(no subject)
My mother was adopted. She remembers being at an orphanage in Bay City as a young child and then remembers being taken in by Erwin and Lena Waldbauer, who eventually adopted her when she was around 4 years old. They adopted her, Erwin always said, because Lena had a baby (named George) who died in the hospital at 3 days old. Lena went sorta nuts (she went temporarily blind and thus had to be temporarily institutionalized...) because of it. Then she wasn't getting pregnant again. Erwin went and fetched a kid for her and WAH-LA she was better!!! According to Erwin, little Betty was abandoned by her mother and was then taken care of by her grandmother. The grandmother supposedly died and little Betty was found in the house with the dead grandmother who had been dead for several days. Thus, my mother was taken in by the Waldbauers after a short stay in the orphanage. They were her foster parents, then later adopted her and changed her name to Bette (after Bette Davis, of course). And hearing this story, my mother never wanted to remember anything about her early childhood other than what she already did.
Of those things she *did* remember, she remembered walking with Lena downtown Bay City, as a young girl, and a lady coming up to them saying, "That's Betty! That's my niece!!!!!" And Lena saying "This is no niece of YOURS!" and taking my mom's hand and running away as fast as they could.
Erwin never wanted my mom to even think about her biological family. That is, until right before he died in 1985. He told my mom he would help her look for her biological mother if she really wanted to know. He claimed to not know anything about it other than what he had already told her. Before they did anything though ~ he had a heart attack and died. Cleaning out the house months later, she came across a couple pieces of paper. One was a piece of paper dated '41 or '42 (she was born in '39) that said "Betty Hennard".
My mom then hired a private detective to find her mother. Then another. They always claimed to find nothing, but "could keep looking for more money." One found a Hennard in Detroit that was a "stripper". But that's it. My oldest brother (Erwin) and my mom did research in the library looking through old Bay City Times to find any mention of a little girl found in a house with a dead grandmother ~ nothing. They petitioned the courts for birth records, but found out that a great deal of records were burned in a fire in the 60s. My mother's were not found. She didn't buy it. She kept petitioning and finally got whatever records they had with her name on it. One was a piece of paper (I don't know what it was) with her mother's name on it ~ Dorothy Hennard. And the father's name was blank.
In 1991 my mom decided to give it one last shot with this added information. She tried hiring a (I think very questionable) investigator again. I was in highschool at this point. I told her she should just call all the Hennards in the phone book (cause I'm a big talker... but it seemed easier). When this last investigator called to tell her they found nothing, my mom freaked out. She opened up the phone book. There were like 2 Hennards. She called the top one "Hennard, Earl", and asked to speak to Dorothy Hennard. There was a long pause on the other end of line and then the lady said, "Who is this?" My mom, who was already upset, said, "I would just like to speak to Dorothy. Please put her on." The lady on the other end got really mad at this point and yelled, "WHO IS THIS??!?!!!!" And then my mom broke down and choked, "This is her daughter." Dead silence. The other lady finally almost whispered, "What is your name?" My mom answered, "Betty", to which the other lady gasped and then said quite matter of factly, "My god, Betty! We've been looking for you for 40 years!"
Turns out the lady on the other line was my mother's cousin, who is 7 years older, and remembers playing with my mother when she was young. At the time my mom called she had been at their uncle Earl's house visiting. Earl and his sister Dorothy and her daughter Betty had been living with their mother (who creepily was named Mary Louise.... and my mother has no *conscious* memory of her....), because they were all quite poor. Their sister, Irma, had moved away to Detroit, where she was making money as one of the top Burlesque dancers in the city.
Earl's story is as follows: Dorothy went out one night (I think sometime in late '42 or early '43) and her mother was babysitting. Sometime in the night, Betty was kidnapped out of her bed, and they've been looking for her ever since. Though Irma saw her on the street once while in downtown Bay City.....
It's all questionable. She was kidnapped out of her bed and taken to the orphanage? Huh? Why didn't they call the police? And if they did call the police wouldn't they have found her in the orphanage? At one point someone in the family (those old enough to remember anything) mentioned something about my mom visiting after she had been taken away (visitiation???) The grandmother was still alive at the time she was taken/taken away. She didn't die until a few years later. So why the story of her being found with her dead? It shouldn't have been hard for either family to find each other since the Hennards lived ACROSS THE STREET from the Chevrolet office building, where my adopted grandfather Erwin worked...... Why were Erwin and Lena allowed to be foster parents to this child, and even baptize her, two years before they adopted her? Questions, questions... It all fits together, but I just can't figure out HOW! There is some missing piece that I just can't figure out.
Dorothy got married in '43 (first time, cause my mom was illegitimate for sure). She eventually moved up to Cheboygen, MI with her new husband and his son. She developed a horrible drinking problem, which lead to her getting Diabetes. This made her gain about 200 pounds more than she should have. She didn't stop drinking in the least and it killed her in her late 40s. She's buried up in Cheboygen in an unmarked grave.
In 1994 my mom finally got into contact with her step-brother whom she had never known. He was a trucker, who now lived in Texas. He gave her the few things he had of hers. A few pictures and a watch. She visited with him, thanked him and then really never talked to him again (because he smoked cigarettes, OF COURSE!... my mom is retarded ~ you forget.) Anywho... either my mom really did lose these pictures for a long time, or (my bet) she didn't want anyone else to look at them, cause she's LIKE THAT. She claimed to have lost them, but for some reason she recently "found them". I got an email from my brother yesterday that he had gone up to Bay City and scanned them. Pretty awesome. I'm just glad to have actual pictures of my biological grandmother and great-grandmother (with the same name!) and maybe even my grandfather??? There was a picture of a guy that looks A LOT like my brother George. My brother who looks like NO ONE in my whole family. So... ?
My mom's 2nd birthday:
Dorothy and Betty;
Irma (the Burlesque dancer) and Betty:
Dorothy
Mary Louise:
My grandfather????
I dunno... everyone in my family thinks they look alike. Maybe?
The weirdest thing (other than the Mary Louise thing...) is on the back of Dorothy's wedding certificate, which is from early 1943, she wrote in pencil:
"No love no nothin
no love no nothin. until my Baby comes home."
Written next to it in green ink:
"Ray E Dyer"
and then an address in Belleville, MI and old timey phone number.
So now we are wondering if Ray Dyer IS the guy in the picture????
So, so many questions that will probably never be answered. Why all the lies? When I was in highschool I thought that maybe my adopted grandfather was my biological grandfather as well. But... I dunno. Then we saw this picture and he looks so much like my brother that I think that this guy probably IS my grandfather. But ~ I still think my grandfather KNEW my biological family. Maybe he had a thing with Dorothy, or Irma? Why was my mother taken away? I assume she was taken away by the city and not kidnapped. But why?
So anyway. that's the story. I always thought it'd make a good episode of "Unsolved Mysteries". I'm just really excited to have these pictures.
And if you are still reading and made it through all that you get a gold star for the day! Ha.
Fin.