THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 25, 1995 TAG: 9508240139
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAM STARR, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
The only time Marie Morgart saw her father was when he came to her door one day more than 50 years ago.
They stood in the doorway staring. Tears came to his eyes, but he never said a word or made a move. Neither did Morgart. Finally, her father pulled a $10 bill from his pocket, placed it in her tiny hand and left. She never saw him again.
Tears come to the stormy blue eyes of 79-year-old Morgart even now as she recounts the story in her cozy resort area apartment. Although decades have passed, the psychic wounds of being abandoned at a hospital as an infant have never fully healed for this accomplished author, who recently published her autobiography.
Infantile paralysis, or polio, had swept over the country in 1916, and Morgart, who lived in the mining town of Johnstown, Pa., was not spared. When her Italian immigrant parents brought her to the hospital, they signed papers and left the helpless baby in the care of a kindhearted hospital administrator. Sara Morgart took Marie to her parents' home, where she grew up amid an abundance of love and affection.
In retrospect, being abandoned at the hospital was the best thing that ever happened to her, Morgart says.
``I had three mothers - Sara, her mother, and her sister, Jessie,'' said Morgart in a little-girl voice, an aqua pantsuit hanging on her thin frame. ``I'm real proud of being adopted - Sara was my guardian angel.''
But throughout her life Morgart was bothered by a recurrent, nagging feeling that she couldn't shake. She loved her adopted family and was given everything she could want - even her own birthday. Her biological parents didn't know her birthdate, but doctors at the hospital had estimated that Morgart was born in the spring. Morgart chose March 4 as her birthday because it was Inauguration Day.
Morgart went on to college and received a degree in journalism from the University of Pittsburgh. Just before she was to start a stenographer's job with the Pennsylvania Electric Co., however, Morgart received a surprise visitor.
A man came to Morgart's home and told her he was her brother, Michael Panar. He said that she wasn't abandoned at the hospital, she was stolen. Morgart showed Panar the legal papers that her parents had signed, awarding guardianship to Sara. Panar insisted they were wrong. Morgart wanted nothing to do with him.
``I couldn't warm up to him at all,'' Morgart recalled. ``I had the papers to prove it. Jessie and Sara were there and you never saw two people more shocked.''
More than 50 years later, Morgart decided to set the matter straight. Already a published author of ``Sunrise at Ten,'' a novel about the Johnstown flood of 1889, and several poems, Morgart sat down to pen her autobiography.
``Abandoned Child'' chronicles Morgart's struggles and triumphs throughout her unusual life and was recently published by Cornerstone Publishing. Opening the wounds was not easy, but Morgart said she had to write the book for her brother.
``I wanted to tell Michael what kind of life I had,'' said Morgart, who also has a sister in Pennsylvania and another brother in Arizona. ``I was scared that the papers would get a hold of the story and want to do a reunion like what you see on TV. I didn't want that.''
She sent a copy to Panar, along with copies of the legal papers. The other day Morgart took a chance and called him. She told him that he could call her ``Sis'' now if he wanted. He did.
``I think that sort of mended the fence,'' said Morgart with a slight smile. ``I think he believes me now. He knows I was telling the truth.''
Morgart is hard at work researching ``The Fear That Haunts,'' her fourth novel (her first, ``Kelsey,'' was written in the 1970s but was never submitted for publication). She's writing about what has happened to the Aral Sea in Russia, which has been destroyed by irrigation and the fishing industry, and the international water crisis in general.
When she's not writing poems or books, the widowed Morgart is content to read books and stroll the boardwalk. She says she has reached her main goal in life - to write her autobiography and put the ghosts of her parents to rest.
``I feel relieved now,'' Morgart admitted. ``I was bitter for a long time - I wouldn't even go to church on Mother's Day. But I don't hold a grudge anymore. I'm so glad I was abandoned.'' MEMO: If you would like to order a copy of ``Abandoned Child,'' call
1-800-826-4992. The book costs $9.95 plus $2 shipping and handling.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
Marie Morgart's ``Abandoned Child'' chronicles her struggles and
triumphs over 79 years of life.
by CNB