LilMtnCbn
02-18-2004, 10:31 AM
http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/index.asp?Sec=news&str=5672
ML man reunites with sister after 25 years apart
Note in newspaper leads to a family back together
By Erik Olson
Herald staff writer
Daniel Warboys' only wanted to make it easier for people to find him at
his new job.But he never expected who would find him, or that one phone call
would reunite him with his sister after 25 years.
Warboys, 57, started driving paper routes for the Columbia Basin Herald
last September, delivering the paper to customers in Warden. Warboys has lived
in town since 1989 but had to find a new job since being laid off by UCI
Distribution.
Like any good new service employee, Warboys left a note in all his papers
introducing himself and included his cell phone number.
Six weeks later, he received a call from Artie Pomeroy, who told him she
was his cousin. Even better, Pomeroy told Warboys, she was still in touch with
a half of the family Warboys had hardly even met.
Here's the kicker: She knew where Warboys' sister was and how get ahold of
her, even though he had not seen her for 25 years.
"Is this woman for real?" Warboys wondered. "It's kind of unexpected."
Soon after, Warboys received a call from Lavern Shaw, a cousin from
Nebraska that Pomeroy knew, who gave him the address and telephone number of
his sister in Melrose, Minn.
"As soon as I got off the phone, I called," Warboys said.
His sister, Ileta Meyer, was as happy to hear from him as he was to
contact her, Warboys recalled. The two were so anxious to get back together
that Warboys decided to pool what money he could and buy a plane ticket to
visit her as soon as possible.
Meyer had married a military man and moved back East in 1978, when Warboys
last saw her at their parents' home in Chelan, he said. He was abusive, so
Meyer ran from him, and Warboys said he soon lost track of where she was.
Warboys was born in Spokane, and both he and Meyer were adopted. After
their adoptive mother died, Meyer moved away to live with her aunt and uncle
while she was still in elementary school.
Both Warboys and Meyer, who was interviewed from her home in Melrose, said they
had not had a close relationship when they were growing up. In fact, Warboys
said he heard his sister was concerned before they met that he would not want
to see her.
"My cousin told me she was afraid I would reject her," Warboys said.
Warboys flew out to Minnesota on Dec. 18. He wore a black hat so Meyer
would know who he was, but she said she recognized his face right away.
"It was really strange. We'd both aged quite a bit," Meyer said. "I knew
him right away."
The two embraced right away at the airport terminal.
"I said, 'Don't worry, you're not going to get rid of me this time,"
Warboys told her. "We're not going to be separated anymore."
The family held an early Christmas for an unusually warm Minnesota winter,
and they barbecued hot dogs. Warboys rode on the dog sled that belongs to
Meyer's second husband.
In fact, Warboys enjoyed himself so much that he's planning to move there
in April. There are other family members who live in the Midwest, including an
uncle who is 92 years old, that Warboys wants to see again as well.
Now that Warboys is reunited with his sister, he wants to tie some other
loose ends from his past. Warboys and his wife divorced in 1974, and they
agreed on a clean split -- no further contact, nothing.
So Warboys left Montana, where the family was living, and has never seen
his wife or his two children, Hans and Holly Warboys, again. The kids were
toddlers when Warboys left and would have no memory of him, but he hopes to see
them again.
"That's my next step -- to find them and get back with them," he said of
his kids.
-------------------------
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
ML man reunites with sister after 25 years apart
Note in newspaper leads to a family back together
By Erik Olson
Herald staff writer
Daniel Warboys' only wanted to make it easier for people to find him at
his new job.But he never expected who would find him, or that one phone call
would reunite him with his sister after 25 years.
Warboys, 57, started driving paper routes for the Columbia Basin Herald
last September, delivering the paper to customers in Warden. Warboys has lived
in town since 1989 but had to find a new job since being laid off by UCI
Distribution.
Like any good new service employee, Warboys left a note in all his papers
introducing himself and included his cell phone number.
Six weeks later, he received a call from Artie Pomeroy, who told him she
was his cousin. Even better, Pomeroy told Warboys, she was still in touch with
a half of the family Warboys had hardly even met.
Here's the kicker: She knew where Warboys' sister was and how get ahold of
her, even though he had not seen her for 25 years.
"Is this woman for real?" Warboys wondered. "It's kind of unexpected."
Soon after, Warboys received a call from Lavern Shaw, a cousin from
Nebraska that Pomeroy knew, who gave him the address and telephone number of
his sister in Melrose, Minn.
"As soon as I got off the phone, I called," Warboys said.
His sister, Ileta Meyer, was as happy to hear from him as he was to
contact her, Warboys recalled. The two were so anxious to get back together
that Warboys decided to pool what money he could and buy a plane ticket to
visit her as soon as possible.
Meyer had married a military man and moved back East in 1978, when Warboys
last saw her at their parents' home in Chelan, he said. He was abusive, so
Meyer ran from him, and Warboys said he soon lost track of where she was.
Warboys was born in Spokane, and both he and Meyer were adopted. After
their adoptive mother died, Meyer moved away to live with her aunt and uncle
while she was still in elementary school.
Both Warboys and Meyer, who was interviewed from her home in Melrose, said they
had not had a close relationship when they were growing up. In fact, Warboys
said he heard his sister was concerned before they met that he would not want
to see her.
"My cousin told me she was afraid I would reject her," Warboys said.
Warboys flew out to Minnesota on Dec. 18. He wore a black hat so Meyer
would know who he was, but she said she recognized his face right away.
"It was really strange. We'd both aged quite a bit," Meyer said. "I knew
him right away."
The two embraced right away at the airport terminal.
"I said, 'Don't worry, you're not going to get rid of me this time,"
Warboys told her. "We're not going to be separated anymore."
The family held an early Christmas for an unusually warm Minnesota winter,
and they barbecued hot dogs. Warboys rode on the dog sled that belongs to
Meyer's second husband.
In fact, Warboys enjoyed himself so much that he's planning to move there
in April. There are other family members who live in the Midwest, including an
uncle who is 92 years old, that Warboys wants to see again as well.
Now that Warboys is reunited with his sister, he wants to tie some other
loose ends from his past. Warboys and his wife divorced in 1974, and they
agreed on a clean split -- no further contact, nothing.
So Warboys left Montana, where the family was living, and has never seen
his wife or his two children, Hans and Holly Warboys, again. The kids were
toddlers when Warboys left and would have no memory of him, but he hopes to see
them again.
"That's my next step -- to find them and get back with them," he said of
his kids.
-------------------------
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
