THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 14, 1994 TAG: 9408120276
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY ROBYNE R. COOKE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
CHESAPEAKE RESIDENT Peggy Wells never expected to attend a family reunion in Panama City, Fla., earlier this summer.
She certainly never expected to share the experience with two sisters, 15 nieces and nephews and about 20 grandnieces and grandnephews.
For more than 50 years, Wells believed she was an only child.
The joyful reunion with her large extended family began to take shape on April 14, when Wells had just returned home from her job as manager of Save Mart on Chesapeake Drive. It was after 10:30 at night and she was tired, so she gave instructions to her husband, Ron, that she wasn't to be disturbed.
But the phone rang. The caller identified herself as Peggy's niece.
Ron Wells knew his wife didn't have any siblings, so he couldn't understand how her niece could be calling.
The caller, Ann Mausfield, explained that, though Peggy had been adopted at the age of 6 weeks, she had sisters she had not seen for nearly half a century.
Dumbstruck, Wells insisted that his wife come to the phone.
Peggy Wells was soon convinced the call was legitimate.
``She knew too many things about me,'' she said. ``I felt every emotion possible - happiness, joy, surprise, shock,'' Wells said.
After speaking for about an hour, she learned that the family still had her original birth certificate - and her given birth name was Lilly Oreatha Ozment. Her parents were the same listed parents as her two ``new'' sisters, Frances Martin and Delores Shepherd.
Her name was changed to Peggy Joyce Davenport when she was adopted by William and Louie Davenport, who raised her in a large, three-story house on the corner of Wilson and Indian River roads.
Wells, now 57, had known since she was 7 years old that she had been adopted. ``I had done real well in school that year, so my father had bought me a baby grand piano. A neighborhood girl was jealous and told me in spite that I was adopted,'' she explained.
Her mother verified the information but told her never to speak of it again. ``I felt very strange. I wondered, `Who am I?' ''
She never doubted her adoptive parents' love for her, but she recalls praying to find out who her birth parents were.
``I remember sitting in the corner of my room and asking the Lord to help me find out who I really am.''
Fifty years later, her prayers have been answered.
She knows now that her biological mother gave her up for adoption shortly after she was born. Her biological grandparents kept Frances, and Delores was sent to a foster home in North Carolina. Delores' foster mother would occasionally take her to visit her mother, grandmother and Fran, but no one in the family was allowed to see or talk to Peggy.
``It was very taboo. We were not supposed to talk about it because Peggy's adoptive parents wanted it that way. But my grandmother would tell me some,'' said Delores Shepherd, who lives in Massachusetts.
Delores and Fran continued on and off over the years to search for their lost sister.
It was Peggy's niece, Ann, who eventually tracked her down. School yearbooks found in a Norfolk genealogy library provided the first clues to Peggy's adoptive family. Finally, a newspaper clipping of the obituary of Peggy's adoptive father led Ann to Wells.
``They weren't sure how I'd accept them,'' Wells said. ``They gave me every opportunity to say yes or no. They thought maybe I wouldn't want to see them after all these years,'' Peggy said, tears welling up in her eyes.
They need not have been concerned. Wells was overjoyed at the prospect of a reunion with her family.
The phone calls to her two new sisters resulted in lots of laughter, but also lots of tears for the lost time, Peggy said. ``There was an instant love there, and only God can do that.''
Ann arranged to meet Peggy and Ron and Peggy's daughter, Robin, in Mobile, Ala., and then drive together to Panama City, Fla. There they met the rest of the clan. More than 50 relatives and family friends were waiting to greet her.
``I just cried and cried,'' she said.
``It was very emotional,'' Delores agreed. ``I had thought of her all my life. Seeing her was one of the greatest feelings I've ever had. She's just the greatest person.''
``I look a lot like my older sister, Fran, and have some of her mannerisms,'' Peggy said proudly.
The family presented Peggy with a gold necklace and charm that says ``No. 1 Sis'' and an album filled with family photos.
Since returning to Chesapeake, Peggy writes and call her new relatives regularly.
``My phone bill is so large now that I'm thinking about taking stock in the phone company,'' joked Ron. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
Color on the Cover: Ron and Peggy Wells stand in front of the house
on the corner of Wilson and Indian River roads where Peggy was
raised.
Peggy compares her original birth certificate to the top one issued
to the Davenports.
Ron and Peggy Wells look at the house where she grew up with her
adoptive parents, the Davenports.
Peggy received a necklace and charm that says ``No. 1 Sis.''
Peggy Wells shows her husband, Ron, the house on the corner of
Wilson and Indian River roads where she was raised.
by CNB