As far as heartwarming stories go, this is a pretty good one.
KMBC.com in Missouri, recently did a story on Jeff Quibell, who was adopted at birth by Don and Trudy Quibell. The interesting aspect of this adoption was that Quibell’s parents told him about his adoption journey from day one and were very open about all of the information they knew about his birth family. This was far from the norm when Quibell was adopted, in 1958, as many adoptions were shrouded in secrecy.
The video report said that while Jeff Quibell knew he was adopted he had no interest in searching for his birth family, “because he saw his adoptive parents, Don and Trudy, as mom and dad.” When Jeff was 40 years old, his doctor told him he needed his family’s medical history, which began a four-year search for his birth family. Finally, after four years, Jeff found his birth mother, Ann Padmos.
They formed a relationship quickly, and (this is where the heartwarming holiday aspect of this blog post comes in) spent Christmas together that year, where Ann presented Jeff with 44 ornaments, one for each year since he had been born. Padmos said that she had bought an ornament every year for Christmas in honor of the son she never knew and hung it on her tree.
The report said that Jeff and his birth mother speak regularly on the phone and that his birth mother has become good friends with Jeff’s adoptive parents Don and Trudy.
Don and Trudy Quibell deserve a lot of credit in this story for being so open about Jeff’s adoption journey and being supportive during his search for his birth parents. That they have now welcomed her into their family, surely makes everyone feel more comfortable with their relationships.
To watch the video version of this story, please click here.