Cele Westlake Celebrates With Family for First Time, Ever

PERSON OF INTEREST | An ongoing series

— from Kathy Aney, East Oregonian —

Anita “Cele” Westlake is happily climbing her family tree for the first time.

Westlake fantasized about her biological family for most of her 66 years. Adopted by a Washington couple, Westlake grew up in a happy home, but always wondered about her roots.

She’s wondering no more.

The Orcas Island woman recently traveled to Pilot Rock to meet two biological siblings and dozens of cousins, aunts, uncles and other family members who she hadn’t known existed until a few months ago.

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Late last year, Westlake read an article about a woman who found her birth parents.

“The article gave instructions about how to obtain an original birth certificate,” she said.

In February, she applied and received a birth certificate that gave her parents’ names as Verna Etta Russell Fry and Robert Clair Fry. The space for the baby’s name was blank.

Armed with her parents’ names, Westlake searched Ancestry.com for connections and found postings from Donna DeGraw, of Pendleton, who listed Verna and Robert on her family tree. Westlake and DeGraw exchanged a flurry of messages and finally DeGraw wrote, “We are cousins.” The news sent Westlake spinning.

“It was ‘Oh, my God, oh my God, oh my God,’” she said.

Westlake learned that her parents, Verna and Robert, birthed at least eight children, but gave them all up, several of them all at once to an Ohio orphanage. Two were taken away by the court in 1956 because the couple had no known residence. DeGraw said the family has kept rough track of five of the kids, but didn’t know the fate of the others. She told Westlake that Robert died in 1975 and Verna’s whereabouts are unknown.

As an aside, Westlake decided to go through DNA testing offered by Ancestry.com to uncover her ethnic mix, and that’s when she got another surprise. Unbeknownst to her, another of Verna and Robert’s offspring was on his own quest to find his roots and had already undergone DNA testing. Ed Johns, of Mountain Home, Idaho, got his results a week before Westlake in early May. When the two appeared as matches, Westlake messaged Johns. Soon, they connected by phone.

“Are your feet touching the ground?” Johns asked Westlake.

“I’d been looking for years,” Johns said, “and all of a sudden the door opens. My DNA matched perfectly with hers.”

SOURCE, and to read more: https://www.eastoregonian.com/eo/local-news/20160617/siblings-meet-for-first-time-in-their-sixties

ORIGINAL STORY in Orcas Issues: https://theorcasonian.com/cele-westlake/