MY ADOPTIVE FAMILY PHOTOS

THIS PAGE IS DEDICATED TO MY ADOPTIVE FAMILY - THE FAMILY I GREW UP WITH - THE ONLY FAMILY I KNEW UNTIL VERY RECENTLY SINCE MY BIOLOGICAL MOTHER FOUND ME. NOW I HAVE TWO FAMILIES - AND IF I FIND MY BIOLOGICAL FATHER I WILL HAVE THREE! BUT HERE ON THIS PAGE IS THE FAMILY THAT RAISED ME.

ON MOM DIED OF CANCER. (You Can Read Details In "MY MEMOIRS" On This Website.)

UNABLE TO HANDLE BEING ALONE AFTER OVER 30 YEARS OF MARRIAGE, DAD REMARRIED. THE OTHER WOMAN YOU WILL SEE HIM BELOW WITH IS SANDY, HIS SECOND WIFE.

All My Family & Chuildhood Photos Got Water-Damaged Beyond Repair After The Sprinkler System Went Off Where My Belongings Were Stored. I Have Been Trying My Best For Years To Replace As Many Of Them As I Can With Copies Of Other Relatives & Friends' Photos. But They Have Not Understood The Seriousness Of This For Me& Taking A Considerable Amount Of Time To Getting Around To It For Me. Meanwhile, The Best I've Been Able To Do - For The Most Part - Has Been To Take Photos OF Photos. But This Did Not Turn Out As Well As I Had Hoped And So A Lot Of Them Are Blurry And Have Flash Glares. Sorry! Hope You Understand!

MOM & DAD's WEDDING PORTRAIT. They Were Married On April 26th, 1958. I Was Born & Adopted By Them At Birth 10 Years Later In 1968 - October 11th.

Our Passport With Which We Traveled To Europe - Especially To My Dad's Relatives' In Germany In 1971. This Was, Of Course, Mom & Dad. I Was 2 Years Old. You Will See My Photo From This Same Passport Below. Before Mom Died In 1991, I Was Known As "Joey", "Joe", Or "Joseph". It Was Mom Who Had Given Me The Middle Name Of "Gerard", And So When She Died , I Began To Use My Middle Name As My First In Memory Of Her., & Have Been Known As "Gerard" Ever Since - Except To Those I Grew Up With. I Hope This Clears Up Any Confusion When You See My Name Listed On The Passport Below As "Joseph".

This Photo Of Mom Was Taken During Her Last Year Alive - Before The Cancer Kicked In. Mom Had Been An Up-And-Coming Chicago Opera Star When She Was A Teenager. She Was A Beautiful, Well-Trained Soprano. She Was Also An Expert Piano & Organ Player. After Being Offered A Major Contract That She Felt Would Have Had Too Much Control Over Her Personal Life, Mom Gave Up The Opera, Married My Father (Whom She Met When He Played HER Father In A Famous Opera Named, "Bohemian Girl", & Who Also Left The Opera Scene), And Devoted All Her Musical Talents To Saint Rosalie's Church In Harwood Heights, Illinois. She Was The Lead Soprano, Choir Director, & Organist Throughout My Entire Life. In Her Last Year, She Also Worked For Saint Mary's In Mundelein In Addition To Saint Rosalie's.

This Is My Favorite Photo Of My Sister, Jeannie (Who Now Goes By "Jeana") & I. For Years My Parents Had Heard Me Pray For A Sister Whenever I Said My Prayers Before Bed. Finally, on April 28th, 1974, My Prayers Were Answered. Like Me, Jeannie Was Adopted At Birth (From A Different Family, Of Course). I Will Never Forget The Day She Was Brought Home From The Hospital As A Brand Newborn Baby. She Has Meant The World To Me Ever Since & We Grew Up Very Close. I Was Extremely Protective Of Her. I Was 6 Years Old Here And I Can Still See The Sadness In My Eyes From This - The Time Period Where The Child Abuse (Intense Physical Beatings * Mental & Emotional Abuse) I Had Suffered Was At Its Worst. I Had Not YET Learned To Counter It With Fun Behind My Parents' Backs (But Within The Next Couple Of Years I WOULD) & I Had Not YET Learned To Stand Up For Myself & Put An End To The Violent Treatment. But I Later DID & My Parents Changed For THe Better & I Forgave Them Everything. You Can Read More On The Abuse Experience At http://gerard_christian_zac.tripod.com

For A Year Or Two As A Kid, My Sister Had Shorter Hair.

DAD

This Photo Was Taken At My Sister's Wedding Reception. Dad Had A Stroke Afterward, But Recovered.

SANDY

This Is The Woman Dad Married After Mom Died. .Sandy

Since I Don't Have Any Pictures Of My Dog (Well, OUR Dog) Benji At Present, The Closest I Can Get Is This Miniature Schnauzer Statue. (Benji WAS A Miniature Schnauzer - But Cuter & Much Cuddlier-Looking Than Than The Statue). I Was In 6th Grade When We Got Him As A 6-Week-Old Puppy & Raised Him For 14 Years. He Was Just As Much A Member Of The Family As The Rest Of Us! I Still Miss Him Terribly.

BIG GRANDPA & GRANDMA These Were My Dad's Parents - Obviously. We Called Them "BIG" Grandpa & Grandma Because ALL Of My Dad's Side Of The Family Were Big.

(It Was Actually LITTLE Grandma - Mom's Mother - That I Was VERY Close To. We Used To Spend Every Other Weekend At Her Place In Chicago, But I Have No Photos Of HER At The Moment, Unfortunately)

Dad & Mom Used To Drive Us Up To Big Grandpa & Grandma's Farm In Wisconson AAt LEAST Once A Year During The Summer Months. The Trip Took Us 6 Hours & We Would Stay For A Week. Mom's Best Friend's (Auntie Frisbee) Family - The Family We Did Everything With (Uncle Joe, Auntie FRisbee, Terri, & Gary) Would Often Be With Us Up There & We Woyuld Stop In THe Wisconson Dells On The Way There & Back.

Both Big Grandpa & Grandma Are Now Long Gone & Are Buried Up Near Their Farm.

This Is Jeannie's Daughter, My Neice, Lena Marie As A Baby. With The Exception Of Blue Eyes Instead Of Brown, Lena Looks Almost Just Like Jeannie Did As A Baby!

This Is A More Recent Photo Of Lena.

This Next Group Of Photos Is From My VERY Recent Visit To Chicago (April, 2007). (Also, Know That The House Below Is NOT The House I Grew Up In, But Sandy's House That Dad Moved Into After He Sold Oyur Childhood House When Mom Died) I Had To Go After Learning That Dad Had Suffered From Congestive Heart Failure. They Drained Over 6 Pounds Of Fuid From Around His Heart. Luckily, He Is Recovering From That Quickly. He Had Already Lost A Leg To Diabetes 1 With A Possibilty Of Losing The Other Leg In The Future (Notice His Prosthetic Leg In These Photos). He Already Has To Use Oxygen Tanks To Aid His Breathing, Too. And He Has To Use A Wheelchair, Use A Walker, Crutches, & Canes, And Has To Sleep In A Hospital Bed. The Mesdicines He Has To Take Gives Him Wounds. He Is 72, So He Has His Age Working Against Him As Well. After Some Talking And Days Of Watching TV Together Like We UUsed To When We Got Along As I Grew Up, I Wanted A Photo Hugging Him - Just In Case, God Forbid, I Might Never Get To See Him Again. I Kept Forgetting Something Before Leaving For The Car, So Each Photo Here, I Thought It Was The Last Hug. The Third Is The Final One Before I Left To Return To Los Angeles, California. Dad Was Not Up For The Ride To he Train Station Where I Caught The Trains That Took Me To O'Hare Airport. Dad Is Starting To Cry Here & I Tried To Hold Back Tears Myself.

Thanks For Visiting!

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