Mother Reunited with Daughter after 77 years

Mother Reunited with Daughter after 77 years

Minka Disbrow lived up to 100 years, long enough to meet the daughter she gave up for adoption after being raped at age 16.

On a summer day in 1928 while picnicking with girls from a sewing class, Disbrow and her friend Elizabeth were jumped by three men as they went for a walk in their long dresses. Both were raped.

At 17, she gave birth to a blond-haired baby with a deep dimple in her chin and named her Betty Jane. Disbrow longed to keep her but her mother told her she couldn't bring an infant back to the farm, so they gave the child to a pastor and his wife that were looking to adopt a child. And Disbrow's life went on.

Five years ago, Disbrow prayed she might get the chance to see her. "Lord, if you would just let me see her," Disbrow remembers praying. "I promise you I will never bother her."

On July 2, the phone rang. It was a man from Alabama. He started asking Disbrow, then 94, about her background. Then, the man asked if she'd like to speak with Betty Jane, now Ruth Lee. On the phone with her biological daughter, Disbrow was in disbelief. Lee knew she was adopted her whole life but it wasn't until she was in her 70s that the search for her biological parents began.

Her son, Brian, decided to try to find out more and petitioned the court in South Dakota for his mother's adoption records. He typed Disbrow's name into a web directory and was shocked when a phone listing popped up.

Since then, the families have met numerous times.

Posted by James Fried on Wednesday January 04 2012, 4:48 AM EDT. Ref: Google. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0