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Don’t look for stars at NFL Hall of Fame game

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Life Deconstructed: Getting cardio in with roller skates, the Bee Gees

<p>VALPARAISO, Fla. &#8212; Shelly Foster&#8217;s heart raced as she knocked twice on a hotel door in Shreveport, La.</p><p>If the door opened, it would mean Foster had completed the last task written on her life-long bucket list. A task that read: &#8220;Meet someone who looks like you.&#8221;</p><p>The 78-year-old Valparaiso woman said she always knew she was adopted.</p><p>However, it wasn&#8217;t until she saw a birth certificate in the U.S. Air Force recruitment office in New Jersey that she saw a name she didn&#8217;t recognize &#8212; Ruth Mary Anthes &#8212; and thought of searching for her biological family.</p><p>&#8220;I never knew what my birth name was until then,&#8221; Foster said. &#8220;Seeing my biological name written down, it sparked something inside of me. It was then that I began the 60-year search for my biological family.&#8221;</p><p>In the years following, Foster said wherever she traveled she would take time to search through phone books and public records for the last name Anthes.</p><p>&#8220;It was a lot harder to search for people back then,&#8221; Foster said. &#8220;It wasn&#8217;t until the computer age that we were able to really start searching.&#8221;</p><p>Five years ago, she said, was when she found her first clue &#8212; a 1940s Census record for a woman named Marion Anthes.</p><p>With the name she now believed was her mother&#8217;s, Foster joined several ancestry websites in search of more information on Marion Anthes. Six weeks ago, she found a Florida obituary of a Marion Vanderwoude, with the maiden name of Anthes.</p><p>&#8220;It said she was survived by her son, Fredric Vanderwoude,&#8221; Foster said. &#8220;That meant I had a half-brother.&#8221;</p><p>Through a bit of cyberstalking, Foster&#8217;s children were able to track down Vanderwoude, 76, at a remote trailer park in Breckenridge, Texas. After just one phone call with Foster&#8217;s son, Vanderwoude, who had no idea he had a sister, agreed to take a DNA test.</p><p>&#8220;He was very cooperative and willing to believe it,&#8221; Foster said. &#8220;Marion had kept him and raised him. He said he always wanted a brother or a sister.&#8221;</p><p>Vanderwoude, however, was not raised by, nor had he ever met, his biological father. He was instead adopted by his stepfather when he was just 6 years old.</p><p>To Foster&#8217;s shock, the DNA test came back with a complete match &#8212; the siblings shared the same biological mother and father.</p><p>&#8220;As soon as I called and told him, he said he wanted to give me a big squeeze,&#8221; Foster said. &#8220;We just had to see each other. It was then we decided to meet halfway in Shreveport.&#8221;</p><p>It was in the Shreveport hotel room where Foster and Vanderwoude embraced for the first time.</p><p>&#8220;I looked into his eyes and saw me,&#8221; Foster said as her eyes swelled with tears. &#8220;We both had hazel eyes. He hugged me and said, &#8216;Where have you been all of my life?&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>Foster learned her mother was adopted herself and became pregnant as a teenager. Foster speculates she gave her up for adoption because Anthes&#8217; adoptive parents were devout Catholics.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t hold any bitterness towards her,&#8221; Foster said. &#8220;She was an unwed Catholic girl giving birth to a child. That&#8217;s what happened back then.&#8221;</p><p>As Foster told her story, she held tightly to a necklace her newfound sister-in-law gave to her in Shreveport.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a necklace my mother hand made,&#8221; Foster said before breaking into tears. &#8220;Just having something of hers is overwhelming.&#8221;</p><p>Now, Vanderwoude said, he&#8217;s making plans to move his family to Florida, where he will be closer to his sister. The siblings hope to make up for long-lost time by getting the entire family together sometime this year.</p><p>Foster said she&#8217;s now making it her mission to find their biological father, whom neither sibling had ever met.</p><p>&#8220;Maybe we&#8217;ll find some half siblings,&#8221; Foster said. &#8220;Finding Fred was the last thing on my bucket list. Even if we don&#8217;t find half-siblings, my life is now complete.&#8221;</p><p>For Vanderwoude, however, he said there is no reason to search any further.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve got each other now,&#8221; Vanderwoude told Foster over the phone. &#8220;There&#8217;s no reason to search for anything else.&#8221;</p><p><ins>For other Life Section stories, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/category/features" target="_blank">click here</a>.</ins></p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Shelly Foster shows a photo of herself and her until-recently unknown brother Frederic Vanderwoude as they met for the first time in Shreveport, La., on July 18. The siblings met after years of searching by Foster through written records. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_AP17206575141790.jpg</photo0><caption0>Shelly Foster shows a photo of herself and her until-recently unknown brother Frederic Vanderwoude as they met for the first time in Shreveport, La., on July 18. The siblings met after years of searching by Foster through written records. </caption0><photoCredit0>Michael Snyder | AP file photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Brother and sister find each other in their 70s</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Heather Osbourne</p><p>The Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div>

Flordia woman, 78, finds biological brother after searching for 60 years