I've always joked that my life story is like a Jerry Springer episode... I think it would actually take a little longer than the normal show time... I'll try to keep it simple with bullet points:
-Doris Buchannon married John Hockenberry when she was 15 and had 4 kids.
-After many years, she met Charles Drexler and started stepping out on John.
-They had a mystery girl that died.
-She became pregnant with Larry and John Hockenberry (not married to her any more) came down and signed the birth certificate like he was the father, even though it was Charles', who was married. Larry was born deaf and he had some bum problems (he was born without one) so, because the laws at the time prohibited handicapped kids from being adopted, he went to live with a foster family, where he stayed the rest of his life. I met him a few years back. Difficult situation.
-Doris and Charles carried on like trashy whores for some time and she became pregnant with Dan, my current brother (half-brother).
-She met George Panyko and since they both were married and had kids from previous marriages, he told her to get rid of it and he'd marry her.
-George and his brother, Andy, worked on the railroad with my adoptive dad, Butch. So Andy went in to work trying to hock this kid to anyone that would take it. Butch and Dorothy said, 'yea, sure, why not... how much trouble can this kid be?' (hindsight is twenty-twenty) and named him Dan (who is currently out of jail, btw).
-Doris dumped her four kids off with John and lived the high-life for a while with George, traveling, etc.
-Doris became pregnant with me. There's some controversy as to whether George is my birth father, because apparently they were not getting along... he may or may not have had a vasectomy and didn't think that I was his so she must have been cheating... blah blah blah.
-Doris went back to Butch and Dorothy singing 'oops, I did it again...' and my parents took me as well when I was brand new (pre-gay).
-George killed himself shortly thereafter (shot himself in the head in the bedroom and the kids found him) because of the grief over having another kid, was it his, things weren't going right.... blah blah blah.
-Doris was on her way to a funeral in Ohio in 1971 and tried to outrun a bus at an intersection. Bus-1 Doris-0. She died.
-The three boys went to live with John Hockenberry, their Dad... and Judy went to California to live with her Aunt.
Although it would probably take a DNA test to confirm it, after seeing the picture the other day, I feel certain that George is my birth father because of the resemblance. I'm not sure how I will pursue this... my four half-siblings want me to remain in their lives and come to Grove City to meet the other two (I figure I can stop at the outlets if it goes poorly and the day won't be a total bust). George's side has been less than friendly, but I technically have some half-siblings on that side as well. We'll see how I proceed. That pretty much wraps up the main points... finding out all this information has been the saga part... more to come.
sounds as though you use movies as a stress relief! I just about kept up with your history and family tree.....sounds like the bare bones of a good book!
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Movies have always been a release for me. They've been the only thing to capture my full attention for 88 minutes. If my story goes to print then on to the screen, I hope Sissy Spacek plays me. :)
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