricia Braico, whose name she had
never seen during previous searches. Braico was the maiden name of
Pignatiello's mother, who died in 1994.
Sue Pignatiello wrote a letter seeking information and explaining her husband's
situation.
Braico, who's married to Pignatiello's brother Michael was not aware that her
husband had a brother who was adopted and nearly threw the letter in the
garbage, Smith said. The siblings reviewed the letter the next day and agreed
it was legitimate.
On Jan. 11, Sue Pignatiello answered the phone and was greeted by, "My name is
William Braico. I'm probably Bob's brother."
Careful not to raise false hope, she asked him to confirm the little
information she had — Pignatiello's birth date and his mother's occupation.
In tears, she walked into another room, where her husband was loudly playing
the stereo.
"She said 'Knock it off, your brother wants to talk to you,' " Pignatiello
said. "Then I started crying."
After a sleepless night, he drove through a heavy fog the next morning to the
florist shop Michael and William Braico own on Chicago's Southwest Side. As
word spread among the siblings that Pignatiello was meeting his brothers, three
sisters arrived.
The impromptu reunion followed years of Pignatiello chasing dead-ends,
searching obituaries and getting stonewalled by an adoption agency. With only
the words "Baby Boy Braico" and a few precious tidbits of information his
adoptive father revealed before his death, Pignatiello and his wife steeled
themselves for the possibility that the Braico family would remain a mystery.
"I just never thought it was going to happen," his wife said. "It became just
something to do on the computer."
The couple spent countless hours searching newspaper obituaries for the Braico
name. They mailed letters to Braico families found in telephone books and on
obscure Internet sites.
Their 10-year-son T.J. has had health problems since birth, so knowing the
family's medical history was further motivation. When their second son Collin
was born two years ago, the Pignatiellos became more determined to find Bob's
biological family.
They may never have made the connection had not Michael and William recently
changed their names from Smith back to Braico.
Pignatiello's mother was unmarried, and in her early 20s she was sent away
during her pregnancy and forced by her father to give up her son. Within three
years, she married a man named Smith and had a daughter, Kim.
Six more children followed. Kim Smith said her father left the family when her
youngest sibling was an infant.
Smith, 41, said her mother never hid the birth of her first child and spoke of
him frequently.
"She was always trying to envision him and see what he looked like. I had a
friend, and she used to say, 'he looks like he could be my son,' " Smith said.
"And I would say, 'Mom, he's not adopted.' "
Pignatiello's siblings said their mother, Babetta, once went to the adoption
agency seeking information but left empty-handed.
"The sad thing is, my mom wasn't here. Her wish was to find him," Smith said.
"But it was just meant to be for us to meet him."
The family later had a formal reunion at one sibling's home. Through shared
information, Pignatiello learned that his birth father was Mexican and that he
shared a birthday with one of his nephews. He found out that he has his
mother's smile.
As the family gathered around the table, Pignatiello, who was raised with an
adoptive sister, listened in amazement at the explosion of activity and
conversation around him.
"I couldn't get a word in edgewise," he said. "And they told me, 'Get used to
it, and welcome to the family.' "
-------------------------
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
Here all along
Frankfort man's two-decade quest to find birth family was fraught with
near-misses
Thursday, February 3, 2005
By Kate McCann
Staff writer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
The year that Frankfort resident Bob Pignatiello began flirting with finding
his biological family, half his right arm was severed during an accident at a
meat-packing plant.
It was 1982, and Pignatiello, then 21, had bought a set of drums a month
earlier and was teaching himself to play. Through a chance encounter with the
drummer from the Miles Davis Group and a drumstick screwed to his prosthetic
arm, he eventually was able to join rock n' roll bands and became a children's
drum teacher.
That same determination surfaced in his decades-long search for his birth
family.
On Jan. 11, it ended with an emotional phone call from his brother and the
discovery that he had seven siblings, all but one living in the Southland.
They were never far away. Pignatiello and his wife, Sue, once lived blocks away
from his sister Kelly in Oak Forest. Several siblings compared notes at their
reunion and realized they had all been at the same Bon Jovi concert in the
early 1990s.
What's more, Pignatiello and his oldest sister, Kim Smith, actually worked
together at the Olive Garden restaurant in Burbank about 15 years ago. He has
vague memories of Smith, but she doesn't remember him at all.
"He was a hostess trainer, and I was a server," Smith said. "And my mom used to
go to that Olive Garden all the time. It's just so weird."
Pignatiello's search ended with a letter and a telephone call. Several weeks
ago, Sue Pignatiello found a woman named Patricia Braico, whose name she had
never seen during previous searches. Braico was the maiden name of
Pignatiello's mother, who died in 1994.
Sue Pignatiello wrote a letter seeking information and explaining her husband's
situation.
Braico, who's married to Pignatiello's brother Michael was not aware that her
husband had a brother who was adopted and nearly threw the letter in the
garbage, Smith said. The siblings reviewed the letter the next day and agreed
it was legitimate.
On Jan. 11, Sue Pignatiello answered the phone and was greeted by, "My name is
William Braico. I'm probably Bob's brother."
Careful not to raise false hope, she asked him to confirm the little
information she had — Pignatiello's birth date and his mother's occupation.
In tears, she walked into another room, where her husband was loudly playing
the stereo.
"She said 'Knock it off, your brother wants to talk to you,' " Pignatiello
said. "Then I started crying."
After a sleepless night, he drove through a heavy fog the next morning to the
florist shop Michael and William Braico own on Chicago's Southwest Side. As
word spread among the siblings that Pignatiello was meeting his brothers, three
sisters arrived.
The impromptu reunion followed years of Pignatiello chasing dead-ends,
searching obituaries and getting stonewalled by an adoption agency. With only
the words "Baby Boy Braico" and a few precious tidbits of information his
adoptive father revealed before his death, Pignatiello and his wife steeled
themselves for the possibility that the Braico family would remain a mystery.
"I just never thought it was going to happen," his wife said. "It became just
something to do on the computer."
The couple spent countless hours searching newspaper obituaries for the Braico
name. They mailed letters to Braico families found in telephone books and on
obscure Internet sites.
Their 10-year-son T.J. has had health problems since birth, so knowing the
family's medical history was further motivation. When their second son Collin
was born two years ago, the Pignatiellos became more determined to find Bob's
biological family.
They may never have made the connection had not Michael and William recently
changed their names from Smith back to Braico.
Pignatiello's mother was unmarried, and in her early 20s she was sent away
during her pregnancy and forced by her father to give up her son. Within three
years, she married a man named Smith and had a daughter, Kim.
Six more children followed. Kim Smith said her father left the family when her
youngest sibling was an infant.
Smith, 41, said her mother never hid the birth of her first child and spoke of
him frequently.
"She was always trying to envision him and see what he looked like. I had a
friend, and she used to say, 'he looks like he could be my son,' " Smith said.
"And I would say, 'Mom, he's not adopted.' "
Pignatiello's siblings said their mother, Babetta, once went to the adoption
agency seeking information but left empty-handed.
"The sad thing is, my mom wasn't here. Her wish was to find him," Smith said.
"But it was just meant to be for us to meet him."
The family later had a formal reunion at one sibling's home. Through shared
information, Pignatiello learned that his birth father was Mexican and that he
shared a birthday with one of his nephews. He found out that he has his
mother's smile.
As the family gathered around the table, Pignatiello, who was raised with an
adoptive sister, listened in amazement at the explosion of activity and
conversation around him.
"I couldn't get a word in edgewise," he said. "And they told me, 'Get used to
it, and welcome to the family.' "
-------------------------
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
