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Family Groups - Searching for lost parents
Carol Rider
source
A WOMAN - shocked by recent revelations about her family -
is searching for the father she has never met.
Carol Rider's life has been turned upside down after discovering,
at the age of 56, that she was adopted by her grandparents
when she was born.
She has also found out that the woman she thought all her
life was her sister, June, was actually her mother.
She had been adopted because June was only 17 when she gave
birth to her. Mrs Rider was conceived after June met an American
GI when he was training in Evesham and Honeybourne during
the Second World War.
Mrs Rider made the life-changing discoveries only after her
mother and grandparents died recently. Her grandparents never
told her that she was adopted, and it was only when she tried
to find her birth certificate that she began to discover it.
"I never had a full birth certificate," she said.
"So I thought one day that I would try and get one.
"I had always asked about it, but my relatives had always
put me off and changed the subject.
"I thought I was born in Evesham, but when I made inquiries,
I found no trace that I was born there."
Mrs Rider then discovered from her grandfather's half-brother
that she had been adopted.
Birth certificate
With the help of her friend, Valerie, the daughter of a close
friend of Mrs Rider's mother, she found a copy of her birth
certificate. She discovered that she was born in Reading.
Valerie also told Mrs Rider, who now lives in Maidstone, Kent,
how her mother had met the GI when the 24th Operational Training
Unit Bomber Command had been training in Evesham and Honeybourne
in 1944.
She became pregnant, and lost touch with her lover when his
training period finished.
Her grandfather, William Rider, worked at Stigmat-Wheway Ltd,
Avon Croft, Offenham, which was why the family was in the
area during the war.
"It was a complete shock," said Mrs Rider, a mother-of-three.
"I was very close to my mother, although I thought she
was my sister at the time.
"I was so upset and hurt that nobody ever told me about
it. I'm not the person I thought I was. Everything in my life
has shifted."
To make matters worse, her friend, Valerie, was told the name
of her father, but cannot remember it.
"Without his name, it's going to be very difficult to
find him," she said. "I've tried everything, but
I've had no luck.
"He could be dead."
Anyone who remembers Mrs Rider's grandparents, William and
Nora, or her mother, June, can contact her on 01622 677930
or email dawn.rider@uk.dreamcast.com
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