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I believe our birth mother was named Sue Ellen Hetzell and was from (or near) Elkins, West Virginia. She was 21 at the time of my birth. Her birth date was December, 1945.
My biological half-brother was born (a few weeks early) in June, 1966 out of the Florence Crittenton Home in Wheeling, West Viriginia. Our birth mom believed that he had blonde hair and blue eyes. He would have been born at Ohio Valley General Hospital in Wheeling, West Virginia.
She became pregnant with me and was admitted back to the Crittenton home in April, 1967.
I was born on May 16, 1967 at Ohio Valley General Hospital in Wheeling, WV (Ohio County). From what I can decipher, my first name may have begun with a "T" or "D" and ended with -lyn(n). In my documents, I'm later referred to "Baby Dee." I was born at 7:44 AM, weighed 7 lbs, 7 oz., and was approximately 19 3/4 inches long. It seems that, after some issues regarding my birth mother's health (possible syphillis, hepatitis, and gonorrhea), I was relinquished for adoption on May 22, 1967 and soon released from the hospital and taken into foster care in Berkeley County, WV.
Our birth mother served in the WACS for approximately four months. She worked at a local sewing factor, and was described as an exceptional (hand) seamtress. She was 4'11". It's possible that they were members of the Woodford Memorial Methodist Church in Elkins, and her mother worked at a dry cleaners in/around Elkins in the mid-late 1960's.
She and her mother did not tell her father about her first pregnancy or trip to the Crittenton Home due to his previous heart attacks and precarious health conditions.
However, her father is the one who approached the office of Social Services about having her admitted to Crittenton in the hopes of having her pregnancy kept quiet due to being in a small community.
I was received by my adoptive parents, Fern and Lester Willingham on 8/28/1967. By that point, I was being called "Baby Dee" or "Little Dee Dee." I was formally/legally adopted some time after February26. 1968 and have lived in Jefferson County, West Virginia since.
PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT ME OR SHARE THIS INFORMATION IF YOU HAVE ANY LEADS AS TO MY BROTHER'S IDENTITY OR WHEREABOUTS.
Dawn Denise (Willingham) Welsh
ddwwelsh@yahoo.com
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