Donna Sayre Barfield, Class of 1970, is
an attorney in Palm Beach, Florida at the law firm which bears her name, Barfield
McCain Ayoub.
A real estate law firm “Protecting
private property rights since 1987.”
Donna posted that her boys “are in Virginia
and Connecticut at boarding schools.”
John Maddox, who initiated the search to find out what happened to her, told me: “She was almost my foster sister when I was 6 years old. She was part of my family for about a year and a half before we had to giver her up to them (Jack and Dorothy Haddox, who adopted Donna when her name was Susie Haddox). We used to visit them for about 5 or 6 years and I watched her grow up till she left grade school.”
Cheryl Boydoh Fordyce, Class of 1963, widow
of Dick Fordyce, posted: “I think you are talking about my neighbors’ adopted
daughter. I have no idea what happened to her. She just kinda left.” Cheryl and
Dick married in 1963. He passed away in 2020 after 56 years of wedded bliss.
They have four daughters, Myra Jones in
Pennsylvania, Kimberly Zainea in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Jamie Davis in
Cambridge, Ohio and Paula Hill in Columbus, Ohio.
Cheryl has 9 grandchildren and 4
great-grandchildren.
Cheryl added: “Dick and I spent the first 6
years of our marriage in West Virginia and the next 38 years in
Cumberland, Maryland where we raised our daughters. We moved to Grand Rapids in
2006 to be near one of our daughters (Kimberly) four years ago after Dick’s
health declined and we built an addition to our daughter’s home.
“I loved growing up in Monongah. My
parents also graduated from Monongah High and my dad was Mayor of Monongah in
the 60s.”
Tammy Wells, who married Donnie Wells, Jr.,
Class of 1978, remembers when “my husband bought Jack and Dorothy’s house off
her in 2006.”
Donnie’s
father, Donnie, Sr., Class of 1950, set up a blind date for his Fairmont
Westinghouse co-worker, David Straight, with another 1955 graduate, my sister Jacqueline
Olesky, who was in teacher Mildred Berry’s home room at Monongah High with
Donnie. Jackie became Mrs. David Straight and they had four children (one
passed away months after his birth) and four grandchildren. Dave passed away in
1998.
Donnie,
Sr.’s siblings were Lindie Wells, Joe Wells, who married Peggy Clayton, Class of
1951, Mary Alice Wells Emerson and Pauline Wells Huffman, all deceased.
To
complete this great story of a girl passed from family to family till her
adoption to become a very successful attorney in Florida, John Maddox posted
this happy news: “We have connected. THANK YOU ALL. You are good people.”
Two
childhood friends and almost foster siblings found each other after about 60
years thanks to a platoon of Monongah High graduates who put together pieces of
information for them. This is the kind of happy ending that makes my hours of
efforts on this blog so rewarding. And 4,000 hits a year on this web site tells
me that Lions from California to Maine to Florida read this blog because Lions,
like elephants, never forget and like to keep track of their former classmates!
No comments:
Post a Comment