FAMILY | ADOPTION | PARENTS | LOVE | LOSS

Six Stories of Love and Loss

The Complicated and Confusing Histories of Families

Following a family from birth to adoption, from great love to devastating loss.

In the middle of World War 2, an unwed Mom put her sick baby in an orphanage. The baby’s Dad, a paratrooper in the Army, was in England waiting for the “jump” into Normandy on D-Day. The baby would be adopted and taken to her Grandmother’s. The author was that baby.

PFC John Derrick Halls, the author’s birth-father was killed by Nazi gunfire on D-Day, June 6, 1944, at the Battle of Brecourt Manor. A paratrooper, he had jumped into Normandy from a C-47. Played by the Irish actor, Andrew Scott, he is the first man killed in Steven Spielberg’s Band of Brothers.

After much apprehension, procrastination, weeks after I had her phone number, I called my birth mother and introduced myself. Later I would make the five hour drive from Denver to Durango, Colorado to meet her. We would tell each other our stories sitting at her kitchen table with coffee and canned peaches.

Unlike many father’s of my generation, my Father loved playing board games and croquet with kids. Enjoyed getting a Dairy Queen on summer evenings as much as we did. My best friend thought it would be a good idea for him to have a nickname. He agreed. From then on, he was The Gazelle.

After being home in Colorado at Christmas, I returned to graduate school at Ohio State. In June, while grading my students final exams, my Mother called to tell me my Father had died of a heart attack. I was to fly home immediately. Other graduate students finished my exams, while I spent the summer with my Mother.

While worrying about catching COVID 19 and quarantining in my home office, I think about my parents and grandparents. What would my Mother have thought about all of this? How would she have responded. No doubt she’d be calm. She’d take it in her stride, offering advice to all.