Long-lost Daughter of Bob Roman is Found

In July, John and Anne Roman connected with John's half-sister, Sandy Hatcher, who resides in Florida.  Here is the lightly edited story, written for the Roman family blog, courtesy of Anne:

John, Don and Mark Roman have known since they were young teenagers that their father, Bob, had a brief marriage to Dolores in his early twenties.  They had met when Bob was playing alto sax and clarinet with the Don Ragon Band in the mid-west during the late 1940s.  Dolores was from Indiana.


Among all the old photos taken by Grandpa Tony there were pictures of Bob and Dolores as newlyweds ...


and also some photos of a baby girl named Sandy.  John also remembers the name Dolores was crossed out on Alice and Tony's Bible family tree.


In the spirit of the fifties and early sixties, these things were just never discussed and certainly Dorothy never talked about a half-sister with her sons after their father died.  It's hard to understand for our generation that is so used to blended families.

In recent hears John, Don and Mark have talked about trying to find Sandy, but without knowing Dolores' maiden name or her new married name they didn't have a clue about where to start.  they asked Uncle Bill and Uncle Don who remembered a cute little girl, but not much else.

Fast forward to the weekend of June 25, 2016.  John and Anne were in Utica visiting with the family when Lori Birt came up with the idea to post the search on Facebook.  John created a short message asking people to "help me find my sister."

We released the postings after midnight and by the time we woke up on Sunday morning, John had an email message from a "search angel" who, in just 48 hours,  was able to locate a Sandy Hatcher in Gainesville, Fla. who was the daughter of Dolores!

Sandy saw [a Facebook message from Mark] when she was at work and it was the first time she had ever seen a picture of her birth father!  the message and the photos brought tears to her eyes.

Sandy was born in December 1951 and her parents separated when she was only 9 months old.  Dolores remarried and Sandy's stepfather adopted her.  she never knew that she was adopted until she was 17 years old.  When Bob died, Dorothy sent her a letter informing her of the news.

John and Anne had plans to be in Florida at the end of July, so arrangements were made for the three to meet.  Sandy is divorced and is a nurse in Gainesville.  She has recently moved to a small town on a branch of the St. John's River to live next door to her sister and brother-in-law, as she plans retirement later this year  Sandy's married daughter has s young son.