The View from Hats and Heels: My Father was a US Marine

Thursday, January 5, 2023

My Father was a US Marine

Does that explain a bit about me? My attitudes? My right and wrong personality? My "definite" take on life? I think so.

For 40 years, I was under the impression that a certain man was my birth father. '23 and Me' changed all that. I now learn that another man was my birth father, thanks to two of my half-sisters who contacted me yesterday. (It's so weird to say the word "sister" because I have never had one -- at least not that I knew of.)

I was flabbergasted! But DNA doesn't lie and there it was. I won't go into detail, but this man had seven legitimate children and at least one illegitimate: Me. Putting the pieces together, I now know how it happened. Shirley and her friends hung around with semi-pro Border League baseball players socializing and partying. At first I had been told by her family and friends (she had died a year before I found her, so this was all heresay and second-hand info) that my father was another American player, who later went on to become an umpire in the American League.

While that sounded right, apparently it was another player in that same league who fathered me at an outdoor party after a game. Guess Shirley wasn't exclusive, but then why would she be? Many of these players were married so they could hardly complain (not sure if mine was at the time?). One of his daughters said our father was handsome and charming, with hazel/green eyes and curly, dark brown hair. Guess who also has hazel/green eyes and curly, dark brown hair? An accomplished athlete, he had a zero golf handicap. Maybe I should have taken up the game? He was also very smart and was on the Dean's List at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY. Not to brag, but I am also athletic, smart, decent-looking and can be as charming as required, ha!

As I said, he was also a US Marine and served in the battle of Okinawa, the aftereffects of which affected him for the rest of his life.

Now what? All my half-siblings live in Upstate New York or Florida, so I will probably never meet them, but it's great to finally know for sure who fathered me. Because Shirley had died before I met her, my father's identity was pure conjecture; now it's fact. Family lore is one thing, DNA another. All my life, people have said, "You must be Irish." Yes, I now know I am on both sides. The paternal side were all Irish Catholics with large families and so were the maternal. Frankly, that explains my temperament!

Thank you to half-sisters E and F, who contacted me. Apparently, I have a huge extended family. What an adventure! How lovely! Birth Mother and Father, Shirley Ann Latimer and William Doyle: