Many people enjoy family reunions this time of year, but few have the impact of the ones Shirley Bratton of Calhoun City has experienced.
A few weeks ago, Bratton was reunited with another sibling she hadn’t seen in more than 60 years.
The Journal first shared the story in January 2013 of how Bratton, now 68, was separated from her siblings when they were put up for adoption as small children. She was soon after adopted at age six by the late Mary Jessie and Harold Boland of Calhoun City.
She searched unsuccessfully for her lost family for decades, finally making progress when her daughters Laura Edwards and Leigh Childs, both of Calhoun City, joined the search a few years ago.
Siblings Gene Boyd, Cynthia Ruth Yates and Shirley Bratton recently reunited in Calhoun City. It was the first time the three had been together since they were put up for adoption as small children more than 60 years ago.
Over the past few years she has reunited with nearly 20 family members, most recently, her sister Cynthia Ruth Yates.
She remembered her as Brenda Arlene Fincher – the youngest of the four children who were taken to the Methodist Children’s Home in Jackson and given up for adoption.
Her brother Gene Boyd, who she found in Carson City, Colorado and has since moved to Calhoun City, located their younger sister in Lake Charles, Louisiana through a website where people search for siblings that were adopted.
Cynthia visited Calhoun City a few weeks ago for a reunion Bratton called a “blessing.”
“We had a wonderful time,” she said. “She fit right in with us. She looks like us. I just don’t know the word to try and describe all of this – miracle.”
Cynthia has two sons and two grandchildren. The Brattons are already planning a visit to Lake Charles in July.
“There was nothing strange or awkward about it,” Bratton said of the latest reunion. “It was just like getting together with family you just don’t see very often.”
Bratton’s oldest sisters, who were not put up for adoption by their mother, died a few years ago. She was able to visit with her sister Faye prior to her death.
Her oldest sister Mary Ann died before they could locate her, but her daughter Deb Stulpin of New Hampshire traveled to Calhoun City for a similar reunion more than a year ago.
“It’s been surreal and wonderful,” Stulpin said at that reunion. “A lot of questions have been answered and mysteries solved.”
Bratton previously found her youngest brother, Larry Raye, who lives in Alabama, leaving only her sister Dorothy – the oldest of the four children put up for adoption – as the one they haven’t located.
“We think we’ve found a possible match around Hattiesburg,” Bratton said. “We’re encouraged and hope to find out very soon if it’s our sister. I can tell you we’re not giving up.”