LilMtnCbn
01-21-2004, 08:23 AM
http://www.marionstar.com/news/stories/20040120/localnews/262840.html
Woman uses classified ad to locate long-lost siblings
AP
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STEUBENVILLE (AP) -- A woman met her five siblings for the first time after
placing a newspaper classified ad with her mother's maiden name, and she still
hopes to find her twin brother.
"It was just like I was standing back and watching a movie of someone else's
life," Vickie Koepp, 50, said of her tearful reunion.
Koepp, adopted as an infant, grew up without any contact with her blood
relatives. She was raised along the West Virginia line in the eastern Ohio town
of Brilliant, and she now lives near Cleveland.
She began a serious effort to find her relatives about a year and a half ago
because she thought it might shed light on her medical problems.
"I have been fighting complications from diabetes for about 31 years, and I
decided to search my background to find any information about my medical
history," said Koepp, who suffered a heart attack at age 43.
Locating state records about her biological mother slowed her search.
"It took a good year and lots of bureaucratic red tape to get my mother's
maiden name and a copy of my original birth certificate," she said.
She finally received the document in August. The certificate, which didn't list
her father's name, offered a huge surprise: Koepp had a twin brother and
several other siblings.
On Dec. 9, Koepp used her mother's name to run an ad in the Steubenville
Herald-Star. The notice read, in part: "Seeking Betty Mae Morrow of 509 N.
Fifth St., Ohio, or any family."
That evening, a distant relative of Koepp's saw the ad and called her adoptive
parents. A few hours later, a phone conversation was arranged between Koepp and
her biological sister, Patty Gaddis.
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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
Woman uses classified ad to locate long-lost siblings
AP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
STEUBENVILLE (AP) -- A woman met her five siblings for the first time after
placing a newspaper classified ad with her mother's maiden name, and she still
hopes to find her twin brother.
"It was just like I was standing back and watching a movie of someone else's
life," Vickie Koepp, 50, said of her tearful reunion.
Koepp, adopted as an infant, grew up without any contact with her blood
relatives. She was raised along the West Virginia line in the eastern Ohio town
of Brilliant, and she now lives near Cleveland.
She began a serious effort to find her relatives about a year and a half ago
because she thought it might shed light on her medical problems.
"I have been fighting complications from diabetes for about 31 years, and I
decided to search my background to find any information about my medical
history," said Koepp, who suffered a heart attack at age 43.
Locating state records about her biological mother slowed her search.
"It took a good year and lots of bureaucratic red tape to get my mother's
maiden name and a copy of my original birth certificate," she said.
She finally received the document in August. The certificate, which didn't list
her father's name, offered a huge surprise: Koepp had a twin brother and
several other siblings.
On Dec. 9, Koepp used her mother's name to run an ad in the Steubenville
Herald-Star. The notice read, in part: "Seeking Betty Mae Morrow of 509 N.
Fifth St., Ohio, or any family."
That evening, a distant relative of Koepp's saw the ad and called her adoptive
parents. A few hours later, a phone conversation was arranged between Koepp and
her biological sister, Patty Gaddis.
-------------------------
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
